It is most common for teenagers to display a rebellious streak. As parents, guardians or teachers, you know and understand that the teenage years are when the hormones rage through the body, with the teenager having no clue on how to handle emotions. This is the time when the fallacies of childhood slip away, revealing a dark, dispassionate world full of failed expectations. The weight of expectation that a teenager carries, coupled with lack of opportunity to vent their creative energy, all add to make a teenager rebellious against accepted norms and customs.
Psychological counselling is the best way to handle these tumultuous years, especially when matters slip out of control. Psychologists are trained to help teenagers open up their fears and anxieties, something that they cannot do in the presence of adults like parents or teachers. There’s no harm in taking a teenager to consult a psychologist or a psychiatrist.
There are three different kinds of sessions that are undertaking by psychologists in such cases: individual therapy, group therapy and family therapy.
As the tags suggest, individual therapy is one-on-one interactions with the teenager in question. No one else gets to sit on these sessions, with the conversation taking place in absolute confidentiality, even to the extent of legal boundaries. No one can ask the psychologist to reveal what was conveyed during these conversations, unless the teenager concerned is a threat to someone’s life, including themselves. So, the teenager can speak out their minds in these sessions, opening up their mind to talk about aspects that they wouldn’t express otherwise. Such sessions are cathartic and help a lot.
Group therapy is useful for teenagers when they show low self-confidence or are too self-conscious about their problem. When they are put in a room with several other teenagers with similar issues, they feel that they are not alone. This gives them the boost they need to face and overcome their problem. When they find others with similar problems, they don’t feel singled out anymore.
Finally, family therapy is conducted to reintroduce the teenager to the family. Here the concerns of the teenager are conveyed to the family and the family’s viewpoint is put across to the teenager. This opens up a channel of communication between the two parties which have regarded each other as a threat till now. With a new relationship established and trust regained, teenagers tend to curb their rebellious self to a large extent, hoping for a fresh, positive start.