The transitional phase of a child to adulthood is known as adolescence. It is a time of disorientation and discovery when their world shifts from one ruled by parents to the pursuit of their own goals and fulfillment of their dreams. In this phase, they are more prone to risk-taking and they seek out and explore new relationships and sexual identities. They start to try to understand who they are as well as preparing for ‘adult’ life including a career and emotional and financial independence. This change brings much to learn, and it can be a challenging time for adolescents and their families who live with them. If this phase of adolescence does not handled properly it could lead to teenage crisis management.
It not only during the adolescent period but also the relationships the child develops throughout childhood dramatically impact this transition to adulthood. Supportive families can help the child to reach adulthood in an emotionally stable state, but overwhelming stress and trauma (involving multiple collective stressors such as neglect or abuse – emotional, physical or sexual, substance use disorders, inter-partner violence, separation of parents, mental disorders and criminal activity) can negatively affect the child development. Children whose experience with adults is negative or unpredictable are more likely to believe that adults are unreliable and do not easily trust others. Tragically, children growing up within such an environment develop skills to manage these situations that do not prepare them well for adolescence. The anxiety they feel can lead to maladaptive skills manifesting as behavioural problems. These may make sense to the adolescent in the context of their past but in reality, they can put themselves and others in danger. Many parents and can find themselves at their wit’s end as to how to deal with teenagers showing disruptive behaviour or internalized severe depression and anxiety and the crises that follow. The most serious crises usually fall into one of three main categories: suicide-related behaviours, aggression and vandalism, and elopement.
We at Uttakarsha Counselling Center address this issue by closely working with the teenagers. Establishing a very high level of confidence and faith in teenagers in the counsellor is the most important process in this type of session.
Dwelling into the past history of the teenager become the second task for better realization of the crisis.
Thereafter using different tools of psychological intervention the psychologist works out to resolve the crisis.
“Adolescence are in charges of choices , adult are in charge of responses”