Teenage Anxiety

20 Apr

Is Teenage Anxiety Our New Epidemic?

This feature explores why anxiety in teenagers has risen by 20%. The signs to look out for if you think your teen is presenting with symptoms of anxiety and offers tips on active listening.

Teenage anxiety is on the rise. The World Health Organization estimates that globally 3.6% of 10-14 year-olds and 4.6% of 15-19 year-olds experience an anxiety disorder. "Protecting our teens from adversity, and promoting socio-emotional learning and psychological well-being are key as well as ensuring they get access to mental health care". Anxiety disorders cut across all demographics―suburban, urban, and rural and according to the National Institute of Health, nearly 1 in 3 of all teenagers aged 13 to 18 will experience an anxiety disorder. Shockingly, anxiety disorders in teens have increased by 20%.

As a counsellor with my own clinical private practice, I see a lot of teens who suffer from symptoms that I attribute to anxiety. I believe the way to work with our teens first and foremost is with transparency, educating them that anxiety is not necessarily a negative but can serve us. It is after all one of our core emotions. Providing teens with some basic knowledge on how the brain works when we experience anxiety, thanks to neuroplasticity, you can retrain the Amygdala and reset the brain by doing exercises often surprises them. But the fact is that our brains aren't hard-wired.

Essentially exploring anxiety, helping teens better understand this emotion and better understand themselves, as well as providing them with tools, and strategies to manage their anxiety more effectively can make a huge difference to their outlook on living with their worries. Anxiety is often a part of being a teenager, but there’s a difference between everyday worry and chronic anxiety. By understanding the distinctions, you can help your child manage their symptoms effectively.

So Why The Increase?

Put simply, I believe that our teenagers have never before felt such pressure to perform and be exceptional in every aspect of their lives. We all recognise that being a teen is a transitional period, coping with physical, emotional, and cognitive changes. Add to this navigating healthy boundaries, self-esteem and confidence, identity and peers. But teenagers have never before had such high expectations and pressure to succeed. Succeed in ways previous generations didn't feel such pressure to.

YouGov commissioned The Mental Health Foundation https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk to carry out a survey and it revealed that 57% of young people felt so stressed because of fear of making mistakes they felt overwhelmed or unable to cope.

On Sunday 16th April 23 just gone the Guardian here in the UK published a feature titled "Buckling NHS fails to treat 250,000 children with mental health problems".

In truth I suspect that this figure may be higher based on my experience of working with parents as a counsellor in private practice and as a mother myself to a daughter who is neurodiverse. It really saddens me that our children and their families are not getting the help they should be. This isn't down to the NHS though. It's about cost being made in child mental health at government level.

Other Possible Causes Of Why Teenagers Have Anxiety

Genetics: Teenagers with a family history of mood or anxiety disorders may be at higher risk of developing them.

Mental Health Conditions: Anxiety often runs concurrently alongside conditions such as ADHD and Autism.

Trauma: Teenagers with a history of trauma — such as sexual abuse, violence, or involvement in an accident — may be more likely to experience anxiety.

Environment: A teenager’s social, school, and home environments can have an impact on their mental health. Divorce in the family, being bullied, poverty, learning disabilities, and struggling to fit in with peers may all contribute to anxiety.

Differences in the brain: Teenagers’ brains are structurally different than adults’ brains. Changes in teenagers’ brain circuits that are involved in responses to danger and rewards can increase stress levels. Teenagers with depression and anxiety may also have different levels of neurotransmitters — such as dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine — in their brains. These affect the regulation of moods and behaviour.

Substance misuse: Drug and alcohol misuse may affect teenagers’ moods and lead to depression. They may turn to these substances to self-medicate their emotions.

Stresses of puberty: Teenagers who are experiencing puberty may go through hormonal changes that affect their mood and deal with the stresses of a changing body, which can make them feel different from their peers.

Negative thought patterns: Anxiety in teenagers may be linked to negative thought patterns. If teenagers have regular exposure to negative thinking — often from within their family dynamic, they may also develop a negative worldview.

As a parent, you are fully aware that your teenager experiences emotions more intensely. Their emotional well-being was tested to the limit when Covid hit. Confined to their homes, fathoming virtual learning, and being told to isolate themselves from their peers all took their toll. I really felt for my daughter and all the teens globally, who had to try and make sense of the pandemic and their place within it. Teens often tell me that they were scared when we went into lockdown. That their anxiety clearly increased significantly during this period.New data suggest that as many as one in four young people who spent their adolescence in the shadow of Covid now has a mental health disorder. I believe we are yet to see and understand the extent to which this period affected our teenagers and the impact possibly it will have on them going into adulthood.

Keeping communication open while still giving your teen space is key. Encouraging your teen to have an open dialogue with you is essential. They may not know what they feel or why they feel the way they do, able to articulate their emotions, just as adults aren't able to sometimes. But demonstrating to our teens that they are not alone by sharing our own anxieties, our fears and worries and sharing personal coping strategies and asking questions to help create a safe space is something we can all offer our kids.

Teens mask well, but if you notice a change in your child's behaviour such as being withdrawn, refusing school, low appetite, poor sleep, tiredness or lack of energy, complaining of dizziness and fainting, stomach aches and sickness or panic attacks contact your GP in the first instance. Our greatrest asset as a parent is our intuition. You know your child better than anyone else and if you are concerned about your teen's mental health reach out and get support.

I'd like to share with you an exercise to use with your teen. Encouraging your teen to talk more freely, will help them feel worthy, appreciated and respected and respond positively by interacting with you on a deeper level. Regularly checking in with your teen will validate their feelings, worries and anxieties.

Exercise

Invite your teen to take some time with you in a quiet space. Ask then to turn their phone off and sit with you.

Facing them, sitting straight or leaning forwards to show attentiveness is also useful.

Maintaining eye contact shows your teen you are interested in them and what they have to say.

Start with a warmer such as talking about yourself, and bring in your feelings. Being transparent about your worries and what is going on for you right now.

Invite your teen to talk, ask leading questions such as how's school? Are you coping with school work? what's going on for you with friendships?

Then ask deeper questions such as have you got any worries that you would like to share with me?

You could also try some reflective listening. This is restating what your teen has just communicated to you so that they know you have clearly heard what they have disclosed.

Here at Harley Street Counselling, We offer teens counselling, holistic treatment plans, school intervention and parent mentoring

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