How the Teenage Brain Works, with Lisa Damour

Dr. Lisa Damour (0:00)

I have such a vivid memory of being 14, and looking in a mirror, I'm thinking, how do I know I'm not an alien who has been left here by my planet? Would I know if I were?

And I remember freaking myself out. Like, I remember really, like, finding that pretty destabilizing, and then, you know, then you kind of move on.

SPEAKER_2 (0:26)

Okay, you turn 15 and you don't think that way anymore.

Dr. Lisa Damour (0:29)

But I have such a clear memory of that.

SPEAKER_3 (0:32)

Do do do science chats with our favorite nerds.

Wendy Zukerman (0:39)

Yeah.

Hi, I'm Wendy Zukerman, and this is Science Vs. Today on the show, the teenage brain.

Being a teenager is such a weird and poignant time of our lives. Everything feels so heightened and important. What is happening in our brains during that time? And then why, as we get older and become full-blown adults with jobs and podcasts and self-esteem, why can what happened in high school still imprint on us? Why if we bump into our high school bully while we're out in a park with our kids, why does that still matter? What about bumping into your high school crush while you're out at the supermarket buying pickles? Why do we still care?

To decode the mysteries of the teenage brain, today we are sharing my chat with the fabulous Dr Lisa Damour. Lisa has been a clinical psychologist for more than 30 years, and she specializes in teenagers. She co-wrote the college textbook Abnormal Psychology, and she has written not one, not two, not three, no, actually three. She's written three best selling books on the teenage brain. Her most recent one right here is The Emotional Lives of Teenagers. And I learnt so much about my own emotional life from it, even though I'm a big kid. If all of that doesn't impress you, Lisa was also a consultant on Disney's Inside Out 2 So after the break, my chat with Lisa Damour, we are going to talk about the mysteries of the teenage brain and also mental health more generally. How we can all live happier lives, whether we have to deal with Jordan in Calculus or our boss. My chat with Lisa is coming up just after the break.

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Wendy Zukerman (4:18)

Welcome back. Today on the show, the teenage brain. And to tell us all about it is the fabulous and oh-so-wise Dr. Lisa Damour. Hi, Lisa. Welcome to the show.

Dr. Lisa Damour (4:31)

Wendy, thank you for having me. It is great to be here.

Wendy Zukerman (4:33)

I'm so excited to chat with you.

I've been gobbling up all of your books. You can see from the dog-eared nature of them.

SPEAKER_2 (4:42)

Oh, I appreciate that.

Wendy Zukerman (4:44)

So let's get to know you a little.

I heard that you wanted to become a psychologist. When you were little, six or seven, I didn't even know what a psychologist was at six or seven.

SPEAKER_3 (5:00)

What sparked this for you?

Dr. Lisa Damour (5:02)

So what happened was, the early part of my life had a lot of disruption. My parents divorced when I was three, my mom remarried when I was six, and we moved overseas all in that time. By the time I was six, divorce, remarriage, move overseas. So a lot had happened. In the midst of all of this, we became family friends with someone who moved from Denver where we were living to London where we moved overseas.