Brain continues to change into early 20s
September 28th 2010 20:12
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Understanding brain development can help parents and other adults anticipate and better manage the behavior of adolescents
If you are a teenager's parent or an adult who works with teenagers, you know how scary it can be when teens behave in an impulsive, irrational or dangerous way.
It seems that teens often do not think things through or fully consider the consequences of their actions.
But it now appears that some of that baffling behavior that is seen in teenage children may be the result of brain development and not just raging hormones.
For many years it was thought that by the time teen years were reached, the brain was largely finished developing.
However, according to recent research by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and University of California, Los Angeles, it appears the brain continues to change into the early 20s, with the frontal lobes, responsible for reasoning and problem-solving, developing last.
This does not mean young people can't make good decisions or tell the difference between right and wrong. It doesn't mean that they shouldn't be held responsible for their actions. But understanding brain development can help parents and other adults anticipate and better manage the behavior of adolescents.
So, what is a parent to do?
Ken Winters, Ph.D., a psychiatry professor at the University of Minnesota and a senior scientist with the Treatment Research Institute in Philadelphia, says parents can help teens learn the skills of engaging in second thoughts, or "thinking breaks," as he likes to call them.
"Thinking breaks" are for pausing and reflecting. Should I do this now or not? Should I go with the crowd or not? What are the long-term consequences of the decision I'm making?
These skills are taught during conversations when you discuss with kids possible outcomes, explaining the stresses and strains and difficulties that might happen when they are faced with certain situations and asking them how they're going to think through something, how they're going to react, how they're going to cope and how they're going to decide.
Dr. Jay Giedd of the NIMH says kids who "exercise" their brains by learning how to order their thoughts, understand abstract concepts and control their impulses are laying the neural foundations that will serve them for the rest of their lives.
Charlotte Lankard is a licensed marriage and family therapist in private practice
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