HOW BEST TO HANDLE THE EMOTIONAL TURBULENCE OF ADOLESCENT

Maturing, seeking independence and being recognized as individuals are the main concerns of many adolescents. Their attitudes regarding these concerns and how they handle them affect their mental health. Indeed, the suicide rate among adolescents has increased in recent years.

Pressure and worries often make adolescents, most of whom are college and university students, feel inadequate and depressed. It is these feelings of inadequacy that lead most of them to suicide.

There are many adolescents who display abnormal behaviour. They feel worried, afraid or guilty most of the time without any apparent cause. They may feel oppressed and overwhelmed by their emotions without knowing why,and experience constant fear. Neurotic adolescents are actually emotional ill, but function well enough to go to college or work. They over-react to minor problems. For example, a neurotic adolescent may react to a minor accident as though it were a major catastrophe. He or she may physically attack the driver, shout and cry or run away.

There are adolescents who suffer from exaggerated feelings of sadness or deep gloom. This behaviour is medically known as depressive reaction. Depressed adolescents feel hopeless and they may continue to experience depression long after such sad events such as death, illness, job loss or disappointment. They may be thrown into depression by relatively minor events such as being embarrassed in class or losing in the 100-metre dash. They fail to resume their normal activities or re-establish social contacts or make an effort to enjoy life once again after such events.

Phobia, medically defined as exaggerated fear. Adolescents with phobia may fear something that frightens no one else, such as a cat, an escalator or a bridge. There are those who fear high and low places, falling objects, enclosed spaces, dark places or even going to sleep. They may also have phobia about illness or death. Depression, hysteria, phobias and other neuroses may be mild or severe. They may be slight handicaps that the adolescent learns to live with or major handicaps that prevent him or her from living a normal life that includes going to school, socialising with friends and participating in family activities.

 There are adolescents who are sociopaths or psychopaths. These are those who lack feeling for the things that are generally considered socially acceptable. These adolescents fail to develop a conscience and have little or no sense of obligation to others. In extreme cases, psychopaths fail to develop a sense of right and wrong.

Adolescents who are psychopaths with a mental illness may lack self-control, be destructive in their personal relationships, and even be capable of violence.

 'Defiance of authority is a major emotional difficulty experienced by adolescents. Defiance takes many forms, including open rebellion against authority, vandalism, shoplifting, destructive partying, truancy and reckless driving. Serious unacceptable or criminal behaviour exhibited by adolescents is called delinquency. It has both psychological and social causes.

Crowded living conditions

Delinquency in city slums and rural areas may be rooted in hardships such as crowded living conditions, malnutrition, inadequate play areas, high crime rates and broken families. Unemployment, racial or class discrimination, lack of adequate education and language difficulties could also contribute to delinquency. Poor family relationships and lack of parental care and guidance affect adolescents from middle-class and wealthy families as well as those from poor families.

A major adolescent behaviour problem is excessive competitiveness.

 This may be a sign of emotional distress. Growing up in today's competitive society, adolescents quickly learn the values and standards of adult competition. Cheating in exams, competing for dates and even rough play in sports, all of which are very common among adolescents, grow out of exaggerated feelings that everyone else is a competitor who must be beaten.

Dropping out of school or college is sometimes an indication of emotional disturbance. Many drop-outs are emotionally immature or mal-adjusted individuals who fail to see the long-term goals or the benefits of formal education. Adolescents who feel misunderstood, mistreated and misplaced in schools opt to drop out, while for others, the school curriculum may not seem realistic.

All neurotic and other behavioural difficulties facing adolescents need attention. Adolescents suffering severe neurosis need professional help. Psychiatrists are best placed to help them untangle their feelings and understand what lies behind their perceived difficulties. Today school and college counsellors are available to provide guidance and assistance about personal, discipline and emotional problems.

Counsellors should try to recognize problems behind certain behaviours and refer the adolescents to medical professionals for further help.