Blog

Anxiety Is Really Tricky – Especially for Teens

May 1, 2022

Since May is Mental Health Awareness, let’s talk a little more about anxiety. Specifically, anxiety in teens.

Teens and Anxiety

A lot of teens present in therapy and in the school setting with anxiety and worry. Part of that comes from perspective. Teens think everyone is watching them all the time. It also comes from just an inability, really, to cope with anxiety and stress. They haven’t been able to normalize stress like adults are able to. I think helping kids figure out ways to relax and cope, meditate, and take time to breathe through situations helps.

It certainly helps the brain, but also may show if they need professional help. I think it’s absolutely the perfect time to help make the experience of therapy or maybe even working with a psychiatrist, an experience that feels comfortable. To ensure that it is something that they’re going to not feel self-conscious about or that something is wrong with them. Normalizing that experience is part of it and key.

Anxiety is really tricky.

Oftentimes when a teen is anxious, their parents are probably a little anxious too. That’s understandable. So helping your anxious teen involves figuring out what’s going on underneath their experience. It also involves helping them figure out ways to cope.

Figuring out what the stressors are, whether they’re school or peers, is important in order to process and make changes. But also helping kids figure out ‘how do I calm down? How do I de-stress?’ in those triggering situations? That might look like meditation. It might be having alone time or just downtime with the family. It might be exercising or being involved in a sport. It might even be just eating better and taking better care of themselves that might lessen the anxiety. All of those things really affect the brain and kids can’t function when they are anxious and worried.

 

Any way you can help your teen figure out how to minimize anxiety is really good. If you feel like your teen needs support, then you should find some support, either in a professional or in a religious setting – whatever feels appropriate – so that they can feel like they have lots of resources and support.


Until next time, Be Wise!