Teenage, also called adolescence, is considered as a bridge in the path of life. A segment of life that is not only crucial to the rest of life but also full of risks that may have an adverse impact lasting throughout adulthood. In some instances, an ordinary child, who will also grow into a judicious adult might have an extremely wild adolescent segment. It is also during teenage when there is a very high propensity for psychological disorders and issues including anxiety disorders, substance abuse or even post-traumatic stress disorder (King, 2017). Traditionally, the teenagers themselves have been blamed for this psychological issues with a popular argument being that their behavior is a form of rebellion to parental control. Expert opinion and research have, however, revealed that the rough psychological patch during adolescence is as a result of psychological growth processes that the adolescent has no control over. Based on the foregoing, teenagers need support and help, not condemnation, as they go through this extremely challenging part of their lives.
Unique and Critical Findings in the Article
It is already well known that adolescents undergo many physical changes during this critical part of their growth process. As reflected in the article, these changes are accompanied by a unique set of psychological and mental growth that explains part of the conducts exhibited by adolescents. The unique nature of the changes not only relates to the mental changes that take place but also the sequence of these changes. In this sequence, the reward system matures fast, followed by the amygdala and finally the prefrontal cortex.
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The reward system of the brain is the part of the brain responsible for incentive salience which controls motivation on an individual (King, 2017). It is the reward system that controls primal cravings in human beings which lead to motivation to undertake a certain activity or refrain from them. The growth of the reward systems will be responsible for recklessness, industriousness and even aggressiveness in the pursuit of goals in life (Friedman, 2014). The growth of the reward system in adolescents will explain the boisterous nature of adolescents and their desire to experiment. It is at this stage that youths will seek to try out pleasures such as sex, alcohol, drugs, and try out the social circuit.
Amygdala, on the other hand, is the part of the cortex that controls fear and anxiety (King, 2017). According to the article, the amygdala is also part of the brain that develops exponentially in adolescents. Teenagers are most prone to fear and anxiety with many sixteen-year-olds said to be always quiet and confined to their bedrooms. From a professional perspective, Dr. Freidman claims to have treated many adult patients who have inordinate anxieties in their adolescence. For example, one of the patients was afraid of interacting with people intellectually and would have to take alcohol just to be able to interact with others. Another developed a fear asthma and got panic attacks after watching an asthma advert. Finally, Dr. Freidman argues that adolescents have a high propensity for developing post-traumatic stress disorder due to the early development of amygdala which increases their reaction to fear factors (Friedman, 2014).
The development of the reward system and amygdala perspectives by themselves cannot give rise to a psychological problem, more so since the two develop through evolution is ought to be positive attribute. In adolescents, however, the reward system and the amygdala become an issue because they develop before the development of the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that is involved in reasoning, thinking, making decisions and moderating characters (King, 2017). It is the responsibility of the prefrontal cortex to moderate on the reactions made by the reward system and the amygdala. For example, if, through the amygdala, a person develops a fear of asthma because of a TV advert, it is the prefrontal cortex that helps the individual to realize that the fear is irrational. Secondly, if an individual wants to take narcotics in search of a high, the prefrontal cortex will enable the individual to realize that this might lead to addiction or incarceration. It is the delayed growth of the prefrontal cortex that makes the early development of the reward system and the amygdala detrimental to adolescents (Friedman, 2014).
Dr. Freidman’s Findings of the Therapeutic Approaches and Treatments
Based on the analysis of brain development among adolescents above, it is expected that they will be in regular need of psychological intervention. Normally, the two common forms of psychological intervention available are psychotherapy and pharmacological intervention. According to Dr. Friedman, these interventions known to work well amongst children and adults may not work as expected amongst the teenagers (Friedman, 2014) . Among the primary processes in psychotherapy is a cognitive behavioral therapy which is an extinction learning process meant to preprogram the mind into normalcy. The effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy operates through having an understanding of normalcy and by extension, what has gone wrong with the patient’s mental balance. The therapeutic process will then seek to undo what has gone wrong through a process of extinction learning. Two major issues plague this process and make is less effective for adolescents. The first is the use of drugs containing stimulants which trigger the release of Norepinephrine (NE) into their systems. NE works in the same way as adrenalin by cementing memories into the mind (Friedman, 2014) .
Unlearning changes that have come about after the release of NE into the system is much more difficult than the normal extinction learning process hence the ineffectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy. Secondly, the mental imbalance caused by a matured reward system and amygdala combined with an underdeveloped prefrontal cortex is another major challenge of cognitive behavioral therapy. Similarly, the use of ordinary pharmacological interventions for adolescents may also be problematic. These drugs have been developed either for children whose reward system, amygdala and prefrontal cortex are underdeveloped or for adults in whom all three systems are fully developed. In adolescents, the three systems are at different levels of development. The reward system is more developed than the other two and the amygdala, though less developed than the reward system is still more developed than the prefrontal system (Friedman, 2014) . Under this imbalanced mental state, pharmacological interventions might cause more damage than positive intervention.
Reflection and Conclusion
Based on the topics realized from the article, it is clear that adolescents face major challenges and should not be blamed for the psychological crisis that they undergo at this stage in life. To begin with, society treats adolescents differently from a social perspective. Adolescents are normally not given the preferential treatment that they used to get as children, neither do they get the reverence accorded to adults. Secondly, adolescents undergo major physical changes be they, boys or girls. The social and physical changes create room for anxiety and mental issues for adolescents. Yet, according to the instant article, it is at this point, when they need a sound mind to understand the issues that they are going through that their minds fail them the most. The reward system goes wild because it is unchecked by an immature prefrontal cortex. At the same time, all anxieties and fears are accelerated by a maturing amygdala yet fail to get the moderating effects of the prefrontal cortex. Finally, little has erstwhile been known about the mental challenges facing adolescents. They either do not get any intervention at all or when they do, they get the wrong intervention which, as outlined above will either be ineffective or in the worst case scenario, counterproductive. It is, therefore, not a wonder, that teenagers act crazy.
References
Friedman, R. A. (2014). Why Teenagers Act Crazy. The New York Times .
King, L. A. (2017). Experience Psychology, 3rd Ed.. New York: McGraw Hill Education
