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The teenage brain for teenagers

 



So how much do you know about your brain? I am guessing probably not a lot and actually none of us knew very much about the teenage brain until about 20 years ago.  We used to think that all of our brain development happened in our early years but now we know this is not the case. 

In actual fact your brain goes through some pretty phenomenal changes that start when you begin puberty and actually don’t finish until you get to your mid-twenties.  That’s right your brain is not fully developed until 25 at the earliest, maybe even a little bit later.

The first thing to know is that different parts of our brain develop at different speeds.  One of the first parts of your brain to develop is called the limbic system where the amygdala lives.  This is the part of your brain that is responsible for all of your emotional reactions – anger, sadness, excitement and is also the part that is responsible for keeping you safe by activating your flight, flight, freeze response.  This is a brilliant and very important part of our brain, but it is not great at making good decisions.  For good decisions we need the part of our brain called the prefrontal cortex – this is the part that sits just behind our forehead and is often called the control tower  - this is the part that helps us to plan, organise, think about potential consequences and is really good at helping us to manage our big feelings like frustration or anger.  The trouble is this is the part of our brain that is under construction in adolescence and will not be fully functional until you are at least 25.  What this means is that during your teenage years (like now) many of your decisions will be much more influenced by the emotional rather than the rational part of the brain.   

Now this is not all bad news.  Our brains develop like this for a very good reason - to help us to make the transition into adulthood.  To become brave independent adults, we (and our parents!) need to embrace these changes and start exploring the big amazing world we live in. 

So, what do you need to know about the adolescent brain? According to Dan Siegel, who knows a lot about the brain, there are four things we need to hold in mind….

1.      As teenagers you are going to experience your emotions much more intently than at other times in your life.  And this is fantastic because it is these intense emotions that drive your big bright shining passion and vitality come from encouraging you to try new things and engage with new people.  The tricky part of this is that it can make life less predictable, because one thing we know for sure is that emotions in adolescence can change very rapidly, sometimes making for a very bumpy ride.

2.  Another big change that happens in adolescence is that your friends and being part of a peer group becomes super important.  This is why it can feel so painful when we experience difficulties in our friendship group.  The other thing you will notice is that while your friends become more and more important the relationship between you and your parents/carers might start to feel different and less close something that can feel a bit weird and unsettling.  But remember this is happening for a reason, the main job of adolescence is to get you ready for adulthood and the changes in your brain will be pushing you towards your peers and a little bit further away from your parents to help you to make this transition.   

3.    As a teenager you love new things, particularly new things that are a little (or a big) bit risky.  This drive to try new things is really important and will give you lots of motivation to explore and challenge yourself.  The tricky part of these brain changes is that you will probably focus on the thrill and excitement and not think very much about the potential risk. This is because the part of your brain that is good at considering the consequences is under construction and not working very well as a result.  So, if at all possible, it’s always helpful to PAUSE and have a quick think about what you are about to do before you do it.  Easier said than done, I know!!

4.     As a teenager your brain is beginning to be able to think in much more complex ways and because your brain is designed to push away from adult ideas you will often feel like questioning the adults around you and pushing against boundaries.  Sometimes this can feel a bit unsettling, especially when you suddenly realise your parents/carers are not so clever after all and actually are just normal fallible human beings (or maybe you knew this already😊)  However, the massively positive side to all of this is your ability to imagine all sorts of new things and it’s because of this that teenagers are often really good at coming up innovative and exciting solutions to all sorts of difficulties that adults are unable to resolve.

Finally…

Your teenage brain is amazing.  And although all the changes can be difficult to make sense of it is because of these changes that adolescence is a time of remarkable opportunity, creativity and energy. 


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