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Teen Brain, Teen Mind: What Parents Need to Know to Survive the Adolescent Years
It’s an age-old why do teens behave the way they do? From mood swings to emotional outbursts, teenagers have confounded their parents, guardians, and family members for generations. In this accessible, even-handed guide, Dr. Ron Clavier provides insights into the teenaged mind from a neurological perspective, and seeks to explain the behaviors that are often associated with adolescence. Arguing that a clear understanding of the teenage brain will help parents to preserve the harmony at home, Dr. Clavier offers coping tips and strategies designed to ease tensions, improve communication, and set teenagers on the path toward a healthy life. A must for anyone with a teen in his or her life, this guide is an excellent resource for parents, teachers, and counselors.
287 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 8, 2023
I thought this was a pretty balanced and common sense book. I could have used some of this information a few years ago. It is not a "how to" book to experience easy adolescent years but it does help situate parents as to what is happening with our teens.
October 10, 2014
A couple of weeks ago was announced at my son's school that Dr Clavier would come to talk to the students, teachers and also give en evening talk for parents and outsiders. The announcement said he was a neuroscientist, had been working for more than 30 years, have taught and lectured all over North America. My son is a teenager and because I want things to be as smooth and good as can be, I asked the organiser to borrow a copy of the book. I got it last Friday and finished yesterday in the car on the way to his talk.
My positive criticisms:
The book is very well typeset, and looks very good in a modern yet classy way, with a arrangement and choice of different fonts that are very aesthetically pleasing to someone like me who pays great attention to these things. The book is written quite well, it is easy to read, easy to understand, and the style is not overly repetitive. The way it is written is such that an idea or set of ideas about teens and how to work constructively with them is presented, and then some examples of case studies are used to strengthen the point. Reading this book does give you a better understanding of both the kinds of approaches and behaviours we can expect to see in our children, and those that we should adopt ourselves in order to help make things work well at home for everyone.
My negative criticisms:
The title is totally misleading because it has nothing to do with the brain, other than it mentions that the prefrontal cortex develops from that of a child to that of an adult during teenage hood, and that the author believes that the mind only exists as the activity of the brain. But, really, that's it. I thought it would be a good way to learn something about brain function from a neuroscientist, but I didn't. In fact, Dr Clavier is not a neuroscientist; he is a psychologist. He has been working as a psychologist for over 30 years, and this is what he is: a 100% pure psychologist.
The book is really just like a very long pep talk: exactly what you'd expect from a psychologist, and even there, a lot of the examples are poorly chosen. One such poor example is the use of the apparent size of the sun in the sky or on the horizon to illustrate how our beliefs can affect the way we perceive things, and how this can lead to conflict due to clashing beliefs. There are so many better examples one can think of. And I found this to be the case with many of his illustrative examples and analogies.
Believe it or not, there is not one word about nutrition and biochemistry! I was at first shocked by this, reading and waiting (in vain) for it to come up. But then I understood that this makes perfect sense, because for a psychologist, what matters is psychology. What is amazing is that this kind of myopic view of human health and function still survives today, after the work of remarkable people like Abram Hoffer, who demonstrated over and over again during his career that mental disorders and dysfunctions are entire biochemical in nature and that they can usually be very quickly and permanently resolved by appropriate supplementation, most importantly with B12 and B3. Also, there are tons of studies done in psych wards that show the very strong links between Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D status in relation to mental (and psychiatric) function. And what is behaviour, mood, and psychological states if they are not simply mental function. Anyway, I am happy that there is now the field that was named Evolutionary Psychiatry, where a very good job of looking at the effects of nutrients on mental function is carried out. Still, to not even mention what can be demonstrated as being the very most crucial element for balanced and productive behaviour in children, teens and adults, namely nutritional status, is mind boggling to me.
Anyway, it is not a bad book, but it's like listening to an old man, with some experience with people, telling you a long story about how you can do things to have happier teens, happier parents, and a happier home, from the very narrow perspective of a professional psychologist who surely know extremely little about how crucially important is biochemistry and nutritional status on everything we think, feel, perceive and do. For me, this is a major problem that betrays an extremely unfortunate state of affairs in the medical community today, in which I include the psychs like him, whether they are young and hip, or old and passe.
I gave it 2 stars only, not because it is badly written, but because it paints a very skewed picture of what parents should primarily focus on: zero junk, zero sugar, zero grains, lots of fat, and nutrient-dense, enzyme-rich foods with the addition of a few essential supplements.
And the talk, well, it was basically entire extracted from the book, with the same (poor) examples, but with a good level of energy and humour in the presentation. So it was a good talk, but I didn't stick around to speak to him.
My positive criticisms:
The book is very well typeset, and looks very good in a modern yet classy way, with a arrangement and choice of different fonts that are very aesthetically pleasing to someone like me who pays great attention to these things. The book is written quite well, it is easy to read, easy to understand, and the style is not overly repetitive. The way it is written is such that an idea or set of ideas about teens and how to work constructively with them is presented, and then some examples of case studies are used to strengthen the point. Reading this book does give you a better understanding of both the kinds of approaches and behaviours we can expect to see in our children, and those that we should adopt ourselves in order to help make things work well at home for everyone.
My negative criticisms:
The title is totally misleading because it has nothing to do with the brain, other than it mentions that the prefrontal cortex develops from that of a child to that of an adult during teenage hood, and that the author believes that the mind only exists as the activity of the brain. But, really, that's it. I thought it would be a good way to learn something about brain function from a neuroscientist, but I didn't. In fact, Dr Clavier is not a neuroscientist; he is a psychologist. He has been working as a psychologist for over 30 years, and this is what he is: a 100% pure psychologist.
The book is really just like a very long pep talk: exactly what you'd expect from a psychologist, and even there, a lot of the examples are poorly chosen. One such poor example is the use of the apparent size of the sun in the sky or on the horizon to illustrate how our beliefs can affect the way we perceive things, and how this can lead to conflict due to clashing beliefs. There are so many better examples one can think of. And I found this to be the case with many of his illustrative examples and analogies.
Believe it or not, there is not one word about nutrition and biochemistry! I was at first shocked by this, reading and waiting (in vain) for it to come up. But then I understood that this makes perfect sense, because for a psychologist, what matters is psychology. What is amazing is that this kind of myopic view of human health and function still survives today, after the work of remarkable people like Abram Hoffer, who demonstrated over and over again during his career that mental disorders and dysfunctions are entire biochemical in nature and that they can usually be very quickly and permanently resolved by appropriate supplementation, most importantly with B12 and B3. Also, there are tons of studies done in psych wards that show the very strong links between Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D status in relation to mental (and psychiatric) function. And what is behaviour, mood, and psychological states if they are not simply mental function. Anyway, I am happy that there is now the field that was named Evolutionary Psychiatry, where a very good job of looking at the effects of nutrients on mental function is carried out. Still, to not even mention what can be demonstrated as being the very most crucial element for balanced and productive behaviour in children, teens and adults, namely nutritional status, is mind boggling to me.
Anyway, it is not a bad book, but it's like listening to an old man, with some experience with people, telling you a long story about how you can do things to have happier teens, happier parents, and a happier home, from the very narrow perspective of a professional psychologist who surely know extremely little about how crucially important is biochemistry and nutritional status on everything we think, feel, perceive and do. For me, this is a major problem that betrays an extremely unfortunate state of affairs in the medical community today, in which I include the psychs like him, whether they are young and hip, or old and passe.
I gave it 2 stars only, not because it is badly written, but because it paints a very skewed picture of what parents should primarily focus on: zero junk, zero sugar, zero grains, lots of fat, and nutrient-dense, enzyme-rich foods with the addition of a few essential supplements.
And the talk, well, it was basically entire extracted from the book, with the same (poor) examples, but with a good level of energy and humour in the presentation. So it was a good talk, but I didn't stick around to speak to him.
January 17, 2015
- Focuses on the move from concrete to abstract thought.
- Uses a lot of good analogies to help explain teen behavior, as well as analogies for explaining issues to teens.
- Got a little dull during the section focusing on democratic parenting. A bit too philosophical for my tastes.
- I liked how he talked about retrogression - how certain behaviors are going to affect people differently and those already dealing with difficulties will have an increased burden from risk behaviors than others.
- There's a weird point in the sexuality section where Clavier says that because young girls are socially allowed to talk about the start of their menstruation, while boys must hide the fact that they've had their first ejaculation, that women are more celebrated with their entrance into sexuality, while boys are forced to be quiet about it. I was so perplexed by that point because while he is right about menstruation being a more open topic than ejaculation, boys by far are told that their sexuality is normal and essential, while girls are supposed to be quiet about their sexuality. It may be more acknowledged when girls enter puberty, but they're not supposed to act on their puberty. Boys may not announce "I'm now able to ejaculate!" but they're certainly rewarded through the rest of their lives for their sexual conquests and for talking about their sexual desires. I was just annoyed by the assertion that all was fine and dandy with how we handle emerging female sexuality.
- This book does talk about young people in a very positive manner, which I appreciated.
- Uses a lot of good analogies to help explain teen behavior, as well as analogies for explaining issues to teens.
- Got a little dull during the section focusing on democratic parenting. A bit too philosophical for my tastes.
- I liked how he talked about retrogression - how certain behaviors are going to affect people differently and those already dealing with difficulties will have an increased burden from risk behaviors than others.
- There's a weird point in the sexuality section where Clavier says that because young girls are socially allowed to talk about the start of their menstruation, while boys must hide the fact that they've had their first ejaculation, that women are more celebrated with their entrance into sexuality, while boys are forced to be quiet about it. I was so perplexed by that point because while he is right about menstruation being a more open topic than ejaculation, boys by far are told that their sexuality is normal and essential, while girls are supposed to be quiet about their sexuality. It may be more acknowledged when girls enter puberty, but they're not supposed to act on their puberty. Boys may not announce "I'm now able to ejaculate!" but they're certainly rewarded through the rest of their lives for their sexual conquests and for talking about their sexual desires. I was just annoyed by the assertion that all was fine and dandy with how we handle emerging female sexuality.
- This book does talk about young people in a very positive manner, which I appreciated.
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January 10, 2019Donated 2012
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews