In my research on adolescence, I wanted to understand what the turbulence in adolescence looks like in British Columbia, Canada. I asked psychologists and therapists in BC:
What does storm and stress (turbulence) look like in adolescence?
Themes of internalizing and externalizing behaviours emerged in my research. Internalizing (feelings and thoughts anyone from the outside cannot see) looks like: feelings of depression and anxiety, isolating and withdrawing from the world, suicide ideation, and eating disorders.
Externalizing (actions that are visible to those around us) looks like: eating disorders (which are both internalizing and externalizing), emotion dysregulation such as demonstrations of anger, drug and alcohol misuse, risky behaviours such as risky driving and unsafe sex, self-harm and suicide, and grades dropping and dropping out of school.
Are there other internal or external expressions of storm and stress you have witnessed or experienced?
In Western culture, many of us have normalized these behaviours. While these behaviours may be normal here, they are NOT normal around the world. Depression, anxiety, intense demonstrations of anger, risky behaviours, and drug and alcohol misuse are NOT a “natural” part of being a teenager. My research looks at why this exists in Western culture and what we can do about it.
