The messy room, the scattered stuff, the forgotten promises, the lapsed memory, the wandering attention, the tuned-out response, the lost belongings, the trail of litter around the family home, can all be emblematic of the more demanded, distracted, and disorganized adolescent state of mind.

The dramatic growth change of adolescence can be a lot to keep up with as it unpredictably increases the complexity of one’s inner and outer life. “How I look different in the mirror each morning, keeping up with friends at school each day, family demands a home, teachers who keep piling on new assignments: there’s always something new that's going to matter.” More than childhood, adolescence can be a more demanding and disorganizing time of life.

“The wheels have come off the truck!” was how one dad described how his young teenager had become. “The inside of his head is like his room – a complete clutter!” While a mom despairs of her daughter’s backpack, treated like a waste basket of school assignments: “She can’t find anything where she keeps everything!”

Order can be a major point of contention for many young adolescents, particularly when expressing new individuality, pushing for independence, or in rebellious mode. For the young person, it can feel emblematic of the oppressive adult system........

© Psychology Today