Rory Jelinski LMFT

If you're interested in knowing more about how the brain processes music, why music therapy works to optimize the brain, and why it provides more efficient therapy, check out this site: http://neurorhythm.com/music-therapy/music-therapy-science/ It gives you an interactive map of the brain.

The New York Times published this interesting article about music and emotion. How do you feel when listening to sad music? http://www.nytimes.com//opinion/sunday/why-we-like-sad-mus

Because their brains are not fully developed, adolescents are notorious for being more impulsive. This can manifest in a number of ways: aggression, emotional volatility, risk-taking, over-reacting to stressors, vulnerability to peer pressure, focusing on and overestimating short-term payoffs while underplaying longer-term consequences of what they do, and overlooking alternative courses of action. This behavior and poor judgment teens are known for almost always happen when ...teens are feeling high emotion or intense peer pressure, conditions that overwhelm the still-maturing circuitry in the front part of brain. A teenager’s brain has a well-developed accelerator but only a partly developed brake. Different mental capabilities mature at different rates. Teens as young as 15 or 16 can generally balance short-term rewards and possible costs as well as adults, but their ability to consider what might happen later on is still developing. See more

The nucleus accumbens, a part of the brain’s reward system, is the area that processes information related to motivation and reward. Brain imaging studies conducted by National Institute on Drug Abuse have shown that the nucleus accumbens is highly sensitized in adolescents, sending out strong impulses to act when faced with the opportunity to obtain something desirable. Teens are also learning self-regulation, which is the management of emotions and motivation. Self-regulation involves controlling the expression of intense emotions, impulse control, delaying gratification, and working toward a conscious purpose. Such behavioral control requires a higher level of cognitive and executive functions.

One of my areas of interest is the adolescent brain. Over the past twenty-five years, neuroscientists have discovered a great deal about how the brain functions. While much of the early focus of the research was on childhood development and diseases of the brain, now researchers are able to examine normal brains through imaging techniques. Through the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), researchers can actually see what parts of the brain use energy when performing cert...ain tasks. What’s more, researchers have found new information on how and when the brain grows. It was originally believed that the brain was fully developed by the time a child reached six years old. While the brain is about 95% formed structurally at that age, many changes take place relatively late in child development, particularly in the area of the brain called the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for planning, working memory, organization, and modulating mood. As the prefrontal cortex matures, teenagers can reason better, develop more control over impulses, and make better judgments. MRI studies of the brain show that developmental processes tend to occur in the brain in a back to front pattern, explaining why the prefrontal cortex develops last. Brain research indicating that brain development is not complete until near the age of 25, refers specifically to the development of the prefrontal cortex. An adult with a fully developed prefrontal cortex can weigh pros and cons of complex situations in order to make a decision. For adolescents, that ability has not yet developed, and one of the areas of the brain from which teens make decisions is the amygdala. The amygdala is involved with anger, emotion, reaction, and aggression in terms of the experience of it. Thus, while an adult can make a decision using judgment, teens are more likely to make decisions based on strong emotion. See more