Male Brain Development & Neurocoach

What is going on in my teenage or young adult son’s brain?

The biggest neurobiological difference between a young adult or adolescent and a fully matured adult is in the development of the prefrontal cortex. Let’s look at what the prefrontal cortex does, and you will see why it is so important, especially when working with young men in a treatment setting.

Young man struggling, Rehab For Young Adults

The prefrontal cortex is the brain’s center of executive function – the captain of the ship, if you will. Its functions include the following:

“Decision making, moderating social interaction, orchestrating thoughts and actions based on internal goals, the ability to differentiate between conflicting thoughts and determine the difference between good and bad – better and best, future consequences of current activities, and social control – the ability to suppress certain urges that if not suppressed could lead to socially unacceptable outcomes.”

See Video Below:

Young man and dog at Capstone Treatment Center, Rehab For Young Adults

The prefrontal cortex is not fully developed until the mid – to late 20s. The neurobiological technology that exploded in the 1990s provided a major breakthrough in how we view brain development.

The other significant aspect of young adult and adolescent brain development concerns the amygdala. Children, adolescents and young adults often function like a big ball of emotions, which is a normal part of their brain development and maturing process. Much, perhaps most, of their experience of life is through their “emotional brain,” the limbic system or mid-brain. At the heart of the limbic system is the amygdala. It is the center of our emotional responses and functions as our alarm system to danger. Our survival response, the “fight–flight–freeze” response, is orchestrated by the amygdala.

The amygdala is fully developed at birth. When we feel threatened, the amygdala signals us to act – “fight–flight–freeze” – without consulting the prefrontal cortex for factual data or wise counsel. Here’s the challenge for young adults and adolescents: they must navigate survival situations involving danger, sadness, fear, etc., with a still-developing prefrontal cortex that governs rational responses and a fully developed amygdala that governs instinctive responses.

What does this have to do with you helping your son?

Remember the phrase “How you see it is how you treat it”? Because of the stark difference between young adults and adolescents compared to fully mature adults, treatment approaches designed for fully matured adults just don’t fit the needs of the younger group.

What does all this mean for your loved one?

You don’t fit a square peg into a round hole and you don’t take a therapy approach that was designed for one age group and apply it to a very different age group and expect the same results. This is why Capstone’s Core-Systems Model is specifically designed to meet the needs of young adults, adolescents, and their families.

Capstone provides residential treatment for young men, focusing on teens 14-17 and young adults 18-26 who are struggling with a wide range of hurts, struggles, compulsions, addictions and other self-destructive behaviors. Learn more about our approach to help our clients face and overcome their struggles and how it makes us a top-rated rehab for young adults.

In 2019,

Capstone Treatment Center partnered with the NTL Group and Dr. Curtis Cripe to offer onsite capabilities for evaluating the functions of the brain, as well as providing cognitive remediation therapy. Capstone can now offer access to these services during the client’s treatment process without interruption of Capstone programing. Dr. Cripe’s program complements the work being done at Capstone and has been an excellent optional addition to the program.

What is it?

Simply stated, it’s a complete and comprehensive analysis of the brain. There are two parts to the process: the brain map and neurocoaching. The brain map includes EEG recordings and a cognitive abilities test. Neurocoaching is cognitive remediation (brain training) and designed to bring the brain systems back into balance.

Challenges addressed

Addiction recovery

Physical head trauma

Health issues

Emotional trauma/PTSD

ADD/ADHD

Learning disabilities

And other cognitive issues

What are the benefits?

Clients who participate in the Neurocoaching may see improvements in several areas: overall functioning at a higher level, improved performance in school, better ability to focus on desired tasks, and greater emotional regulation under stress, improved memory, better cognitive efficiency, to name a few.

How does it work?

Clients will work on various tasks which serve to “exercise” the brain functions (memory, thinking, etc.) much like using exercise at the gym to gain muscle. 

Learn how we help young men on the path to healing.