Teenagers and Adolescents

For older children and teenagers, talking may be preferable or more appropriate, but our adolescent emotions can be overwhelming and it can sometimes be hard to know where, or how, to begin.   Eye contact can be hard and feel judgemental, leaving an adolescent feeling trapped and scared.  Sometimes drawing or writing provides a useful medium for communication too. Once again, the aim is to be able to bring difficult feelings and experiences into consciousness and think about them, making connections with past and present events.

At puberty, the enormous hormonal changes we go through can leave us feeling isolated, confused, angry, out of control etc.  Additionally, many questions demand our attention: school exams, bullying, identity, relationships, climate change, global conflict; the list is endless.  Adolescence is a time when everything is up for grabs, and finding our place in the world can sometimes seem impossible.  Sadly, many adolescents turn to self-harm as a way to escape the endless questions and painful emotions.  

Unprocessed emotions and experiences can lead to depression, anxiety, confusion and fear.   The internet can provide more questions than answers and in many cases, not give the objectivity we seek.  

Psychotherapy, for adolescents, can sometimes be the only place where “taboo” questions can be asked and explored without judgement.  A teenager expressing suicidal thoughts or self-harming can be so frightening for parents, and yet it is essential that our young people can verbalise these  thoughts and understand that they are not alone or “weird”.