Features of the emergence of fears in adolescents
All fears have their reasons. Phobias that originate in adolescence require special attention. The fact is that the period from 11 to 16 years is a period of active self-expression of the child, the manifestation of his social activity and the formation of his worldview. It is important to understand that in adolescence a person changes his interests, hobbies and begins to show interest in the opposite sex.
Own mistakes, unfavorable circumstances, undeserved criticism from parents and teachers can leave an imprint on the child’s psyche. This affects the individual's self-esteem and social relationships.
The teenager perceives any problems with anxiety, because he has not previously been in conditions that require psychological adaptation. Psychologists are sure that this is how fears arise at the age of 11–16 years.
Main causes of fears
Teenage fears have many causes. Some of them are associated with problems in educational institutions, poor relationships with peers and teachers. Others are related to problems at home. Psychology combines all the reasons for the development of fears into two groups - biological and social. Biological reasons depend on the characteristics of the nervous system during the period of physiological development. The development of fears is based on emotional hypersensitivity, characteristic of people of “transitional” age.
Social reasons are directly related to the life of a teenager in a social group. Most often, fear arises due to constant prohibitions from teachers and parents, conflicts with peers, etc. In addition, the reasons for the development of a phobia are fear for the health of parents or worries about their death. Psychologists are sure that teenage fears have serious differences from the phobias of adults. The reason for this is the increased risk of social fears. Phobic disorders are rarely diagnosed in children.
Teenagers are very susceptible to social influences
Natural phobias
Natural phobias often arise in early childhood, when the child’s psyche can be damaged by any sharp sound, scream or unpleasant information. The manifestation of fears in the period from 11 to 16 years can be associated with various factors that cause the patient a feeling of insecurity, anxiety and panic attack. Most often, teenagers are concerned about:
- Fear of death. The most common fear. Moreover, it is not connected with his own death. Teenagers are more worried that something might happen to their mother and father. It is difficult to identify signs of such fear, because at this age young people try to hide their fear rather than talk about it.
- Fear of illness. More often it manifests itself due to existing seriously ill relatives or due to their death.
- Fear of the dark. An equally common fear that can go away with age. The reasons for it may lie in watching horror films, playing computer games, etc.
In psychology, a special place is given to night terrors, which can also be present in adolescence. Signs of such fear are expressed by periodic nightmares, screams and an excited state.
Horror movies stimulate teenage angst
Social fears
According to psychologists, adolescents’ social fears often arise from the open aggression of others. Conflict situations, especially unresolved ones, cause feelings of anxiety and even panic in adolescents. But this is not the only reason for the manifestation of social fears. Life in society has many advantages and disadvantages, which a young person is not yet able to correctly evaluate.
An example of social anxiety is public speaking. The child feels embarrassed, nervous and cannot concentrate when standing at the blackboard in front of his classmates. He feels the danger that any mistake he makes will be reflected:
- on a sense of prestige,
- on the desire for authority among peers,
- on the teacher’s attitude towards the teenager himself.
Even if a student knows the educational material, obsessive fear will affect his ability to demonstrate knowledge. As a result, the student's performance will decrease.
The consequences of poor academic performance may affect his relationship with his mother and father. Their criticism may be undeserved because he or she knows the course material very well. But the student is not able to confront his fears.
Social fears can also relate to interactions between peers. Shy individuals rarely find contact with them. This may be partly due to the failures experienced in similar situations, self-doubt, dissatisfaction with appearance and well-being in the family. During adolescence, an unhappy “first love”, subsequent separation and stress can have an impact.
Children's fears from 11 to 16 years old
Adolescence is a crucial period in the formation of a worldview, a system of relationships, interests, hobbies and social orientation. Self-esteem undergoes significant development, which is inextricably linked with a sense of self-esteem and self-confidence in the context of real interpersonal relationships.
A teenager, on the one hand, strives to preserve his individuality, to be himself, and on the other hand, to be with everyone, to belong to the group, to conform to its values and norms. Resolving this contradiction is not very easy, and there are several ways: from egocentrism and withdrawal into oneself at the cost of losing contacts with peers and friendship with them to blind conformism - uncritical perception of any group instructions, refusal of personal freedom and independence in opinions and judgments.
The need to be yourself is also a desire to improve your “I”, which is inseparable from anxiety, anxiety, fear of not being yourself, that is, becoming someone else, at best - depersonalized, at worst - having lost self-control, power over your feelings and reason.
Most often, fear of not being yourself means fear of change. Therefore, emotionally sensitive, impressionable teenagers are afraid not only of mental, but also of physical deformity, which is sometimes expressed in intolerance to the physical defects of other people or in obsessive thoughts about their own “ugly” figure, “ugly” facial features, etc.
The fear of change also has a physiological basis, since during puberty there are exciting changes in the body’s activity (the appearance of menstruation in girls or wet dreams in boys, an increase or decrease in body weight, excessively rapid growth and painful transient sensations in various parts of the body, etc. ).
As already noted, at primary school age, the fear of the death of parents begins to prevail over the fear of death of oneself, reaching its maximum development, like fears of war, in adolescence. Adolescents also have expressed fears of attack and fire, boys also have fears of getting sick, and girls have fears of the elements and confined spaces. All of the above fears are mainly in the nature of fears and are in one way or another connected with the fear of death, reminding of it with an emphasized and in a certain way focused instinct of self-preservation.
Girls' adolescence is more saturated with fears than boys, which reflects their greater tendency to fear in general. However, the average number of all fears in them and boys noticeably decreases in adolescence (and primary school) compared to preschool age.
All fears can be divided into natural and social .
Natural fears are based on the instinct of self-preservation and, in addition to the fundamental fears of death of oneself and parents, include fears of: monsters, ghosts, animals, darkness, moving vehicles, the elements, heights, depths, water, confined spaces, fire, fire, blood, injections, pain, doctors , unexpected sounds, etc..
Social fears are fears of loneliness, certain people, punishment, not being on time, being late, not being able to cope, not being able to cope with feelings, not being yourself, being judged by peers, etc.
A special survey of adolescents 10-16 years old showed a clear predominance of natural fears at 10-12 years old and social fears in subsequent years, with a maximum increase at 15 years old. We see a kind of intersection of the fears under consideration in adolescence - a decrease in instinctive and an increase in interpersonally determined fears.
Compared to boys, girls have a greater number of not only natural fears, but also social ones. This not only confirms that girls are more fearful, but also indicates that their anxiety is more pronounced.
To clarify these data, a specially developed anxiety scale was used, consisting of 17 statements such as: “Are you often overcome by a feeling of anxiety in connection with any upcoming events?”, “Does it bother you that you are different from your peers in some way?”, “ Does the future excite you with its uncertainty and uncertainty?”, “Is it difficult for you to bear waiting for tests and answers?”, “Do you often feel out of breath with excitement, have a lump in your throat, trembling in your body, or red spots on your face?”, “ Do you tend to get ready earlier than most of your peers?” etc.
It turned out that anxiety, like social fears, reaches its maximum in boys and girls at the age of 15, that is, by the end of adolescence, and anxiety in girls is significantly higher than in boys. The increase in anxiety and social fears is one of the criteria for the formation of self-awareness in adolescents and increasing sensitivity in the sphere of interpersonal relationships.
At the age of 12, boys have the least expressed fears, both natural and social, and with them emotional sensitivity. Girls at this age are least afraid of death. The decrease in emotional sensitivity and the resulting decrease in responsiveness and the total number of fears, primarily in boys, is explained by the onset of puberty and the inherent increase in excitability, negativity and aggressiveness.
Consequently, the more pronounced the level of aggressiveness, the less fear, and vice versa: the more fear, the less the ability to cause physical and mental harm to others. It is not for nothing that we see how some, disinhibited in behavior, self-confident and aggressive teenagers boast of their fearlessness and unceremoniousness, lack of moral and ethical principles, while others suffer from the inability to protect themselves, being unsure of themselves, always guilty and dreaming of peace and harmony between all , without exception, by people.
Most teenagers are somewhere in the middle: they are not so self-confident, they can stand up for themselves if necessary and are more flexible and contactable in relationships with peers. And they have fears, but there are relatively few of them and they are, rather, a means of protection, of preventing danger where it can really pose a threat to life, health and social well-being. So in the adolescent range of fears there will be a complete absence of them with disinhibition, an excess with self-doubt and neuroses, and the presence of fears natural for age as danger signals.
According to statistical (correlation) analysis, the lack of emotionally warm, direct relationships with parents in younger adolescents or conflictual relationships with them in older adolescents significantly influences the increase in fears, primarily in the area of interpersonal (social) relationships. Moreover, girls react to the lack of mutual understanding between parents with a much greater increase in fears than boys, that is, the alienation of parents traumatizes them more and often contributes to the appearance of depressive shades of mood.
Thus, interpersonal tension and low mutual understanding in the family increases the number of fears in adolescents, just as it happens in older preschool age. Obviously, these age periods are sensitive to fears in their own way, which should be taken into account by adults who often quarrel or do not talk to each other.
More than ever before, a large number of fears in adolescents reduces self-confidence, without which adequate self-esteem, personal integration and self-acceptance, implementation of plans and full communication are impossible. This is confirmed by classroom survey data. With a significant number of fears, there is an unfavorable position of the teenager in the team, a small number of positive choices from peers, especially of the same sex, that is, a low socio-psychological status.
As we can see, fears in teenagers are not such a rare occurrence, but they are usually carefully hidden. The presence of persistent fears in adolescence always indicates an inability to protect oneself. The gradual development of fears into anxious concerns also speaks of self-doubt and lack of understanding on the part of adults, when there is no sense of security and confidence in the immediate social environment.
Consequently, the teenage problem of “being yourself among others” is expressed by both self-doubt and uncertainty in others. Self-doubt, which grows out of fears, is the basis of wariness, and uncertainty in others is the basis of suspicion. Wariness and suspicion turn into mistrust, which further turns into bias in relationships with people, conflicts or isolation of one’s “I” and withdrawal from reality.
Unlike ordinary fear, obsessive fear is perceived as something alien, occurring involuntarily, against the will, as a kind of obsession. Attempts to cope with it through struggle only serve to strengthen it, just as a pile goes deeper and deeper into the ground when subjected to sharp blows.
Physiologically, obsession is always a certain dynamic area of the brain that generates anxiety, which, as a dominant, is fenced off from the rest of the brain by protective, transcendental inhibition. Figuratively speaking, we have a high tower that constantly emits a bright, blinding light, even during the day, when there is no need for it. The tower itself is surrounded by a reliable system of defensive structures in the form of a wall, a moat with water, watchtowers, etc. It is not possible to take this fortress by storm, just as sometimes it is not possible to shake off one’s fears.
Obsessive fears are something that is unacceptable for a person, something that he does not want to allow into his consciousness, but from which he himself cannot immediately free himself, since this would mean a complete, final, irrevocable victory of the rational sides of the psyche over its emotional, sensual, instinctive sides. The fear would have passed over time, but it was entrenched precisely as a result of the struggle with it, an irreconcilable attitude, the inability to compromise, admit one’s failure and protect oneself in the future.
From the above it follows that fear does not become obsessive immediately, but after some, sometimes quite long, time. The initial fear can appear quickly, suddenly from a strong, unexpected fright, experience, shock, that is, as a result of emotional stress or shock, which is fixed, imprinted and acts like a splinter, causing anxiety whenever similar circumstances are remembered or when they come into contact .
For example, once experienced fear when answering at the board, confusion, confusion can involuntarily be imprinted in emotional long-term memory (and it is always expressed in those who are predisposed to fear) and remind themselves every time they are called to the board again. Then anxiety will develop in anticipation of another failure, even just from the idea of its possibility. The result will be stiffness, tension, confused, slurred speech, loss of train of thought and receiving the wrong grade.
In a similar way, there is an involuntary self-development of fear, perceived as an alien formation that does not obey the will. Increasingly experiencing one's inferiority, decreased activity, refusal to take any risks, unnatural excitability in anticipation and inhibition in responses is a typical picture of obsessive-compulsive neurosis, in the form of fears, or expectation neurosis, as they said before.
The development in such cases of neurotic stuttering with inevitable written answers, the cessation of calls to the board and the cessation of answers from the seat in general is also characteristic. Needless to say, this only contributes to the fixation of stuttering, the development of defeatist attitudes and the disability of the teenager’s psyche.
The same type of obsessive fear of enclosed spaces develops, when fainting from stuffiness or fatigue experienced during a crush in the subway or bus serves as a reason for refusing these types of transport in the future, since there is a fear of a repetition of the horror experienced.
In both cases, we are talking about phobias - obsessive fears, when there is an involuntary painful fixation on some experienced, traumatic life events. The obsession underlying such fears indicates a certain inflexibility of thinking, stagnation of mental processes, caused both by an exaggerated development of a sense of duty and adherence to principles, and by excessive fatigue and overstrain of intellectual processes.
The still fragile psyche of a teenager cannot tolerate violence against himself, a long and exhausting race for prestige. It is not without reason that obsessive fears and thoughts are typical for children and adolescents who strive not so much to meet generally accepted standards and to succeed in everything, but to always be the first and receive only excellent grades. Moreover, no exceptions are made here, the requirements of the moment, the real balance of forces are not taken into account, that is, inflexibility and maximalism again appear. All these teenagers have a heightened sense of “I”, are touchy and ambitious, one-sidedly oriented towards success, and do not recognize any deviations from a given goal, much less defeat.
On the one hand, they want to live up to their obligations in everything, meet expectations, that is, be together with everyone. On the other hand, they do not want to lose their individuality, dissolve into the mass, or be a blind executor of someone’s will. In this we again see the problem of “being yourself among others,” which is difficult to resolve in neuroses, since the prevailing fear of “not being yourself,” that is, changed, deprived of self-control and incapable in general, also means the fear of not fitting in with others, not being accepted by peers and (more widely, in terms of school adaptation) socially recognized.
Let us dwell in more detail on the fears and doubts associated with obsessive fears, since they are specific to adolescence. In many ways, they have preconditions in primary school age, in the already discussed fears of what might happen, fears of being late, not being on time, being the wrong person, not meeting the requirements.
All these fears are imbued in adolescents with obsessive thoughts, various kinds of fixed ideas, which gives rise to obsessive fears of some kind of failure, defeat, shame and disgrace. Often obsessive fears relate to health, especially if someone in the family is often sick and there is a lot of talk on this topic.
If a teenager is sufficiently suspicious and prone to anxiety (and he “inherits” this from anxious and suspicious parents), then he develops obsessive fears that no one loves him, does not understand that no one needs him, that he has no future , prospects, possibilities, that everything is already behind, finished, stopped and there is no point in living.
Such nihilism of existence reflects an anxious and suspicious style of thinking, a kind of “woe from mind”, the impossibility of achieving the ideal, the desire to please everyone, to do everything as it should, as it should. Such an overvalued idea comes into conflict with the soft character and lack of self-confidence characteristic of suspicious people.
As a result, in order to be completely sure that everything is being done as it should be, and thereby avoid worrying about their incompetence, suspicious people are forced to constantly check the accuracy, correctness, and compliance of their actions, which is expressed in the form of involuntarily emerging obsessive doubts. For example, whether the homework was done correctly, whether everything that is needed was collected in the briefcase, whether the door is closed, and if so, then maybe only one turn of the key, etc., etc.
Since obsessive doubts can appear for any reason, even the most insignificant, they cause a lot of torment for teenagers, forcing them to waste their mental energy unproductively, since they cannot be “thrown out of their heads” with one effort of will.
Obsessive fears and doubts are often combined with each other, just as their sources—anxiety and suspiciousness—complement each other. To be afraid, you need to doubt your ability to protect yourself, and to doubt, you need to be afraid of doing something wrong. Often, a person subject to obsessive fears appears to others as an inveterate skeptic, and one experiencing obsessive doubts as a hopeless pessimist, which not only complement each other, but also creates an anxious-depressive mood typical of adolescence with its low mood, anxiety, and feelings of hopelessness. and disbelief, a pessimistic assessment of the prospect. (We see the opposite picture of neuroses in psychopathic personality development in the form of impudence, aggressiveness, disinhibition of drives and inadequately inflated self-esteem).
Let us illustrate this with a number of observations. In the first case, we are talking about a fearful, insecure and suspicious girl of 14 years old, who was haunted by an obsessive fear of involuntary urination (once this happened unnoticed by others). Because of the fear of repeating the unpleasant episode, she became constrained and shy in new communication situations, and from constant stress - irritable, depressed and whiny.
My childhood was not happy. The mother divorced the father when the child was 4 years old. The girl was sad for a long time, at times she was capricious and whiny, she missed her father, to whom she had become attached. But the irreconcilable mother was categorically against further contacts between her daughter and her father, if only because they were like two peas in a pod.
At the age of 6, against the backdrop of an age-related fear of death, the girl had a hard time undergoing a double operation to remove adenoids, was afraid of all medical procedures and could not be persuaded to go for dental treatment. Problems arose at school due to shyness and ridicule from peers. As a result, she began to withdraw more and more into herself, holding back the external expression of feelings, headaches appeared and, finally, an episode of involuntary urination occurred.
Her body could not withstand many years of neuropsychic overload, a state of constant anxiety and fear. The experiences were so strong that she began to control her every step, endlessly visit the toilet and obsessively think about what could happen. She could no longer help but think about it, and her obsessive thoughts, concerns, and fears were the result of a painful emotional disorder, a neurotic conflict between the rational, controlling and emotional, feeling sides of the psyche.
It should also be said about another 14-year-old girl who did not know what she was afraid of specifically, since she was afraid of everything, and especially of doing something wrong. Because of this, she was extremely constrained, indecisive and shy in communication. Moreover, being defenseless and kind, sensitive and touchy, she could not stand up for herself, and anyone could have offended her. She was afraid of death, darkness and punishment, which, as we know, is inherent in an earlier age.
Due to growing insecurity, fears and anxiety over the years, she experienced more and more difficulties in communicating with peers, and was often forced to remain silent, worrying that she was not like everyone else and did not know how to behave freely and naturally. Accordingly, the mood became increasingly depressed, and when we first saw her, she gave the impression of being wilted, inhibited and having lost faith in herself.
It turned out that she lives with her mother and her parents, and her father was removed from the family shortly after her birth. Everything in the family is managed solely by the grandmother, who considers herself always and in everything right. Distrustful and suspicious, the grandmother is also constantly afraid that something might happen, she never leaves the house alone, and does not use transport.
She is constantly accompanied by her husband, an exceptionally soft and pliable man. At the same time, he constantly doubts the correctness of his actions, is annoying and pestering - a bore, as his loved ones assess. Like many suspicious people, he is a pedant who is sensitive to any changes. That's why he has everything laid out on shelves, his pen is always in the same place, his coat is on the same hook, every morning he comes to his granddaughter and, ceremonially shuffling his feet, says the same words of greeting.
What everyone in the family has in common is an increased adherence to principles combined with constant concern, dissatisfaction, lack of cheerfulness, pessimism and disbelief in the possibility of change. In addition, all adults have an internal way of processing experiences (impressiveness), an extremely limited circle of contacts and emphasized selectivity in them, and insufficient sociability in general.
It is obvious that at one time, cheerful, sociable, sociable and thus “frivolous” for a “deep-thoughtful” family, the girl’s father “did not come to court” and was “anathematized” by the authoritarian grandmother with her categoricalness and intolerance. By depriving her daughter of her husband, she demonstrated to everyone her lack of independence and inability to live “as needed,” “correctly,” “as we were taught.” Thus, she could, as in childhood, powerfully take care of her daughter.
It is not surprising that the girl’s mother herself, as a teenager, experienced all of her daughter’s current problems. She was also constrained by fear, often silent, covered with red spots when excited, was shy and shy, timid and indecisive. And now she is not confident in herself, she is afraid that surrounded by strangers she will look funny and ugly, although she understands that these fears are unjustified.
My daughter has the same picture: shyness, timidity and fear that she will tell her peers whether she will look funny. Due to obsessive fears, natural behavior is lost, stiffness appears, and the intonation of the voice changes. As she herself says: “There are girls who don’t reach into their pockets for a word, but I can’t say right away, figure out what to answer, it later dawns on me how I should have said it, but it’s too late, and I’m very worried about it.” .
Shyness did not escape the 12-year-old boy, who was at a loss at school and, out of fear, could not say a word if he was asked suddenly or about something other than what he had studied so diligently at home. Most of his peers not only did not experience such problems, but rather were not very worried about their answers, demonstrating independence and lack of fear.
Our boy, being extremely careful and prudent, was constantly afraid of doing something wrong and was completely at a loss in the 4th grade, when he lost his previous teacher, whom he had become accustomed to for three years, understanding what she wanted from him and what she could do. count, that is, he could predict her requirements and adapted to them.
He could no longer adapt in the same way to numerous teachers in the 4th grade, since they all demanded in their own way, and often they had no time for his special sensitivity. However, what he feared most in the world was when the guys started laughing together at his answers. Then his speech became slurred, and he was ready to fall into the ground out of shame.
He had no friends, he completely disliked school and went to it as if he were doing correctional labor while serving his conscription. All this can be understood if we consider that the boy was neurotically attached to his mother and could do his homework only in her presence, being calm and confident only when she immediately, without delay, checked his homework and corrected all the mistakes made, that is preparing lessons was a carefully rehearsed ritual that eliminated the possibility of failure.
But it was precisely at school that she overtook him due to confusion and fear in the absence of support from his mother. The fear of saying something wrong or doing something bad was instilled not only by a restless mother, but also by a suspicious father, who more than seriously took up his upbringing at the age of 10, when his son was hypersensitive to suggestions due to his age.
The father pedantically checked every step of his already responsible son, read morals endlessly, threatened with all sorts of punishments and even physically punished him for mistakes. Soon his mother began to look up to his father, which the son took extremely painfully, as she began to get irritated and angry.
As a result, instead of helping their son overcome uncertainty and dependence, the parents involuntarily reinforced them with excessive pressure, moral oppression and physical punishment. They did all this in the name of love for their only and late-born child, but the result, as we see, was the opposite of their aspirations.
The fear that had taken hold of the boy depleted the remaining confidence and caused confusion when answering questions at school and communicating with peers.
The father turned to us for help, stating in writing what was bothering him about his son: 1) at times he does not hear, does not pay attention to advice; 2) does homework for too long, from 4 to 10 p.m., and does not study as well as he could; 3) is afraid of everything that is and what is not in the world; 4) has no friends and becomes uneasy in an unfamiliar place.
At first, the father was as impatient and demanding of us as he was of his son, expecting an immediate solution to all his problems. Gradually, he realized, especially after he answered the questionnaires and we talked with him, that many of his son’s problems were inherent in both himself and his wife, and his son’s “deafness” was nothing more than a protective, protective reaction of the brain in a situation of painful overstrain of the nervous system. strengths and opportunities.
To his father’s credit, he was able to rebuild himself in many ways and attended game classes with his son to develop contact, self-confidence and adequate mental protection. The mother also restructured her tactics to some extent, giving her son greater independence and helping him when really necessary.
Thus, his fears were eliminated and the development of anxious suspiciousness in his character was stopped. It was composed, firstly, of obsessive fears of not meeting the demands and expectations of the parents, of losing support and love, especially of the mother, the infantile dependence on whom was only intensified by the feigned severity of the father. Secondly, out of obsessive fears of not living up to the role of a good student and, thirdly, out of obsessive doubts about one’s ability to be “like everyone else,” to make friends and communicate. This is the trinity of obsessive fears, apprehensions and doubts as the basis for the formation of anxious and suspicious character traits.
Types of school fears: what causes anxiety in children
School fears are a general name for the numerous and varied anxieties of a child associated with being in an educational institution. What exactly is the student afraid of? Most often, students’ experiences are associated with the following situations.
Fear of separation from parents
A student of primary school age is afraid to part with his parents, because only in their presence does he feel calm and confident. Such anxiety is inherent in children who are overprotected by adults.
Fear of contacting classmates
Often, fears about school arise due to the child’s poor relationships with peers. An anxious and shy student, due to a lack of communication skills, cannot find a common language with his classmates. He is constantly humiliated and offended by his peers, he is an object of ridicule and bullying.
Fear of teachers
Some guys are terrified of teachers and the director. Often such fears are associated with the fact that they have not become “favorites” among teachers. Teachers show hostility towards the student, lower grades, and criticize his shortcomings in front of the class.
Fear of speaking in front of a large audience
Many children feel confident in a small circle of family and friends. However, the prospect of reading a poem in front of the class or solving an example at the blackboard deprives such children of calm and confidence.
Fear of exams and tests
Not every student is confident in the sufficiency of their knowledge. The student doubts that he will be able to correctly complete the test tasks. He is very afraid of making a mistake and getting a low score on the exam. Such fear is often associated with anticipation of punishment from adults.
Fear of not meeting parental expectations
Often parents instill in their child that he should be the best student in the class. He is required to achieve excellent results in all subjects. The student is afraid of possible failures at school. He is afraid that his parents will stop loving him because of his bad grades.
Fear of a certain routine
The fear of primary school-age students is often associated with the need to adhere to an established routine. Students are worried that they might be late for class. They are afraid that they will not have time to complete the task before the end of the lesson. They are worried that they might forget their physical education uniform at home. Such fears are typical for children from whom their parents did not require them to adhere to a daily routine and did not teach them to maintain order.
Correction of fears
II
Group psychological correction
The group form of psychocorrectional activities is often found when working with children and adolescents. There are many methods and theoretical approaches that describe the process of group psychocorrectional work. More details on these approaches can be found in the books by K. Rudestam, B.D. Karvasarsky and S. Leder, etc. In this manual I would like to dwell on the general principles of selection and functioning of groups,
AND
indications and contraindications for this form of work, as well as describe the most typical scenarios for conducting group classes depending on the problems of children. The methods described below can be used both in the practice of a school psychologist and in a hospital or advisory service.
To conduct psychocorrectional groups, it is desirable to have a room in which all group members could move freely, sit and see each other. If dynamic, body-oriented exercises are planned, then a soft covering on the floor is needed. If funds are available, it is desirable to have equipment: a tape recorder, a video camera and a video recorder, which allows you to record a group lesson for the purpose of its subsequent analysis. Conducting group psychocorrectional classes can be successful in the following conditions:
1) fears,
2) stuttering,
3) high aggressiveness,
4) communication disorders,
5) inadequate self-esteem and social maladjustment,
6) episodic drug use. Contraindications for group correctional work are:
0 presence of severe mental disorders (delirium, gallucinations, dementia),
1 severe motor disinhibition,
2 problems of an intimate and personal nature (sexual disorders, experienced psychological trauma, etc.),
3 severe schizoid psychopathy,
4 stage 1 drug addiction,
• the teenager's active reluctance to work in a group.
In some conditions, individual work is much more effective than group work. These conditions include: anorexia nervosa, obsessions, rituals, severe forms of early childhood autism, etc.
When conducting group psychocorrectional work with children and adolescents, it is advisable to adhere to the following principles of group selection:
1) relative homogeneity of the group by age (the difference is no more than 3 years).
2) maximum heterogeneity in accentuations,
3) for preschoolers and primary schoolchildren, it is possible for a group of boys and girls to function together, for teenagers it is better to function separately:
4) depending on the nature of the group, its size can be varied, but the optimal number is 5-10 people;
5) a closed group is desirable (the same participants work in all classes), but open groups (with a change of participants) are also possible.
How well the group members know each other before the start of classes is of great importance in some forms of work, but rarely depends on the desires of the psychologist; group classes can be attended by students of a certain class, school, established delinquent company, patients of a hospital department, etc. Only in some cases, when working in advisory services, it is possible to achieve anonymity of group participants. Before starting work in a group, it is necessary to conduct a thorough pathopsychological examination of children, consultation with the child’s attending physician, and consent of the child and his parents to this form of work.
The system of individual and group correction of fears in children was developed by A.I. Zakharov (1982). It includes elements of art therapy, role-playing games, and family psychocorrection. It is mainly used for children of senior preschool and primary school age. This tutorial provides a summary of the main steps of this method.
The work begins with finding out exactly what fears the child has. Then a pathopsychological diagnosis is carried out and the level of disorders is determined: fears in a healthy child, neurosis, fear as a symptom of a procedural disease. In the first case, psychological correction is sufficient; in the second, the help of a psychologist and doctor
treatment with a psychiatrist or neurologist; in case of a procedural disease (schizophrenia, periodic psychosis, etc.), urgent treatment by a psychiatrist is necessary.
Work on correcting fears begins individually, while the child is asked to draw his “fear” and the psychologist carefully hides it in a box, explaining that this is a special “box of fears” in which all fears will live and the child will not be disturbed. Then, during subsequent visits, the child is included in classes with a group of peers (the optimal group size is 5-8 people). During group lessons, situations are created for the child to achieve victory and success in games. Each group lesson consistently includes games and tasks that help overcome fear. In the initial stages, one of the other children acts out a situation that causes fear and demonstrates various behavior patterns in this situation. Then the child joins the game and portrays the object of his fear as performed by another child. During the classes, drawing continues: “How I am afraid of my fear,” “How I am not afraid of my fear,” “How I treat this calmly.” These drawings are an important stage in psychological correction and serve as a control for the success of the work. The structure of the classes includes exercises that develop the child’s motor skills, promote relaxation and group interaction among participants. The psychologist himself acts as a participant-organizer of the game and deliberately allows failures in completing tasks, demonstrating different ways of reacting to failure.
As an illustration, we can give a description of one of the activities in a phobic group.
Participants: Anton, 7 years old - fear of dogs; Borya, 7 years old - fear of bandits; Vita, 8 years old - fear of thieves and strangers in general, men; Galya, 7 years old - fear of ghosts; Danila, 8 years old - fear of teachers, lack of speech at school. Psychologist.
The lesson begins with a physical warm-up - throwing the ball in a circle, passing it over the back, playing “freeze”. The psychologist makes mistakes, drops the ball more often than other participants, but returns to the game. Then the children are given large sheets of paper, felt-tip pens, gouache and scissors. Assignment: draw a mask of the character the child is afraid of and cut it out. The psychologist praises each
bot, helps the child finish drawing some details (if the child asks for it). The psychologist suggests that Danila and Borya exchange masks and role-play a meeting between a teacher and a bandit.
The teacher takes a place in an area of the room, an “apartment,” fenced off with tables and chairs. A bandit knocks on the door.
Teacher: Who's there?
Bandit: This is a gas test!
Teacher: Show me your documents.
Bandit: Open up, otherwise I’ll break down the door!
The teacher calls the police.
The psychologist invites Vita to do the job of a policeman and take the bandit to prison. Vita happily agrees and takes her away. The psychologist congratulates all the children on a successful game and invites Anton and Gala to play. Anton plays the role of a passerby, and Galya (using a dog mask) plays the role of a lost puppy. Anton pets the “puppy,” feeds him, and takes him to his “home.”
Then the psychologist invites the children to draw a picture “I’m not afraid of my fear.” Children draw on their own, without the intervention of a psychologist. As a result, the following pictures appear: “Anton feeds the puppy”, “Borya in police uniform detains a bandit”, “Vita calls the police, a bandit breaks into the door”, “Galyaest cake with a ghost”, “Danila writes on the blackboard, the teacher is sitting at the table " The psychologist allows the children to take these drawings home.
The lesson ends with physical exercises and outdoor games.
During the development of the group, a stage of aggression towards characters who previously caused fear is possible. This is a normal phenomenon, and you should just wait it out, gradually forming adequate behavior patterns during the games. If rivalry or aggression arises between group members, you can give them the opportunity to express their feelings during role-playing games and physical education. The criterion for completing the group’s work is the absence of fears, excessive aggression, the formation of skills to combat fear, the normalization of behavior and night sleep.
Work with children who stutter is mainly carried out by a speech therapist. However, in addition to speech therapy correction, many of them need the help of a psychologist, especially with a neurotic form of stuttering, fear of speech, and impaired nonverbal communication. Psychological
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Correction for stuttering should be aimed at developing skills of relaxation, communication, and relieving the fear of speaking. The optimal age period for group psycho-correctional work with people who stutter is early adolescence (11-13 years). For preschoolers and young adults, individual work is more appropriate.
During the correction, auto-training, training in verbal and non-verbal communication, and development of skills in contact, coherent speech and behavior in situations of emotional stress are used. The duration of group psychological correction is usually about 1-1.5 months with a regime of 3 meetings per week. During auto-training, the standard AT scheme or “Sytin’s Settings” can be used. Techniques that require hypnosis and immersion in a trance state require a highly qualified psychotherapist and are not recommended for use in children and adolescents, as they can provoke convulsive seizures, persistent disturbances of consciousness, and lead to the fixation of unwanted emotional states.
Here is a brief illustration of one session of a speech therapy group.
Participants: Andrey, 12 years old - neurosis-like stuttering; Vanya, 13 years old —• neurosis-like stuttering; Valya, 12 years old - neurosis-like stuttering, fear of speech; Gena, 11 years old - neurosis-like stuttering; Dasha, 13 years old - neurotic stuttering; Zhenya, 12 years old - neurotic stuttering, tics.
The lesson begins with a warm-up on non-verbal expression of feelings: children take turns passing each other imaginary objects: “kitten”, “snake”, “basket of eggs”... Then they are given cards of the Rosenzweig Frustration test and asked to turn each situation into a dialogue.
Vanya: This is the third time you have been repairing this clock, but as soon as I bring it home, it stops.
Andrey: Well, it’s not my fault! They probably break down along the way. How do you carry them?
Vanya: Well, okay, in the bag!
Andrey: Shaking is probably harmful for them, now I’ll fix them again, but please carry them in your hands and don’t shake them.
Vanya: Okay, I'll try.
Then the dialogues are discussed in the group, and the ways in which the participants come to mutual understanding or come to conflict are analyzed. Those dialogues in which a conflict arose or one of the participants experienced fear are played out again by another pair until a constructive solution is reached.
After this, the children are given cards with various verbs written in random order. The goal of this exercise is to compose a coherent story about the hero’s adventures using verbs. Each participant says one phrase.
Andrey: Ninja Turtle left the house and saw a spaceship in front of him.
Vanya: But before he went traveling, he decided to have lunch
and ate my favorite pizza.
Valya: After a hearty lunch, he climbed into the rocket and fell asleep.
Gena: And while he was sleeping, the rocket itself took off and dropped
him from the bed.
Dasha: But Ninja was not afraid, he got to the rocket control and calmly settled down
In the armchair.
Zhenya: At that time the rocket was attacked
space pirates...
The game continues until all participants have used their verbs. The purpose of this game is to develop the skill of coherent, sequential speech. The lesson ends with exercises and autogenic training (AT).
The criterion for the success of the work of a speech therapy group is the teenager’s ability to have coherent, smooth dialogic and monologue speech, the absence of fear of speech and inadequate body movements at the time of conversation. Teenagers may complete their classes with some tasks that require maximum use of acquired skills, especially difficult ones for them. This is done so that the teenager is convinced of what he has achieved during group classes and is calm about ordinary communication situations at school and at home. An example of such “barrier” tasks could be “interviews with passers-by on the street,” a “concert” (where there are strangers among the audience), etc. If necessary, work with teenagers who stutter can continue individually.
Principles of group psychological correction of adolescents with aggressive behavior
were proposed by K. Savitskaya.
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The goals of the cycle of such classes:
1) developing in children a desire to actively influence their own behavior;
2) mastering the skills of productive contact;
3) the ability to modify one’s own behavior in situations that cause aggression.
The training room should be large, provide free, safe movement, preferably a soft covering on the floor. Corrective work in a group of this type includes game exercises, discussion of problems and behavioral characteristics of students. Much attention is paid to the formation of friendly and open relationships in the group. Let us give examples of games that correspond to different types of group development.
Initial stage (lessons 1-2).
The game "Who will grab the object first."
The group is divided into two teams. The task of the teams is to get an object that is located quite far away. To do this, you need to create a “human chain” attached on one side, for example, to a door handle. The distance to the object is greater than the length of the chain, so participants have to use other methods of connecting in the chain, for example, hand-foot.
Intermediate stage (corresponds to lessons 5-6).
Conversation in a circle.
The psychologist begins the conversation, for example: “In every person’s life, situations arise that make him angry, irritate him so much that he wants to curse or hit someone. For example, I get angriest when... Do you experience situations like this? Let’s try to talk about this...” The psychologist encourages students’ statements and writes down situations. At the same time, he makes sure that children do not formulate critical assessments or comments, but simply accumulate a “bank” of situations.
Intermediate stage, 10-11th lesson.
Inspired improvisation.
Participants are divided into two teams. Each receives a situation - a topic of improvisation (for example, “picking on the street”). It is necessary to show a skit on this topic, including phrases given by the psychologist: “I’m losing patience too quickly,” “I want to act wisely,” etc. Then the skits are played and discussed.
Final stage, 14-15th lesson.
Game "Ideas Rental Office".
Participants sit in a circle. The psychologist invites everyone to remember a situation in which a teenager behaved aggressively, but even now he cannot imagine another type of behavior. Now they have the opportunity to borrow an idea from someone to solve this issue. A participant who wants to borrow an idea talks about the situation and listens to the ideas of the group members.
The criterion for successful completion of classes is the establishment of an open, calm atmosphere in the group and the expansion of the range of behavior options in conflict situations for all participants outside the group (at home, at school, etc.), which leads to a decrease in aggressiveness. It is possible to normalize the participants’ self-esteem and strengthen self-control skills.
Disorders of communication skills (selective mutism, excessive shyness, agrammatic speech) can also be successfully corrected in a group setting. Since the bulk of adolescents with such complaints relate to sensitive, psychasthenic and schizoid accentuation, it is useful to group them into a group of adolescents with labile and hysterical accentuation. An important task of a psychologist in such work is to create the most friendly atmosphere, group support, and the possibility of maximum spontaneous self-expression for each group member. During classes, auto-training, role-playing games, psychodrama, and elements of art therapy are widely used. In groups of primary school age, puppet theater is used, in teenagers - fictitious names of participants and their biographies, which makes it possible to further create an atmosphere of safety. The tasks proposed by F. Zimbardo (1991) are widely used. At the initial stages of the group’s work, children are given the opportunity to express their feelings and relationships in drawings, written stories and stories; Then, using puppetry or images of characters, they act out scenes of communication, gradually increasing the emotional intensity of the plot. Much attention is paid to non-verbal communication: exercises “Mirror”, “Communication distance”, etc.
At the final stage of the group’s work, it is important to transfer the skills learned in the group to the real situation.
ation of communication, strengthen the system of “homework” with their subsequent discussion. Here is a fragment of one of the classes in the communication group.
Participant: Alisa, 13 years old - fear of speaking at school; John, 14 years old - selective mutism; Barbie, 14 years old - fear of communicating with boys; Vlad, 13 years old - high level of shyness.
The lesson begins with a discussion of “homework”:
Psychologist (P.): How did you manage to cope with the task? Who wants to tell?
Alice: I went to the stationery store to buy a pen and notebooks. The saleswoman was watching TV, so I had to call her and explain what kind of pen and notebook I needed. She listened to me politely and gave me everything I needed. At the beginning it was a little scary, I felt like I was blushing, but then I was very pleased that I could do it all.
P.: Well done, Alice! Do you think that now, when you write with this pen at school, you will feel more or less afraid than before?
Alice: Of course, less, it will be like my talisman.
P: Okay, try it. How were you doing, John?
John: I went to the bookstore and found some interesting fiction that didn't have a price written on it. I wanted to ask the seller how much it was, but I felt like I couldn’t talk. Then I remembered the auto-training exercises that we did in the group, and imagined this question, “How much does K. Simak’s collection cost?” written on the wall. After that, all I had to do was read this question and I did it famously. I bought the book and have already read half of it! . P.: Great! Will you try to communicate with the seller again?
John: Yeah, it seems like a very normal thing now.
Barbie: I'm lucky! There were only grandmothers standing in line, so I could speak normally!
John: Where were you standing?
Barbie: In the dairy!
Alice: Yes, it would be strange to meet boys there.
Barbie: Where should I complete this task?
John: Let's go to the Young Technician tomorrow?
Barbie: Okay, I'll look at the scraps there.
P.: Barbie, well done, you are talking calmly with John today, and tomorrow you will be able to talk in the same way in “Young Technician”.
Barbie: I'll try!
The need to work with a group of adolescents who occasionally use drugs is rarely encountered in the practice of a school psychologist, however, in hospitals, advisory services, as well as in special institutions (VTC, SPND), the need for such work is obvious. Anti-drug groups use group discussion, psychodrama, elements of Gestalt therapy, and, if necessary, auto-training. An important part of the work of this group is the discussion, playback and assimilation of the experience of restoring relationships with the family.
The functioning of this group begins with the discussion and replaying of situations of frustration, conflict relationships of a teenager with teachers, peers, and parents. When successful conflict resolution is possible and a sufficiently trusting atmosphere has been established in the group, you can move on to discussing and demonstrating the phenomenon of “group pressure” (games like “Bad Company”). It is advisable to continue classes with this focus until adolescents understand the role of the group in drug use and the need to resist group pressure. The next stage is a discussion of the properties of the narcotic substance itself, the possibility of achieving the same effect by other means: AT, meditative techniques, etc. In conclusion, communication skills with parents are consolidated, motivation for achievement, methods of planning and overcoming obstacles are formed.
Here is a fragment of a lesson in such a group.
Participants: Dima, 16 years old - occasional use of hashish; Tanya, 16 years old - occasional use of hashish; Alyosha, 17 years old - occasional use of ephedrine; Vanya, Iblet - episodic use of opiates; Oleg, 15 years old - occasional use of cyclodol.
Vanya: Yes, when I’m here everything is fine, but
you should try to withstand my ancestors! They've been sawing all day! Bags, tables are searched, anyone can use it!
Psychologist (P.): Yes, a difficult case. Have you tried to negotiate with them?
Vanya: Here you try... they yell right away!
P: Shall we try to do it here? Tanya, will you be Vanya’s mother? Who else has bad parents?
Oleg: Mine are probably even worse!
P.: Will you play the role of Vanya?
Oleg: Yes...
P.: And you, Vanya, be your dad today.
Teenagers go out into the fenced-off play space of the office.
P: Vanya, when do you most often quarrel with your family?
Vanya: When I want to go somewhere, but they don’t let me.
P.: Okay. Now "dad" with
“Mom” will try to talk to Vanya about his walks...
The plot begins to develop, during which Vanya repeats his father’s arguments, and Oleg tries to come to an agreement with him. The scene ends with an agreement about the time to return home and the need (for the parents) to meet Vanya’s friends. This is followed by a group discussion of the plot, a search for optimal ways to communicate with parents, and the motives for their behavior are discussed.
The criterion for the success of the group’s work is the refusal of its participants to use drugs, normalization of relationships with family, participation in educational and work activities.
Adolescents who do not suffer from neuropsychiatric diseases, but belong to the category of “difficult to educate,” also in some cases need group psychological correction. With a thorough pathopsychological examination, it is necessary to determine the structure of the adolescent’s intrapersonal conflict: inadequate self-esteem and behavioral stereotypes, characteristics of the level of aspirations, the specifics of the value-motivational sphere of the individual, etc. Depending on this, the goals of the group’s work are planned. However, it must be emphasized that with the level of qualification of a school psychologist, only correction at the behavioral level is possible. The personal characteristics of a teenager can be changed only if he himself expresses such a desire in an openly expressed request. The task of the group may be to normalize the teenager’s relationships with teachers, parents, peers, and to form adequate forms of communication. The structure of the classes includes exercises on group collaboration, overcoming situations of frustration, role-playing games, group
high discussions. This allows you to improve the social orientation of a teenager, promotes the formation of responsibility and self-control skills.
Here is an example of topics for group discussion:
0 If schools were closed altogether, what would you do with your time?
1 Would you be bored?
2 At what points in your life did you find it unbearably difficult?
3 Are there people who almost never get bored?
4 Is studying always interesting?
5 What would you suggest to make school more interesting?
Classification of children's fears
There are several options for classifying children's fears. The simplest and most common classification is the division of children's fears into two types - social and natural. First, natural fears arise, based on the instinct of self-preservation. They appear from an early age. Example
: fear of death (of oneself and parents), heights, darkness, monsters, closed spaces, sudden sounds, and so on.
Social fears appear later. We are talking about fear of social situations. Example: fear of loneliness, punishment, being late, judgment from peers, certain people, and so on.
Children's fears are also divided into three groups.
Delusional fears
The reason for these fears is usually not obvious. Example: a child is afraid to eat some type of food, put on a jacket, go to the potty, bathe, tie shoelaces, approach the table, and so on. Delusional childhood fears can be a manifestation of mental disorders or the beginning of the development of autism. To find out the reason, contact a specialized medical institution.
Overvalued fears
Children's fears related to certain ideas. At first they correspond to some real incident, but then they become so significant that they take over all the child’s thoughts.
Examples
: social fears in the form of stuttering or fear of going to the board. Overvalued fears are the most common - in 85-90% of cases, psychologists have to deal with them. Fears become chronic and difficult to cope with. They usually start from early childhood, manifesting themselves in subsequent experiences and influencing the development of personality. Parents should be attentive to their children's experiences.
Obsessive fears
Children's fear, tested under certain circumstances that cause panic in the child. This could be a fear of certain animals, heights, crowded places, open or closed spaces, and so on.
How phobias manifest themselves: evidence of the problem
Obsessive, uncontrollable fear manifests itself not only when you are in an educational institution. Panic arises already in anticipation of the necessary trip to school. Uncontrollable panic fears that have reached the proportions of a phobia are manifested by autonomic disorders, behavioral changes, and emotional disorders.
A child, gripped by fears, complains of a headache, difficulty breathing, and discomfort in the epigastric region. For some students, the anticipation of going to school causes their temperature to rise to low-grade levels. A student who is captured by fears suffers from insomnia and is tormented by nightmares. The schoolchild’s eating behavior changes: he loses his appetite or, conversely, begins to eat a lot and often.
Instability of emotional status is recorded. He often cries for no reason. A fearful student appears depressed and withdrawn. He prefers loneliness to friendly companies. Sometimes the student becomes irritable and aggressive. He provokes quarrels and fights with classmates.
Destructive school fears require immediate medical attention, since the child’s immature psyche is not able to eliminate this destructive feeling on its own. Untimely correction of a student’s psycho-emotional state leads to a rapid aggravation of the phobia and the addition of severe depressive states to it.
