Wilderness therapy leaves teens terrified, holiday shoppers prefer debit cards: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Parents turn to wilderness therapy for help. Their kids are coming back with horror stories.

USA TODAY Wellness Editor Leora Arnowitz explains what these programs might get wrong. Plus, a new search of a Trump storage unit yields classified material, Supreme Court Correspondent John Fritze explains how the court is weighing a case that could impact future elections, U.S. troops soon won't be required to get COVID-19 vaccinations and Personal Finance & Markets Reporter Elisabeth Buchwald tells us what holiday shopping says about the economy.

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Thursday, the 8th of December 2022. Today, how wilderness therapy has left some teens traumatized. Plus, we look at new classified material linked to former President Donald Trump and how a Supreme Court case could upend the future of federal elections.

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Wilderness therapy, it's supposed to help troubled teens but some kids are coming back instead with horror stories. To find out more, I'm now joined by USA TODAY Senior Wellness Editor Leora Arnowitz. Leora, thanks so much for being here.

Leora Arnowitz:

Yeah, thank you for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

Okay, Leora. Let's start with the basics. What is wilderness therapy and what is it supposed to do?

Leora Arnowitz:

So wilderness therapy has been around for a long time, but wilderness therapy as we know it today and what we're talking about in this article is this idea of parents sending their kids to facilities, usually out in the desert or in rural areas where they can get treatment working through a wide variety of issues.

Taylor Wilson:

So what are some of the problems you heard about from people who went through these programs?

Leora Arnowitz:

So I think that some of the main stories that we were hearing from the more than a dozen people that we spoke to were stories about them feeling like they were living in dirty conditions that weren't hygienic, or feeling like they couldn't complain openly about the things that they were seeing or feeling for fear of retaliation. I think some of the things that we were consistently hearing from the people that we spoke to were stories of them feeling like their lives were uprooted. They were brought to these camps and then they were living in sometimes dirty conditions that they were worried were unhygienic, sometimes really cold, freezing temperatures. They felt constantly watched by staff and they didn't have autonomy. They had no sense of when they were going to get out. And when they tried to raise those issues, some of them felt like that was something that they weren't allowed to talk about, and just a general fear of what they could and could not talk about with the staff that was working with them.

Taylor Wilson:

Why do critics say that wilderness therapy fails and what do supporters say?

Leora Arnowitz:

Yeah. So some people definitely have positive experiences at wilderness therapy. They say that it helped them, it saved their lives. Their families are big proponents of wilderness therapy. But a lot of people don't have that experience, and a lot of the experts say that the reason for that is just because there are some inherent flaws with this type of treatment. One of the issues is that you're taking a child out of their home and their environment and you're taking them away from their support system to try to treat a problem and it could be better for the child to be with their family as they try to overcome their issues.

They say that some of these programs might engage in group therapy, but they're dealing with students who could have very diverse issues. So one kid in group therapy might be dealing with a video game addiction and another one has an eating disorder and another one has violent tendencies, and trying to treat those things together can be flawed as well.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. Leora Arnowitz is the USA TODAY Senior Wellness Editor. Leora, thanks for making the time.

Leora Arnowitz:

Thanks.

Taylor Wilson:

To read the full story, including some organizations working to hold these programs accountable, you'll find a link in today's show notes.

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A new search of a Florida storage unit used by former President Donald Trump has revealed classified material. Two people familiar with the matter said that yesterday but did not elaborate on what the materials consist of. The documents were taken from a West Palm Beach, Florida location and turned over to federal authorities as part of a continuing investigation into Trump's holding of sensitive government records after he left office. An August search of his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate led to the seizure of some 11,000 government documents, including around a hundred designated as classified. This latest search was done by an outside group assembled by Trump's lawyers after federal officials expressed concerns about the proper accounting for sensitive government records.

The documents investigation is one of several criminal inquiries surrounding Trump, who last month announced another run at the White House. The Justice Department recently announced the appointment of a special counsel to oversee the documents investigation and over a separate inquiry into efforts to undermine the 2020 election. Local prosecutors in Georgia are also investigating Trump election interference in that state.

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The Supreme Court wrestled yesterday with a controversial legal theory that critics warn could upend federal elections, but supporters insist it's needed to limit the power of state courts to overrule voting laws approved by state lawmakers. Producer PJ Elliott spoke with USA TODAY's Supreme Court correspondent, John Fritze, to find out the details.

John Fritze:

At its center, this is a case involving redistricting and we see a million of those a year, but the reason why this is super important is that the argument that's being raised by Republican lawmakers from North Carolina, in this case, could really have sweeping implications, sweeping consequences way beyond North Carolina. In fact, it could affect just about everybody. And the reason why that is, is that when North Carolina drew its map, the state court said, "Hey, this is unconstitutional under the state constitution map because it's a partisan gerrymandering and it's extreme gerrymander, and so therefore we're going to throw it out." And what the lawmakers are saying is that under the US Constitution, state courts don't have the power to do that. And read a certain way, that argument, if the court embraced it, would mean that state courts would have virtually no ability to act as a check on state legislatures when they are passing laws dealing with federal elections.

That's different than how we all learn government works. The way we learn government works is that legislatures pass the laws. Courts interpret the laws against the state constitution or the federal constitution, the federal system. And what the lawmakers are arguing for is kind of a different system when it comes to federal elections because what they say is that the Constitution gives that authority to state legislatures and state legislatures alone. So that's the backdrop of this.

On the left, there's a sense that this could have huge implications for all sorts of things. Voter ID laws, poll opening, all sorts of the way that elections are run, state legislatures could pass rules to change that in a way that benefits their political party. The right argues that, look, state courts are out of control. They argue that, look, the legislature should really be in the driver's seat here in how federal elections are run.

PJ Elliott:

So what happened at the Supreme Court on Wednesday with this case?

John Fritze:

I think the conservatives were divided on this. It's clear to me that the three liberal justices, Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson, are opposed to this broad theory. And I think there were three conservative justices, Gorsuch, Alito, and Thomas, who I think would be okay with that theory. And then you have three in the middle. You have Roberts, Barrett and Kavanaugh, who I think it was a little bit unclear where they are and they asked tough questions of both sides. And so I think it's plausible to say that the court may be leaning toward not embracing the wide theory here with all of these huge implications but maybe try to find a more narrow outcome for the case.

PJ Elliott:

So what's next for the case, John?

John Fritze:

Now they take it back and debate, and this is the part that unless there's a leak like there was in the Dobbs case, we won't see anything that happens here until they come out with an opinion. I think this will be one of the big opinions from the term, and so I wouldn't look for anything right away. I'm guessing we won't get an answer on this one definitely not until next year and probably not until June.

PJ Elliott:

John, thanks for the insight.

John Fritze:

Thank you.

Taylor Wilson:

You can find more from John on Twitter, @jfritze.

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Congress is getting set to rescind the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for the US military. Under the annual defense bill, heading for a vote this week, lawmakers are expected to scrap the move. The directive helped make sure the vast majority of troops were vaccinated but also raised concerns that it hurt recruitment and retention. Republicans pushed the effort, which was confirmed on Tuesday when the bill was unveiled. Ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, Congressman Mike Rogers, said that removing the vaccination requirement was essential for the defense bill to pass. White House Press Secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said earlier this week that President Joe Biden would consider lifting the mandate but that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had recommended it be kept.

Karine Jean-Pierre:

The Secretary of Defense has recommended retaining the mandate. That's because the COVID vaccination requirement was put in place to keep our service members safe and healthy and prepared for service.

Taylor Wilson:

This year, the Army missed its recruiting goal by 25%, while other services scraped by, but the vaccine requirement is only part of a more complicated reason why. The pandemic shut off recruiters' access to schools and other events. There's also a national labor shortage in general and only about 23% of young people can meet the military's requirements for all kinds of things, from fitness concerns to criminal records. As of this month, about 99% of active duty troops in the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps have been vaccinated and 98% in the Army. The latest vaccine question comes as the House looks to wrap up the annual defense bill and send it to the Senate. It's one of the final bills Congress is expected to approve before the new year.

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What are you using to buy gifts this holiday season? According to a survey from the National Retail Federation, credit card debt from holiday gift shopping may not be as explosive this year. Producer PJ Elliott, spoke with USA today Personal Finance Reporter Elisabeth Buchwald, to find out more.

Elisabeth Buchwald:

There's some interesting survey data out there, which is talking about people expecting to pay with most of their purchases through debit cards, which is interesting because you think about the holiday time and historically, people go into a lot of credit card debt there. So the fact that they're going to be using debit cards just signifies that maybe credit card debt won't pick up.

PJ Elliott:

What about any other means? Are people dipping into their savings to take care of holiday shopping this year?

Elisabeth Buchwald:

We don't have the data on that yet, but I would imagine so. Savings have already gone down a lot from a year ago and from two years ago when stimulus payments were going out, so I imagine they will be dipping into savings. People are also taking on more buy now, pay later loans, but still the most popular payment method according to multiple surveys out there is likely going to be debit cards.

PJ Elliott:

What does all this say about the state of the economy in the United States right now?

Elisabeth Buchwald:

It says a couple of different things. So one person that I spoke to for this story, she said she likes to pay with a debit card because she wants to be able to spend within her means. People are afraid of leaning too much on credit cards and other loans. It's getting more expensive if you don't pay back on time. So they're nervous about making obligations for the future. And I think it also says ... Well spending has been pretty high for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so it does show that people still have savings to tap into. And if you're on team recession, this might cause you to think otherwise if people are still able to spend so much,

PJ Elliott:

Great stuff as always, Elisabeth. Thanks so much for your time.

Elisabeth Buchwald:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

And that'll do it for today's episode of 5 Things. You can find us on whatever your favorite podcast app is, and if you have a chance, please drop us a five-star rating and review. Thanks to our fantastic team for hopping on the show this past week while I was out sick, and I'll be back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Wilderness therapy criticized, holiday spending choices: 5 Things podcast