DEEP DIVE: Lisa Damour on the Emotional Lives of Teenagers

Based on a recent listener question about how to start to let go as our kids get older, this "Deep Dive" series highlights some of our past interview episodes on the topic.

There's a mental health crisis among teens. Teens are also highly emotional creatures by design. Adolescent psychologist Dr. Lisa Damour thinks the two are starting to get conflated– and that means parents and educators can sometimes overcorrect in their responses to teens' emotional outbursts.

⁠⁠Dr. Lisa Damour⁠⁠ co-hosts the Ask Lisa podcast and writes about adolescents for the The New York Times, in addition to her clinical practice. Her book discussed in this episode is ⁠⁠The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable, and Compassionate Adolescents⁠⁠. 

Amy and Lisa explore:

• Why good sleep is the first thing we need to help dysregulated teens solve
• What the pandemic actually revealed about teens' mental health
• Key myths and misconceptions about adolescent emotions

Dr. Lisa says that we– and our teenagers– can gain much by asking if the strong emotion a teen may be feeling is uncomfortable or unmanageable. If it's uncomfortable, learning to sit with that is part of the process of healthy emotional maturation.

Here's where you can find Lisa:

• Our ⁠⁠previous interview ⁠⁠with Dr. Lisa
• ⁠⁠https://drlisadamour.com/⁠⁠
• @lisa.damour on IG
• ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/lisadamourphd⁠⁠
• Buy Lisa's book: ⁠⁠https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9780593500019⁠⁠

This episode originally aired on February 24, 2023.

What Fresh Hell is co-hosted by Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables.

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