Study: Teens have diminished ability to suppress emotional response

divinecaroline.com
If you could relive your middle school and high school years, would you? Chances are most people would respond with a resounding, "Hell no."

While I did meet many lifelong friends in high school, there is no way on earth I would want to relive these moments. It seems like for many (including me), the preteen and teen years seem to consist of many ups and downs. Looking back at my teenage years, I can distinctly remember that it was much more difficult to deal with seemingly small problems than it is today, more than five years later.

But, according to a recent study, I have learned I am not alone. And this gives reason to the phenomenon of the drastic increase in drama during the teen years.

In a new study, Weill Cornell Medical College researchers determined that once a teenager’s brain is triggered by a threat, the ability to suppress an emotional response to the threat is diminished.

Psych Central said this may account for why anxiety and stress-related disorders are at a high during this age in a person's life. 

One of the findings is that for adults and children, they can see when a threat is no longer present. For teens, it's hard for them to let this go, even when the threat is over. 

The study’s lead author Dr. Siobhan S. Pattwell said, “Our findings are important because they might explain why epidemiologists have found that anxiety disorders seem to spike during adolescence or just before adolescence. It is estimated that over 75 percent of adults with fear-related disorders can trace the roots of their anxiety to earlier ages.”

You Might Also Like

0 comments