Adolescent counselling issues (Top 5)

The current Blogspot will be based on the question “what are adolescent counseling issues?”. We will be discussing the various issues related to counseling issues of adolescents and discuss each issue in detail. 

What are adolescent counselling issues?

Adolescents in the adolescent age can develop a number of issues related to physical and emotional health. These issues can later lead towards a number of mental health issues that occur due to maladjustment to the adolescence phase. The adolescents take counseling for mainly the following issues:

• Fear of abandonment
• School adjustment
• Bullying
• Comparison
• Insecurity
• Emotional anxiety
• Friendship issues
• Sibling rivalry
• Parental conflicts
• Birth of a new offspring
• Academic concerns
• Identity crisis
• Feelings of neglect
• Mood swings
• Anger issues
• Self harm
• Sleep issues
• Substance use
• Trauma 
• Grief
• Biculturalism issues

Fear of abandonment

The adolescent period is a time of emotional vulnerability. The adolescents are prone to feeling unpleasant emotions and thinking in unpleasant ways. Fear of being abandoned in life by closed ones and family members usually develops when adolescents have been feeling ignored and rejected throughout their developmental years. They often develop a schema of being “inadequate in life”. Thus they often require counseling to overcome this irrational fear of them. 

School adjustment

School adjustment is an area of concern in adolescent counseling. Many of the adolescents find it difficult to adjust to the school environment. Adolescents often find it difficult to get attuned to the hindrances being faced in smoothly adjusting to the environment of the school. The major scenarios faced in the school environment usually include not getting adjusted with the teachers and adjustment to new classmates.

Bullying

Bullying is one of the major issues brought into the counseling sessions by adolescents. Adolescents are usually bullied at school by other children who have a tendency to overpower them. Bullying makes the students feel insecure, less wanted, less understood and being overpowered at school and in the neighbourhood.

Comparison

Comparison among the students in school and among the siblings at neighbourhood is another prominent issue of counseling the adolescents. Comparison between the classmates or between the siblings often leaves a negative impact on the personal growth, self image and self worth of the students. 

Due to comparison students often feel themselves as being inadequate, being a failure and being rejected. 

Insecurity

Insecurities in life are related to both one’s physical appearance and mental health. Insecurities often stem from childhood experiences and faulty thought patterns. Adolescents are emotionally vulnerable to the overwhelming life events that often trigger their insecurities related to self and the world. Thus they feel emotionally insecure, fearful, have apprehensions and constantly worry about life.

Emotional anxiety

The emotional anxieties of adolescents often stem from their underlying negative self beliefs. These make adolescents feel more inadequate about themselves, the other people and the world around them.

Emotional anxieties make adolescents often feel depressed, guilty and anxious in life. It affects the overall subjective well being of adolescents.

Friendship issues

Adolescence age is a period that is characteristic to forming social relations and romantic partnerships. Friendship issues are a major issue brought to the counseling sessions by adolescents. 

The friendship issue in counseling is mostly focused on trust issues, fidelity, peer influence, peer pressure, group rejection and opposite gender friendships.

Sibling rivalry

Sibling rivalry concerns are mostly related to childhood conflicts and faulty parenting styles. Sibling rivalry usually arises from a distorted relationship between siblings and the faulty parenting styles that induce rivalry feelings among the siblings. 

Often parents tend to favour one child over another child in a neutral fight between the siblings. Hence the children often get a message that they are less wanted than their siblings.

Parental conflicts

Parental conflicts are usually a significant factor behind adolescent counseling issues. Often the discords between parents, separation issues and abusive relationship patterns are a source of cognitive distortions, negative schemas and emotional disturbances in the adolescents. 

Adolescents who live with parents having toxic relations with each other learn the same behavioral patterns and are usually more reactive in life.

Birth of a new offspring

Birth of a new offspring in an adolescent’s life brings a set of new life changes. The new role in the adolescent’s life makes him more uncomfortable in his own home. His relation to the new offspring and to the change routine of his parents often make him emotionally vulnerable. This often leads adolescents to have more negative thoughts related to his relationship with parents and a negative self schema

Academic concerns

Adolescents in schools and colleges often struggle with academic issues. These include learning difficulties, poor academic abilities and  achievement needs of an adolescent that need to be  counseled in life for better academic performance. Adolescents also often develop a sense of fear of failure that makes them feel more anxious in life.

Identity crisis

The psychosocial goal of the adolescent age is identity crisis resolution. Hence the adolescents often seek counseling related to identity issues in their life. Thus adolescents seek better guidance in life that can prepare them to adapt to the transition from childhood to adolescent period.

Mood swings

Adolescence period is based on hormonal changes. As a result there are many types of mood that adolescents have and thus they often either feel low mood or feel impulsive. Adolescents are mostly reactive and more aggressive towards a triggering situation. They thus seek counseling to overcome their mood swings and establish a positive attitude towards life.

Anger issues

Anger issues among adolescents are the basis of many behavioral issues among them. Adolescents tend to be more behaviorally aggressive and reactive. They are often found engaged in many types of destructive coping practices. They often practice self harming behaviors like attempting suicide, getting addicted to drugs and other self mutilating behaviors.

Sleep issues

Adolescents are often more prime to develop sleep issues for which they often seek therapy. Sleep issues mostly occur due to overthinking, exaggerated use of social media and toxic relationship patterns that leave the adolescents with an adrenaline rush. Counseling often helps adolescents to overcome their sleep issues related to vivid dreaming, insomnia, hypersomnia and others.

Substance use

Substance use is a common issue among adolescents that they often seek counseling for. Substance use involves getting addicted to drugs out of discomfort, for seeking pleasure, for recreational purposes or just for peer influence. 

Trauma 

Trauma in adolescent life is related to any event that was emotionally significant in the adolescent’s life and that leaves the adolescent with overwhelming emotions in life. Trauma can result from a personal experience or a natural catastrophic event in life.

Due to trauma, there is a negative impact on the subjective well-being of adolescents that hinders their personal, social and academic life. Seeking counseling for trauma resolution often helps the adolescents in overcoming the barriers to daily routine.

Grief

Grief in the life of adolescents often results from the loss of a loved one or their favourite pet. During adolescence, grief often stems from relationship break ups with opposite gender friends. Grief often leaves an individual with feelings of extreme loneliness. 

Biculturalism issues

The biculturalism issues in adolescence are faced by adolescents on the basis of caste, race and religion. Adolescents who belong to two varying cultures, one being the culture of their ancestors and the other being the culture that they dwell in, often face adjustment issues due to the mistreatment from the natives of the new culture.

Conclusion

The current blogspot was based on the question “what are the adolescent counseling issues?”. We discussed the various issues brought into the counseling issues by adolescents. We also elaborated on each issue in detail.

Frequently asked questions : adolescent counselling issues

What are the different problems of teenagers that need counseling?

The various problems of teenagers that need counseling are :

• Anxiety
• Stress
• Substance abuse issues
• Low self esteem
• Trauma
• Grief

What are the common problems in Counselling?

The common problems in counseling include the following :

• Adjustment issues
• Identity crisis
• Drug abuse
• Substance use
• Mood swings
• Hyperactivity
• Reactivity
• Grief
• Loss
• Anxiety
• Self esteem issues

What are the major issues of adolescence?

The major issues of adolescence are related to growth and development. The growth and development related to the biological, social and emotional aspects of the individuals occur in the adolescence period. The adolescents face issues in adjusting to the transition from childhood to adulthood amidst this rapid period of growth.

What is adolescence Counselling?

Adolescence counseling is a special field of counseling that is aimed at resolving the issues related to the adolescence period. It is aimed at resolving conflicts related to identity crisis and overcoming barriers to adjusting well to the adolescence period. The adolescent counseling psychoeducation the adolescents about consequences of destructive coping, substance use, self mutilating behavior and other risky behaviors. 

Citations

7 Common Issues Addressed by Teen Counseling

https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/issues/child-and-adolescent-issues/common-issues

https://www.verywellmind.com/top-reasons-teens-go-to-therapy-2609138