Parents are hoping that "Under Pressure" was a good first step in eradicating teenage stress after the interactive and informative workshop run by Palo Alto Youth Council on Wednesday at the Mitchell Park Community Center.

With the focus of the event on parent involvement in teen stress, the meeting also included a discussion of drugs, music and college preparations. The meeting presented a good starting point for addressing one of the most prominent issues in students life: stress.

Guest speaker Doctor Philippe Rey began the night addressing what he believed to be the misconstrued notion that children are at fault for their increased stress.

"There is nothing wrong with kids today," Rey said. "What has changed is society."

With a quick speech about the cultural gap between parents and their teens that contribute to unnecessary stress, Rey elaborated on society’s continuous and extremely influential changes. While Rey does not have any children himself, he appeared to have a good grasp on multiple stress causers, including drugs and the present electronic era.

"The biggest change today is technology," Rey said. "Technology is designed for isolation."

He also mentioned the isolation teenagers, who no longer have the family ties he claimed the previous generation had, feel.

"When the present adults were growing up they had intact families," Rey said. "Now teenagers go home to empty houses because both parents work, or it is a single parent household.

He briefly discussed marijuana. Addressing those parents who he referred to as "ex-hippies," he talked about the changes in the marijuana of their era and the change in the weed being distributed today.

"Marijuana is 300 times more potent than it is today," Rey said. "You also have all the designer drugs that we did not have growing up."

While never fully elaborating on exactly how drugs affect stress, he then went on to mention the music of our generation, mainly the violence and anger that is commonly expressed in it. While he pointed out the negative messages of the music, he also found a way for parents to benefit from such music.

"Music is a really good way to bond with your kids," Rey said. "It [music] is a way to understand their world, to ask questions."

The irony in the stress relieving workshop being held on a school night is evident, and a possible reason for the small student turn-out. While the concept behind "Under Pressure" holds potential, with one of the objectives being to "improve communication and awareness of youth recreation and social problems", to reach a larger audience incentive must be offered, or at least a better time.

Paly’s living skills class offered extra credits for those who attended.

"Living skills is the reason I am here," said junior Nanor Balabanian. While extra credit was her draw, she readily acknowledged the great amount of pressures at Paly.

"The stress load at Paly is intensifying year after year," Balabanian said. "Especially stress in junior year with SAT’s, AP classes, and trying to impress colleges."

After Dr. Rey’s speech, the attendees were randomly broken up into groups of 10 or fewer people. Students and parents shared their thoughts on the level of parent-children communication, causes and results of stress, and the ways in which thoughts of future influence it all.

Adolescent Counseling Service helped sponsor the event, supplying the mediators for the groups.

"The questions [in group discussions] were well designed to bring out good discussion," JLS intern counselor Elizabeth Batson said. "There was a good exchange between adults and students. It is useful to hear the point of view from someone not in your family."

The openness and questions parents asked teens indicated a willingness to work to get to the root of the problem.

Paly parent Mike Henehan, whose daughter asked him to attend in his place, found the meeting beneficial.

"I think that there are a lot of stressors for high school students," Henehan said. "Any time that we have opportunities to attend a session like this is beneficial. I would like to see more people here."