What makes teenagers so angry and aggressive?

On June 6 2014 18yearold Aniket Naik stabbed a 22yearold man at Currey Road in Mumbai over a petty dispute In another incident a 19yearold man was arrested for stabbing a teenager to death after his motorcycle grazed the victim triggering an argument on August 27 in New Delhi Pick up the newspaper and yoursquore bound to find many reports of rage among younsters todayIn a study conducted by Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma Associate Professor Department of Clinical Psychology and Dr P Marimuthu Assistant Professor Department of Biostatistics NIMHANS National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences reports of which were released in May this year 80 per cent of the Indian youth is in a perpetual state of angerWhy the angerThe Internet has opened up a whole new world for Gen Y There is increased awareness and immense exposure because everything that the child needs to know about is a click away Clinical psychologist Seema Hingorrany says ldquoWith the increased exposure the IQ Intelligence Quotient of children and teens is on the rise but EQ Emotional Quotient is on the decline as their emotional needs are not being addressed by their near and dear onesrdquoIn most cases teens suffer from anger issues when either one parent or both parents have had a history of anger Factors such as nagging abusing and being compared to other kids in the family also have a huge impact on a childrsquos mental stateSeema Hingorrany discusses the case of a 14yearold girl who had outbursts of anger so much so that she threw anything that came in her hand and banged her head against the wall because she didnrsquot know how to express her feelings otherwise Counselling sessions revealed that she felt emotionally vulnerable but couldnrsquot convey her emotions because none of her family members asked her why she was feeling that way Instead they expressed anger at her behaviour ldquoIndian parents donrsquot believe in having a conversation with each other or their children They usually snap at their kids Children tend to emulate their parents and do not find an outlet to express themselves This leads to pent up anger and hatredrdquo says Salma Prabhu clinical psychologist and director of ACE Academy for Counseling and EducationTechniques of interventionA 12yearold boy would get angry at his parents when they would ask him to take a bath attend tuitions or meet other family members He would hurl abuses at them and then go to his room and play video games More so he would hit his mother with a stick if she would stop him The child was made to undergo counselling sessions after which it was revealed that the video games are making him violentldquoApart from counselling we use techniques such as roleplay and flashing theproblem cardrdquo elaborates Hingorrany ldquoRoleplay helps build the withered bond between the parent and the child In flashthe problem card we make the child pick up cards that explain their emotions such as lsquoI am lonelyrsquo lsquoI feel sadrsquo lsquoI feel neglectedrsquo and so on so that the parents get to the root of the problem when the kid isnrsquot talking to themrdquo she addsldquoAnother technique that works in addition to drinking cold water taking a walk and counting backwards is affirmation In this process the patient is made to repeat the statement mdash lsquoI am calm peaceful loving and intelligentrsquo several times during the day so that it gets instilled in the person and heshe feels better about oneself and people around himherrdquo advises Prabhu