4 thoughts on “This is your brain (emotionally labile teen edition)”

  1. Yes, when our daughter went through it she was diagnosed with Teenage Hormonal Rage Syndrome (only 1 or 2 percent of teenagers get it), i.e. a really, really bad case of what most teenagers go through. So now, it seems, they have isolated the exact villain in this. Gosh, I would want to apply caution in using a drug to suppress it — maybe it’s needed for the teenager and his/her brain to develop correctly.

  2. Good point. All things come in continuua. Where does the top end of “normal” end and the start of “pathological” occur? That question will be difficult to answer, and it finding a sound answer will be confounded by the pressure of drug-makers to pathologize EVERYTHING. Note the recent effort in that direction with “restless legs syndrome.”

    It’s a puzzlement.

  3. I dunno. Back in the day in Ontari-ari-ari-o, mental health was determined by a line drawn on
    a) harm to self
    b) harm to others
    c) imminent and serious physical impairment

    The c) means, essentially, that although you aren’t actually violently hurting anybody, your living environment is full of dead cats and you’ve stacked empty liquor bottles so high they may crush you, that sort of thing.

  4. Parents beware, I’m sure drugs for the “teenage brain problem” are on the way. There will be pressure from high school teachers and principals to control “unruly” teenagers. My daughter was certainly in the “pathological” category, but we managed with councelling, a stringent set of rules, help from others (coaches, principals, friends, extended family, etc.) to bring our daughter back bit by bit. Mind you it took a full two years and it was exhausting!!! Still I’m not in favour of a wonder drug which will likely be applied to a significant segment of the teenage population and as stated above the distinction between normal and pathological will be fussy and drugs applied liberally.

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