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Psychoeducation is about teenagers learning the basic functions of the mind and emotional systems and building on that knowledge to form a sophisticated understanding of how it pertains to them as individuals. Basic explanations of human psychology are not common enough in the education system. As a consequence teenagers can become confused about how and why their minds work the way they do, and how their feelings make sense and what they're for. They can end up feeling very unusual, freakish, bad, different from other people and ashamed of their inner experience. Since they don't understand, they tend not to know how to cooperate with their minds and feelings and can get into savage inner battles of self control. This can lead to various psychological and emotional problems.

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Having a more complete understanding of human psychological basics has many benefits. It helps teenagers to feel more comfortable in their own skin, develop a sense of faith in themselves, be able to trust themselves and to act in accord with their genuine thoughts and feelings. It helps teenager get "on board" with their natural, authentic way of being and it avoids them going against their nature to the extent that psychological problems arise. They learn to heal, grow and mature in their own natural ways. They can know in their core something like "It's OK to be the way that I am. My thinking and feeling apparatus is in tact, it works and I can cooperate with it purposefully to exert my personal power and make what I want out of my life." This is a stabilizing, grounding and empowering attitude to take towards themselves. 

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Once teenagers understand these basics the work of psychotherapy moves forward much more effectively. The therapeutic relationship is enhanced and progress happens faster because teenager stop resisting natural healing and growth promoting tendencies within themselves. This has a lot to do with being more comfortable expressing "negative" feelings because they understand and have some faith in the job these feelings are trying to do for them.

 

It usually also helpful to parents to understand some of these basics in terms that teenagers can absorb so that psychotherapy and home life and working in sync. One of the tricky things about parenting that this helps with is how to help your teenager correct certain behaviors without them taking it as a critique or negative judgement on their entire way of being. 

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Below is a list of common symptoms that may help you identify if your teenager would benefit from some basic psychoeducation.