Social anxiety disorder involves an intense fear or phobia of social and performance situations. Although most teenagers go through periods of normal anxiety related to the changes that go along with adolescence, those with SAD experience fear that is out of proportion to the situations that they face. For some teenagers, social anxiety becomes chronic, …
Many parents are on board with the idea that time away from screen media, with increased face-to-face social interaction, will improve their teen’s social skills and social relationships. In one field experiment, published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, teenagers who spent time at an outdoor education camp showed significant improvement in social skills, …
Read more Time Away From Screens in Wilderness Therapy Improves Social Skills
Teens who exhibit problematic social behaviors show reduced brain activity and weaker connectivity between the brain regions implicated in emotion regulation. Parenting an antisocial teenager can be tough sometimes. If you have never dealt with it yourself, it can be difficult to understand their struggles. Antisocial behavior may begin during childhood and if maintained during …
Read more When Teens Aren’t Up to Talk: Helping An Antisocial Teenager
During adolescence, individuals begin to deepen their connections with their peers and build intimacy, but high school can be an intense time for social pressure, where socially withdrawn teenagers struggle to feel like they fit in. While identity exploration is about figuring out who you are and who you want to be, it usually happens …
Read more Struggling To Fit In: Helping Socially Withdrawn Teenagers
Our primary need as human beings is that for connection. In fact, it is hard-wired into our brains, and meeting that need is crucial for our personal development, especially in the early years of life, usually until around the age of five. If during that period, a child was unable to bond with a primary …
Read more Three ways to handle issues with attachment in teenage years
Nonverbal communication makes up more than half of communication. Understanding how to read nonverbal communication–body language and facial expressions–can help with building essential communication skills. Improving your own nonverbal communication, such as keeping your body language open (no crossed arms), help you communicate with others. A recent study looked into just how much we use …
Read more How Facial Expressions Are Deeply Connected to Communication Skills
Some think that the days of bullying teens are in the past–but all the data says differently. Much of bullying has leaked into the online world, however regular lunchroom bullying is still very much at large. Recently, a young boy who has experienced bullying first-hand took it upon himself to speak out about it. “Why …
Read more Viral Video of Boy Explains Why Bullying Teens Is a Problem
Bullying in teens is more alive than ever before. The US Department of Health and Human Services reports that more than 1 in 4 students, grades 6-12, have experienced bullying. Researchers believe this may be because bullying has more platforms now–it’s no longer just in person, but online. So, bullying is running rampant, but what …
Read more New Research Shows Bullying in Teens Causes Issues Later in Life
When it comes to bullying in high school, it seems we’re always hearing about how to help the victims of bullying–which is important, don’t get me wrong, but what about the actual bullies? Any client that’s taking it upon themselves to make others feel weak and inferior is obviously struggling with their own issues deep …
Read more Bullying in High School: Watch Out for Intellectual Hierarchy
No one will argue that communication skills for teens are important–but it turns out they’re even more important than most have imagined and it all has to do with friendship. Studies show that friendship plays an extremely critical role in adolescence; it essentially helps teens get on a path to a healthy and successful future …
Read more Communication Skills for Teens Critical for Overall Wellness