Between childhood and adulthood is the adolescence, a vital stage in the development of minors towards their adult ‘self’ of the future that is not capricious or whimsical: it is a full-fledged metamorphosis that involves numerous and important brain changes. Is … For this reason, “the prefrontal cortex – the area of the brain that controls the most complex cognitive processes such as planning, metacognition, abstraction, reflection and emotional management, among others – changes drastically and is ‘rewired'”, as and as the doctor in Biology explains, David Buenoin his book ‘The adolescent brain‘ (Grijalbo).
All this is perfectly reflected in Riley, the protagonist of the film ‘Inside out 2’, by Disney and Pixar. The young woman is already 13 years old and while in the previous film, when she was a girl, we were able to see perfectly how they work Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and SadnessNow, these emotions will coexist with Anxiety, Envy, Boredom and Shame.
The first thing that fathers and mothers must be clear about is that some are not better than others. As Begoña Ibarrola, psychologist and one of the greatest experts in emotional intelligence in our country, said in an interview with ABC, «All emotions must be legitimized because they all have positive things.«. Therefore, teaching them emotional education from their first years of life is vital. Helping them identify whether they are sad or happy, why they are having a tantrum or how to calm down is key so that they reach adolescence with the necessary tools to face the new emotions they are going to experience.
How does the teenage brain work?
And in all this the neural connections. Neurons in the brain connect with others, establishing new connections and breaking others. This process is constant over time depending on how the person lives and is formed, their learning and experiences, as Bueno explains. “For the connection to be consolidated and maintained over time, it must be useful,” the expert recalls in his book. The more experiences and learnings, the child’s brain will obtain greater stimulation, therefore, a greater number of connections. “And depending on how this stimulation is,” he continues, “connections between some areas of the brain will be prioritized.”
Therefore, a child who is stimulated with fear and punishment will not make the same type of connections as another child whose trust is stimulated. In fact, when authoritarianism prevails in the family, two very specific brain areas are altered: the amygdalawhere emotions occur, and prefrontal cortex, where reflective thinking is managed and carried out (matures around age 30). «These alterations favor greater insecurity and rebellion when they reach adolescence. They also cause self-esteem and the ability to manage stress to decrease, and anxiety, impulsivity and the tendency to depression increase,” recalls the expert.
Emotions are generated in the amygdala, which is activated very intensely when faced with threats, and also contributes to establishing neural connections, not just learning. And in adolescence this fact is fundamental.
Joy, sadness, fear and anger are primary emotions, which is why they are what Riley experienced in the first film. The rest are secondary emotions and are part of children’s development and some may feel them more intensely than others, at later or earlier ages. The key, in the end, is teaching them to manage them.
Anxiety is closely related to fear, that is, it is a call for help: your teenager needs your help. It is also a natural response to a threat. Therefore, it is good in its right measure but it should never be allowed to become chronic. It’s time to validate the emotion, as you should do with everyone, because it is another alert that there is something that worries you.
Envy, Boredom and Shame These are emotions that are already palpable in childhood, so it is advisable to give them the appropriate tools to know how to manage them if the family wants to prevent the situation from becoming complicated in adolescence.
Families must allow adolescents to develop in a calm and relaxed environment of trust. Otherwise, fear, anger or anxiety will be triggered and your neural connections will be established based on these second emotions, when the ideal is that they do so around the first ones.
