More American adolescent girls today are prey to depression, eating disorders, addictions, and suicide attempts than ever before. This book is an exploration of the underlying causes of this disturbing phenomena, structured around therapy case studies of various teenage girls. The position is taken that despite the women's movement, adolescent females today are coming of age in a girl-poisoning culture, saturated with sexualized and sexist media images and expectations. This environment causes girls to stifle their creative spirit and natural impulses and ultimately destroys their self-esteem. The book's 15 chapters cover theoretical and developmental issues of adolescence, the importance of family background, the roles of mothers and fathers, depression, societal pressures to be thin and beautiful, drug and alcohol use, sex and violence, and the differences between the world that female adolescents face today and the one their parents may have known. (Contains a list of recommended reading.) (EV)