The Search for Causation Comes from a Desire for Certainty

I’ve just read a headline suggesting that school absence causes obesity. Previous articles argue that childhood obesity is caused by poverty. Or poor parenting. Or the COVID pandemic. COVID has also been mooted as the cause of the apparent adolescent “mental health crisis,” and teen loneliness, and laziness, and “addiction” to smartphones.

Addiction to smartphones has been cited as the cause of pretty much all of society’s ills, even though smartphone addiction isn’t even a recognised diagnosis in adolescents.

I’ve been alerted to, and alarmed by, articles arguing that the “trend” in young people identifying as nonbinary or transgender is the effect of neurodivergence, or childhood trauma, or peer pressure—mostly via smartphones. There are claims that polyamory, asexuality, homosexuality, kink, and any sexual practice not defined as cis-het is “caused” by childhood trauma or abuse. Even though gender identity formation and sexual exploration are ordinary aspects of adolescent development.

Neurodivergence has been called a trend too, and its apparent cause is an overly lenient education system, or smartphone addiction, or poor parenting, depending on where you look. I’m not citing any of these nefarious causation claims because I don’t want you to google them and feed the algorithm.

The tendency to blame parents, usually mothers, for any physical or psychological challenge bequeathed to their children isn’t new. Original autism theories, dating back to the 1940s and '50s, suggested that children with autism had suffered a lack of maternal affection and been raised in "emotional refrigerators" akin to concentration camps. That might sound extreme, and I hope it does, but the legacy of those theories lives on in parents who feel blamed and shamed for their children’s diagnoses.

It’s human nature to seek out certainty and causation. People believe it will offer a “quick fix” to questions such as:

“Why can’t my child sit still?”

“Why is he overweight?”

“What caused the accident?”

“How did they die?”

“Why are they questioning their gender?”

“Who is to blame?”

Adolescents are not equations be solved

Source: Geralt on Pixabay / Free Download

I get it. Uncertainty and not-knowing are uncomfortable states. As a psychodynamic psychotherapist, I don’t offer quick fixes; I offer slow, thoughtful ones by helping people make sense of their feelings and experiences, and sometimes that includes making sense of their differences and diagnoses. I’m always curious about how they arrived at the here and now, and invite them to be curious too. We explore their personal and family histories, with a keen eye on themes that might link to whatever presenting issue brought them to my therapy room. But we’re not looking for a cause, or at least I’m not, because the human mind is not a computer programme or a maths problem; it’s way more complex than that. To suggest otherwise, to suggest there is one simple “cause” that created the “effect” would be reductionist, misleading and disrespectful to the multifaceted human who sits before me.

The adolescents and young adults I work with deserve a more holistic approach which considers biological, psychological and environmental factors. I’m curious about their development, physical health and genetic history (the biological stuff). I’m interested in where and how and who they live with, their family, peer and sexual relationships, their support systems and significant life events. And I’m curious about any trauma or adversity and the strategies they employed to manage them (the psychological and social stuff).

Adolescents and young adults are not equations to be solved. Their challenges don't have a singular cause. Lack of curiosity leads to ignorance, blame, shame, and stigma. That’s the only cause-and-effect equation I’m sure of.