OUR puberty it may be an inherently busy age, but our time is unlike any other. The pandemic and the global uncertainty of recent years have a significant impact on the psychology of adolescents. Research published last week in the US showed that 42% of high school students experienced intense feelings of sadness and despair from 2021 onwards, and 22% have seriously considered suicide.

We asked for advice from clinical psychologist Lisa Damour, who has been helping teenagers and their families for over 25 years and has written popular books about young people’s transition into adulthood. “We often equate mental health with wellness, calmness, and happiness,” she tells us. “But mental health is about having emotions appropriate to the circumstances, even if they are unpleasant or even unwanted, and managing them in a functional way,” he explains.

Mental health is about having emotions appropriate to the circumstances, even if they are unpleasant, and managing them.

strong feelings

“Adolescents experience their emotions more intensely than children and adults. Failure in an important test, separation are things that can make them feel very sad. We should not consider these feelings inappropriate for the occasion. Of course, we do not want our children to experience painful emotions, but we all know that they are inevitable. Often they can also teach them how things work. If, for example, they are caught cheating on a test, the bad feeling they experience may deter them from making the same choice in the future. What we do not want to see, however, are two things: first, that adolescents develop strategies to alleviate these feelings, but at a cost, such as various addictions and addictions, and, second, that feelings “take the reins in their hands.” “Forbidding them to do important things in life, like going to school,” says the American psychologist.

“If a teenager is faced with something difficult, we can see this as a good opportunity to develop psychological mechanisms for healthy response and management of painful emotions. If, however, these feelings are out of control, then we can intervene by saying, “You are dealing with more than anyone would expect you to handle on your own. You deserve help, and let’s see what it will be, he advises us.