Brainstorm : the power and purpose of the teenage brain

Siegel, Daniel J. 1957- (Author).

Summary: Between the ages of 12 and 24, the brain changes in important, and oftentimes maddening and challenging ways. In this book, the author, a psychiatrist busts a number of commonly held myths about adolescence. He shows that, if parents and teens can work together to form a deeper understanding of the brain science behind all the tumult, they will be able to turn conflict into connection and form a deeper understanding of one another. According to the author, during adolescence we learn important skills, such as how to leave home and enter the larger world, how to connect deeply with others, and how to safely experiment and take risks, thereby creating strategies for dealing with the world's increasingly complex problems. Here he presents an inside-out approach to focusing on how brain development affects our behavior and relationships. Drawing on important new research in the field of interpersonal neurobiology, he explores exciting ways in which understanding how the brain functions can improve the lives of adolescents, making their relationships more fulfilling and less lonely and distressing on both sides of the generational divide.

Record details

ISBN: 9781585429356
ISBN: 158542935X
Physical Description: print
321 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Publisher: New York : Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (USA), [2013]

Content descriptions

General Note:

Includes index.

Formatted Contents Note:

pt. I. The essence of adolescence. The benefits and challenges of adolescence -- Maintaining the power and purpose of the adolescent mind into adulthood -- Adolescence from the inside out -- Risk and reward -- Pushing away -- The timing of puberty, sexuality, and adolescence -- The stress and distress of our extended adolescence -- Adolescent transitions and the centrality of our relationships -- Mindsight tools #1: Seeing and shaping the sea inside -- Three basic kinds of mindsight maps -- Seeing inside the sea inside -- Mindsight practices : A. Insight and SIFTing the mind ; Physical sight of the material world versus mindsight of the inner world -- B. Mindsight illuminated ; empathy -- C. Empathy ; Integration -- D. Sensing the harmony of integration ; When integration is not present: chaos or rigidity -- E. Name it to tame it -- F. Detecting chaos or rigidity and balancing the mind ; Mindsight strengthens the mind, the brain, and our relationships -- pt. II. Your brain. Dopamine, decisions, and the drive for reward -- Family, friends, and fooling around -- The purpose of adolescence -- Making decisions -- "Don't do it" doesn't do it: the power of promoting the positive -- Integrating your brain -- A handy model of the brain -- Adolescence as the gateway to creative exploration -- Creating collaboration across the generations -- Vulnerability and opportunity -- The remodeling brain and flipping our lids -- Adolescence builds integration in the brain -- The emotional lower brain -- Hardwired or adventure and connection -- Mindsight tools #2: Time-in -- Time-in, mindsight, and mindful awareness -- Being present for what is happening as it is happening -- Mindsight practices : A. Breath awareness ; Building mindsight's lens ; Integrating consciousness with the wheel of awareness -- B. The wheel of awareness ; Reflecting on the wheel --