In January 2020, the Department of Psychology of Tsinghua University Institute of Social Sciences opened an emergency psychological assistance hotline for the whole society. Peng Kaiping, dean of Tsinghua University Institute of Social Sciences and head of the psychology department, told the reporter of Zhongqingbao. com that, unexpectedly, a large proportion of users were teenagers.
Tsinghua University psychological assistance hotline was initially opened for emergency psychological assistance for different groups of people. After June, with the normalization of epidemic prevention and control in COVID-19, a normalized psychological assistance hotline was opened. Judging from the proportion of people who use the hotline, the most are teenagers and educators, which means that the psychological problems caused by the epidemic are largely reflected in children. At the same time, adolescent psychological problems brought by adolescence also need to be paid more attention.
Peng Kaiping believes that there are three main sources of psychological problems of teenagers in China: physical troubles caused by sexual maturity, intergenerational relations with parents, and academic pressure-schools, parents and society pay too much attention to academic performance and keep up with the joneses, abnormal involution and competitive consciousness have caused extra psychological harm to teenagers in China.
In view of the above reasons, the Department of Psychology of Tsinghua University Academy of Social Sciences, together with Beijing Happiness Public Welfare Foundation, decided to set up another psychological hotline for teenagers (the telephone number is 4000-100-525 and then dial 2) to help China teenagers successfully overcome their psychological troubles during adolescence.
After the normalization of epidemic prevention and control, the psychological problems of teenagers are more emotional problems related to personality.
An adolescent girl whose parents are not around wants to end her life because she is often scolded by her grandfather. Before committing suicide, she remembered the psychological hotline left by her teacher …
A junior high school student who dropped out of school due to illness, because he felt lonely for a long time, called the hotline regularly every week to seek warmth …
Zhang Yingjun, supervisor of the psychological assistance hotline of the Department of Psychology of Tsinghua University and teacher of the Student Psychological Counseling and Service Center of Beijing Normal University, told the reporter that the youth psychological hotline was officially opened on January 25 this year. It has been used well for two months and receives more than 20 calls every day.
Zhang Yingjun said that the most common psychological problems encountered by teenagers in the psychological assistance hotline are emotional problems, but during the outbreak of COVID-19 and after the normalization of the epidemic, the focus is different-during the outbreak of the epidemic, anxiety related to stress is prominent; After the normalization of the epidemic, the emotional problems related to personal personality are more prominent.
For example, Zhang Yingjun said that the common psychological problems of teenagers during the outbreak mainly include: stress reaction caused by the epidemic, traumatic reaction (such as fear and anxiety) caused by teenagers’ feeling of life threat due to insufficient understanding of the epidemic in the early stage; Family of origin problem, an intergenerational relationship problem caused by being isolated at home and living with parents or elders under the same roof for a long time; There are also some loneliness caused by being unable to stay with family members or without good social support; Or adaptation problems caused by changes in life such as school suspension.
After the normalization of the epidemic, the psychological problems reflected by teenagers are more related to personality traits or long-term mental health problems, which mainly include: the tendency of personal behavior, such as the way of getting along with others and the way of doing things, which leads to conflicts or bad relations with classmates, teachers and parents; Chronic depression; Persistent self-harm behavior; Long-term poor academic performance or loss of sense of accomplishment and value; There are also some adaptation problems after returning to school, such as the decline of academic performance. Of course, there are some extreme situations, such as a call for help in case of sexual assault or physical attack.
Children’s problems are generally parents’ problems.
"The emotional stability of adolescent boys and girls is relatively poor, and it is easy to cause excessive behavior because of emotional instability, which is the characteristic of this age group in adolescence." Zhang Yingjun said.
"An efficient way to help teenagers with emotional problems is to start with their family system." Zhang Yingjun said, "Generally speaking, the problems presented by children reflect the problems of the family system. More directly, it is the problem of parents. So if parents call to reflect their children’s problems, to some extent, it is easier to solve, because parents are relatively more powerful in promoting changes in the family system. Of course, if the teenager calls himself, we can also help him. On the one hand, we can appease him, sympathize with him and teach him to cope with the current situation. On the other hand, we can inspire him to do something to promote changes in the family system. "
When parents call, the operator will first deal with parents’ anxiety and irritability, and then introduce the psychological characteristics of adolescent children to parents when their emotions calm down, so that parents can understand that adolescent children need independent space, the right to choose independently and hope to be respected, and parents can no longer treat them like children. After parents understand the psychological characteristics of adolescent children, they will help them establish an effective mode of communication with teenagers to avoid violent behavior.
After calming emotions, help children find self-worth, controllability and social network support.
When receiving a case of teenagers’ emotional excitement and excessive behavior, the first thing the operator should do is to appease the teenagers’ emotions.
After receiving the call for help from the girl who wanted to commit suicide mentioned above, the operator listened attentively to her talk. After learning about the relationship and contradiction between her and her family, the operator helped her sort out her living conditions and let her see that her grandfather’s discipline was to fulfill her parents’ entrustment, which also had positive significance behind. She could ask her parents to communicate in the middle, thus establishing a positive connection with her family. The operator also reminded her that when she was in a bad mood, she could find a good friend to spit and talk. At the same time, the operator also told her, "It is definitely wrong to hit people. Grandpa has a bad temper, so he should be clever. When Grandpa is angry, stay away from him to avoid getting hurt."
Soothing teenagers’ emotions, helping them find self-confidence and self-worth, helping them find things controllable and social network support-these are the main functions of operators. Many of the hotline operators are trained students from the Department of Psychology of Tsinghua University, and many of them are selected and trained professionals. They know communication skills and will adopt psychological methods to provide help and support to those who ask for help. But in fact, more often, their more important role is to play a "listener" and "companion".
"Real psychological counseling is actually to provide you with an opportunity to talk, a bright light in the dark and a warmth in the glacier." Peng Kaiping said.
Zhongqingbao Zhongqingwang reporter Xia Wei Source: China Youth Daily (10th edition, April 20, 2021)
(Source: China Youth Daily)
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