67: Meltdowns and Shutdowns: The Neuroscience Behind Extreme Dysregulation

Does your child or teen ever lash out, shut down, or completely refuse to listen? Maybe you’ve tried timeouts, threats, or punishments, but they just don’t work—or worse, they seem to make things even harder. Sound familiar?

Here’s the thing: those big emotional outbursts are NOT about being “naughty” or “willful.” There’s so much more happening under the surface, in their brain and body, and that’s exactly what we’re diving into today.

Today I’ll help you understand what’s *really* going on when your child is argumentative, explosive, or just plain "rude", why some of those old-school parenting tactics aren’t helpful, and, most importantly, how you can use positive strategies to co-regulate with them to bring their emotions back in balance and support their behaviour.

If you’re ready to feel less overwhelmed and more connected to your child, you’re in the right place.

And as I mentioned in the episode, I created a course specifically for this topic and these challenges. It's called Defusing and Decoding Challenging Behaviour, and it covers how understanding the nervous system of your child gives you the tools you need to navigate (and even often avoid) really challenging/disruptive behaviours.

One parent who took the course emailed me within minutes of finishing the course saying: "STEPH. This is by far the BEST course I have taken, I finally get why my son erupts and goes off, and I feel like I have a whole bag of tools to deal with it! Thank you so so much. I'm recommending it to all my friends!"

Find the course at https://www.stephaniepinto.com/courses

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If this resonates with you, I'd love to hear from you. Email us at hello@stephaniepinto.com and send me your thoughts, feedback or questions!

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Hi! I am an Emotional Intelligence best-selling author, award-winning coach and international speaker. I'm also a paediatric anxiety therapist (and previous speech language pathologist!) and I love helping people use emotional intelligence to become calmer, more connected and live happier lives!

Book a consult with me to discuss coaching, support, collaborations or speaking engagements.

💡 Head to www.stephaniepinto.com

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