Imaginary Audience: What works

When young people start to become conscious of 'what other people think' they may be developing a sense of the imaginary audience. The imaginary audience is social consciousness.

At this stage young people can become overly concerned with appearance, develop anxieties about the way they look, fitting in or having the sense that 'the whole world is looking at me'.

This too is a normal part of adolescent development and in time young people must learn to recognise what is real and what is fabricated in their own minds. Help them to recognise truth from farce but in doing so, be gentle. They are trekking into unknown territory and what may appear ridiculous to you is so real to them.

Unfortunately adolescence is also a time where young people can oversensationalise some aspects of their experience, so it's important you are sending them the right message. Don't play down the importance of what they say or how they feel about themselves. If you do, I guarantee they will interpret this very differently. Be intuitive about what they're not saying too, but always best to check it out first. No good jumping to conclusions without having the conversation.

Just remember the adolescent years marks a time of many 'firsts' for young people, so be kind. It is not always helpful if you only ever see things from an adult perspective.