23 Apr Sensitive Teenagers

Struggling Teenagers

This topic is a big one and an important one.

Over the past number of years I have seen a huge increase in teenagers who are finding it very difficult to navigate life from the perspective of school, family relationships, food, self image and self esteem.

Anxiety, depression, anger, frustration, disassociation and a general disinterest in life have all become very common behaviours in young teenagers attending the clinic.

I have seen a huge increase in prescription medication being given to young kids to treat these symptoms and the increase in young people taking their own lives is impossible to ignore.

It is a very upsetting situation to witness especially when they are so young with their lives ahead of them.

There are many factors as to why a teenager might be feeling down, angry, anxious or depressed but it needs to be investigated from more than just the physical level.

One major contributor that has become one of the main objects of teenagers attention is social media.

Now more than any other time in history the human brain is bombarded with content from Social media, television and the internet. The quality of this content is also extremely emotional and due to the way the brain absorbs information and how the unconscious mind imprints and records information these things are having a very powerful effect on how our children feel.

I am not saying the internet is bad or social media is in itself a negative however if a child disassociates from their feelings and emotions by becoming absorbed in the content that is heavily programmed to keep them comparing themselves with others then these tools have become their masters.

Some children are on these devices over 10 hours a day and more.

Due to the addictive nature of these things and how they affect the dopamine receptors in the brain a child can literally become addicted to their phone or tablet.

Just try taking the screen away from them and watch their reaction?

It is a very real chemical reaction within their brain and this over time reprograms the child’s brain to feel happy only when it gets the kick of dopamine it needs at the levels it needs.

These devices have become so socially acceptable that many have become imprisoned by them and cannot be without them for longer than a few minutes.

It is not my intention here to make phones and social media out to be the only cause of unhappy teenagers but it is important to understand their role in the equation.

The brain needs time to calm itself and to relax and recover – this cannot happen if the brain is being constantly stimulated by technology that never sleeps and never takes a break.

There are also the physical effects on the body due to the energy expenditure that occurs when the brain is so highly stimulated for so long. The brain needs glucose to keep up. So not only do you see kids walking around with their phone in their hand but they often have a high sugar high caffeine soft drink in the other.

I have literally had kids attend the clinic with severe mental health issues, chronic fatigue and anxiety  while drinking a high caffeine soft drink.

When asked why they drink it the answer is nearly always the same –

“it gives me energy”

So you have kids exhausted from an overstimulated brain, drinking products to give them a false sense of energy to keep them able to maintain the overstimulation.

From working with these kids I have seen their stress hormones elevated to such high levels that their nervous systems are incapable of sitting on the chair for more than a few minutes.

This elevated stress response affects the brain’s ability to recover and sleep which in turn leads to burnout.

Now if this is what is going on inside a child’s body and they are then asked and expected to sit still, pay attention and learn so that they can pass exams then I’m afraid from a neuroscientific and neurochemical perspective they are being asked to complete an impossible task.

We must help kids to come back into a regulated state within themselves in order for them to have any chance of feeling content and happy.

From a neurochemical point of view it is impossible for a child to feel balanced, present and attentive when their brain is overloaded with stress hormones.

Today’s world is one of instant gratification where we can get most things with very little effort and this can be extremely helpful for a lot of things. The result however is that in order to change any negative effects from this behaviour we now have to go back to a much slower pace and this can be very difficult for teenagers.

This is why when we work on the energetic levels of the body, explaining these processes to kids in a way that they can understand we can put the power back into their own hands.

We don’t want or need to remove phones and screens from their lives, only to educate them as to how they can navigate their emotional states more effectively so that they have a say in how they feel.

For them to use technology and not have technology use them.

The knock on effects of all this chemical change and unconscious programming is huge. It affects family relationships, schooling, self esteem and confidence levels in a massive way.

In today’s high paced world there really needs to be a class in schools that teaches kids how to slow down.

How to feed a busy brain and how to take care of the nervous system when it becomes too busy from trying to keep up with the world.

There is a responsibility upon people that if these situations and technologies are put into the lives of children then we must educate them on how to safely use and operate them.

Other reasons that I have found to be having a significant impact on teenagers’ lives is the effects of unprocessed trauma from early childhood and their birth process.

Childhood trauma is not always what we might think it is. I have found in the majority of cases that an anxious teenager had a traumatic delivery when they were born.

C-Section delivery, forceps, suction and even early umbilical cord separation have all had huge impacts on their development, especially when it comes to attention and anxiety.

I have seen ADD, ADHD and Autistic diagnosis increase over the past few years and with this I have found kids’ energy systems and nervous systems to be where a lot of the stress is held for them that can lead to these diagnosis’s .

There are many many reasons why a child feels the way they do and from my experience I have found that when a child feels heard, seen and understood without judgment then incredible changes can occur.

Children are the future – but what kind of future will they have if they feel exhausted, overwhelmed and misunderstood by the time they are 13 years old?

They need help and they need the right help.

Education is where it starts,
Understanding is how it’s accepted,
Application is how it works
Consistency is how it lasts.