As a parent, it may seem that your child isn’t having any troubles in life, and you’ve provided them everything. But even so, they can experience mental health issues like anxiety and a depressive mood, which can be due to several reasons, such as parenting choices or methods, family problems, and school problems. The best option is most often to opt for teenage anxiety treatment, which can involve taking your teen to a psychologist to help them deal with what is causing their anxiety.

Causes and Consequences

Experts believe that a child’s tendency towards aspects of anxious behavior such as timidity is congenital. So, if one parent becomes anxious for any reason, there are chances that their children will also show symptoms of anxiety. Even if a parent tries to conceal this, children can still often observe uneasiness. So, with time, when a child reaches adolescence, they begin to adopt this behavior and start showing symptoms of anxiety. In addition, some studies indicate that children who are easily agitated don’t learn to soothe themselves.

Several children also develop separation anxiety early in their life. It’s a feeling of fear whenever a child is separated from anything they are attached to, such as a caregiver or home. Anxiety in an adolescent can also lead to separation disorders. When these children grow up, they don’t show explicit signs that they’ve separated from something. Instead, they show resistance to performing activities independently and reluctance to leave home. Another common sign of separation anxiety and depression in adolescence is a refusal to attend school.

Children can also develop anxiety due to family problems like divorce, illness in the family, or a death in the family. Some require teenage anxiety treatment because of the fear of the lack of safety or gang activities in school. A worried child performs less in sports, social interactions, and school. The fear of failure to achieve something leads to anxiety, and such children grow up to feel unsure of their capabilities, become perfectionists, or overly conform to rules.

What Causes Rise in Severe Anxiety in Teenagers?

Even if your child didn’t develop anxiety at an early age, they could face factors during adolescence that lead to anxiety. This can be due to life events, personality, genetics, or brain chemistry.

Below we explore what some of the most common reasons for increased anxiety and depression in adolescence are:

Pressure to Succeed

Parents set high expectations for their kids. Between culture of achievement and standardized testing, teens can feel pressure to achieve things according to family or world expectations. Because there are some children who cannot do that, they end up feeling anxious.

Threatening and Scary World

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a wave of uncertainty in the last two years. Consequently, the youth has started to feel scared and worried. Many children believe that the world is not safe and they have to protect themselves.

Social Media

While social media platforms offer a bunch of benefits, it has caused several problems as well. Anxiety in adolescence is common as they compare their life to what they see online. Since they’ve grown up in the age of social media, they face self-esteem issues when they compare themselves to ideals.

Types of Anxiety in Teenagers and Pre-Teens

Social Phobia or Social Anxiety Disorder

In this case, you fear being embarrassed or judged in public or in social interactions. Children can also feel fear of missing out or not being included.

Specific Phobias

They fear objects or situations like heights or dogs.

Agoraphobia

This is the fear of being in places or situations where it might be impossible to get help or escape from.

Panic Disorder

This leads to unexpected and repeated panic attacks. Consequently, teens feel overwhelmed in situations that generally don’t introduce feelings of panic.

Separation Anxiety Disorder

As we discussed, in this case, children feel fear of separating from something. It can be their house, family, or simple objects like toys.

Teenage Anxiety Treatment

If you think that your child suffers from anxiety, you need to take them to a health professional as soon as possible. Note that anxiety disorders do not likely go away on there own. Instead, you can opt for several treatment options that help your child manage their anxiety.

Teenage anxiety treatment is the best option that primarily focuses on coping mechanisms for anxiety. CBT or counseling and cognitive behavioral therapy can help your teen lower anxiety symptoms and respond to anxiety triggers without completely withdrawing from a situation.

When you take your child to a health expert, they will assess your child and try to identify the cause of anxiety. Based on their analysis, they will offer a treatment option.

Bottom Line

Unfortunately, anxiety among teenagers is growing common. More children are affected by it, and it will eventually impact their life, career, education, and relationships. If you want a happy, secure, and peaceful life for your child, contact CAV Family Therapy Inc. We can offer teenage anxiety treatment that works best for your child.

Sources

https://www.aacap.org/aacap/Families_and_Youth/Resource_Centers/Anxiety_Disorder_Resource_Center/Your_Adolescent_Anxiety_and_Avoidant_Disorders.aspx

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/emotional-problems/Pages/Anxiety-Disorders.aspx

https://childmind.org/article/signs-of-anxiety-in-teenagers/

https://raisingchildren.net.au/pre-teens/mental-health-physical-health/stress-anxiety-depression/anxiety-disorders