Puberty
Adolescence involves a gradual transformation from the childhood parental dependency
to the independence in adolescents and young adulthood. Before full adolescence
humans go through a more temporarily social impulse and behavior restriction.
In the US at the same time during this transitional period children
are allowed a more complex behavioral repertoire, they remain still dependent
on the adults: this is the
period of puberty.
Puberty is accompanied by body and physiologic changes that
are different in boys and in girls. Sexual awakening in puberty is associated
with increases in the hormonal cascades that produce the body’s the secondary
changes that differentiate male and female.
Increased hormonal levels also trigger associated brain
growth and significant behavioral changes. Characteristics of this normal
transition are new focus on peer directed social interactions, increase
individuation from parents, new
sensation seeking including increased interest in the other gender.
When risk taking
behavior and rebellious, with increased impulsivity predominate, it leads, when
extreme to psychopathology.
In healthy children the onset of Puberty restructures the brain (gets rid of some infantile neurons to
give the way and make apace to the growth of new neurons. Also the pubertal
years with the accompanying hormonal maturation bring about increases in body
and internal organ size plus general body development This leads the adolescent
into a critical and more adaptive passage leading to intellectual and physical
competence.
Environmental factors
also need to converge to lead the adolescent on a path toward increasing
competence as he/she prepares for adult roles. Especially important is the
support from family and community so that the adolescent can gain the strength
and motivation needed to confront the increasing complexity and difficulty resolve
problematic situations that he/she will encounter.
The human and social capital accrued by the growing young
since very early childhood is the best individual protection for negotiating
the psychosocial hazards of life confronting middle and late adolescence. Protective
families, cultures and communities provide effective scaffolding to successful
transitions into adolescence.
Problems evidenced in
Puberty, Early and Late Adolescence
Developmental problems that have not surfaced in full in
previous years or that are poorly or incompletely treated:
·
Recent PTSD Post Traumatic disorder
·
Acute trauma
·
Anxiety
·
Depression
·
Grief reactions to Death or divorce
·
Children who migrate
·
Identity problem
·
Acting out unfulfilled needs deprivations of mutual
responses from mother during early and middle childhood.
·
The emptiness experienced by the above who claim
loneliness are those who do not have accrued the natural protections and basic
securities needed to confront the conflicts of adulthood.
·
Problematic
youth exploring street drugs, increased number of risk taking behaviors, lying
cheating, stilling vandalism, etc. will remain social burdens.
Above is a catalog of diagnosis suffered by those
adolescents that have not been able to secure a successfully negotiated prior
developmental transitions to further their emotional growth. When they act out
their earlier emotional deprivation or are panicking often with intense
anxiety, sleeplessness and failure in relationships, work or/and school.
They need to secure
the environmental supports that they did not receive earlier e.g. Mental Health
resources in communities in the form of adequate preventive parent/child
psycho-therapies, adequate developmental centers’ special parent and infant
complex programed interventions during early development to prevent mental
emotional dysregulation, Special Pre-Schools and grade and middle school
treatment centers if the child has minimal or mayor disability and need extra
help that only professionally trained staff can provide.
I provide the following Services:
·
Individual counselling to parents on ways to
provide the emotional an environmental supports they need to help resolve
present behavioral and emotional dysregulation
·
Parent-Child or Parent-Adolescent Psychotherapy
·
Psycho-Education
·
Psychotherapy for attachment problem
·
Individual or Group Psychotherapy
·
Referral for testing, special schools
·
Child or Adolescent Centered Family Therapy
which includes extended families e.g. grandparents and caretakers