Understanding the often misunderstood world of the teenage brain
- Dr Natalie Hutchins
- Apr 22
- 2 min read
‘The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.’
Socrates (469-399 BC)
One of the most fascinating things about adolescence is that across cultures, centuries, even across species; the emergence of this life stage is accompanied by a classic set of stereotyped behavioural patterns, seemingly sent to drive us parents mad but that actually reflect a critical period of growth and reorganisation in your child’s brain.
In this book, neuroscientist Sarah-Jayne Blakemore delves into the often misunderstood world of the teenage brain. Using her own and others research, Blakemore takes us on a journey of teenagers’ neurological development that equips our once completely dependent child with the ability to emerge from it with their own identity, sense of purpose and their place in the world, enormous creative potential and the cognitive skills to be able to function independently as an adult. We see how these brain transformations affect behaviour, risk taking, their sense of self, decision-making, and social interactions with peers and their parents. We also learn how the brain can go wrong at this time, expressed as mental illness, conditions which increase in adolescence.
The book is definitely a call to shift how we, as a society, view and treat our young people during this developmental stage, one I think is well overdue. She offers a fresh perspective on what is stereotypically seen as a difficult, rebellious and irrational phase; instead reframing adolescence as a time of profound learning and adaptation. She challenges traditional ideas, debunks myths and provides a nuanced view of why teenagers behave the way they do, offering us as parents more understanding and empathy for the teenage experience.
My favourite part of the book is her ending with an extract from the play; Brainstorm; a play about the teenage brain, inspired by her work but written and performed by teenagers. I defy any parent of teens to read it without shedding a tear!
