Adolescent Development

My caseload is about split between adolescents and adults. Adolescents is full of changes and serves as a transition from childhood to adulthood. It’s a good idea for adults to review how much change is going during this developmental stage. Here is a list of changes occurring in adolescence:

• Identity

  This is a big area of development. Adolescents are figuring out their personality traits and who they want to be. They are figuring what is important to them. Recognize these values or interests may change frequently.

• Brain development

  Adolescent brains are developing rapidly during this time. Keep in mind though brain development is not complete until age 25. An adolescent’s changes a lot and keep in mind more mature processes including planning and impulse control is the last part to develop.

• Cognitive development

  The process of learning to think, to reason, and to understand the world, which includes developing language, perception, memory, attention, and problem-solving skills, all happens during this time. Adolescents develop abstract thinking skills too. These skills are used to solve problems and can eventually think logically and solve complex problems.

• Social and emotional development

  During elementary school, family had the most influence over children. As children become adolescents their peers become a bigger influence. Spending more time with friends and seeking approval friends happens during this phase. Often, challenges with peers is a reason a teen may show up in my office. Learning to navigate social situations is a big focus of adolescence.

• Independence and autonomy

  Again, adolescents want their privacy, independence and autonomy. Rules and consequences are a frequent source of conflict with teens and their parents.

• Puberty

  This is the developmental change most associated with adolescence. While all of the above changes are happening, adolescents are changing physically too.

Adolescence is full of learning who they are and what they want to do in the future. Adolescents today have always had cell phones and social media in their lives. Adolescents are much more aware of mental health. If you have an adolescent in your life and you have concerns about their emotions or other areas of their lives, reach out and see if therapy could help them. Adolescents need to be reminded about confidentiality and therapy is not forever.