What Changes During Adolescence?

Find a therapist to support kids and teens

Naming the "lion" reduces its power.

Regulation, not elimination, is the goal.

Understand the anxieties and how to name them.

There was a time when human survival depended on responding quickly to real danger. If a lion appeared, the body reacted instantly with a racing heart, tightening muscles, breathing quickly, and getting ready to pounce or run.

Today, children, adolescents, and young adults aren’t facing actual lions, but they are having the same physiological response of arousal, hypervigilance, and constant alertness. The brain continues to detect “threats,” even when those threats are psychological, social, or anticipatory. Events such as an upcoming test, a social interaction, a text message from a peer, or not fitting in can create the same physiological responses, nonetheless.

Let’s call the sources of anxiety for our children, teens, and young adults the “perceived lion.” The goal is not to eliminate anxiety, but to help children and teens recognize, interpret, and respond to it in........

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