TEEN ANXIETY

Teen Anxiety Treatment

While anxiety can often be a normal response when your teen is taking a test or meeting someone for the first time; anxiety can become a problem when it interferes with your teen’s ability to function and complete activities of daily living. Research indicates that anxiety adversely impacts more than 20 percent of all high school students before they reach the age of 18. Anxiety can develop into a serious mental health issue from panic attacks to prolonged exposure to stress, from generalized anxiety to worrying about their future. Your teen could be struggling with intense emotional and mental obstacles throughout their high school years and BasePoint Academy is here to help. Learn to recognize the warning signs and symptoms so you can get your teen help at BasePoint Academy: where we teach your teens strategies to help minimize the impact their anxiety has on their overall well-being.

Teenage Anxiety is Rising

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports that one out of every three teens between the ages of 13 and 18 will experience some form of anxiety disorder. Over the last decade, children and teens with anxiety disorders have shown to increase by above 20 percent and hospitalizations for suicidal teens have doubled. There are thought to be a few main factors contributing to the increase in anxiety for children and teens:

More outlets for sharing and receiving information = more visibility into a sometimes scary and threatening world
Increased pressure to meet higher expectations based on unrealistic or exaggerated expectations.
Social media allows teens to meet people they normally wouldn’t but also allows a perfect platform for bullying, judgment based on looks alone, and a need to constantly be in touch to avoid FOMO (fear of missing out).

BasePoint Academy INQUIRY

Types of Anxiety

The types of anxiety that children and adolescents can suffer from may include the following:

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Panic attacks
Social anxiety
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Generalized anxiety
Separation anxiety

If you are concerned about your teen, it’s time to seek assistance from professionals that can help so they can begin an active treatment plan and begin the healing process.

“

Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of it’s strength.

– Charles Spurgeon

Warning Signs of Anxiety

As the parent of a teen, it is vital that you know the warning signs of anxiety. They include any of the following:

Irritability or other unprompted changes in behavior
Fearful of everyday routines
Recurring fears about life
Skipping school and/ or drastic drop in academic performance
Avoiding school activities, dates with friends, and other social settings
Substance use and abuse
Trouble concentrating or sleeping
Complaints of chronic headaches, body aches, fatigue, stomachaches, or other physical ailments

This list of teen symptoms is not exhaustive. Every teen will react differently to anxiety, panic, stress, and other mental health disorders. These are, however, the symptoms most commonly seen as reported by doctors and other medical professionals.

Teen Treatment Options for Anxiety

cognitive-behavioral therapy

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is used to treat anxiety in adolescents by helping them change the way they think about things. This is done by encouraging the teen to think about their fear, increasing their exposure to the fear, and teaching them techniques that help them relax. These techniques may include muscle relaxation, deep breathing, and positive self-talk, all of which are part of a larger teen treatment plan.

Family Therapy Sessions

We know the decision to ask for help is not easy. This brings feelings of fear, uncertainty, confusion and sadness. We are here to support your family through the steps of treatment. Working with the family provides a time of reflection, healing and improved communication. And allowing our team to work along side you in creating positive change that can be mirrored at home. We are with you through this journey!

ANXIETY CAN BE TREATED

Anxiety is treatable and BasePoint Academy can help you and your teen learn to navigate through their triggers and stressors. At BasePoint Academy, we help your teen overcome their challenges through a holistic, interdisciplinary treatment team approach that incorporates innovative therapeutic interventions and medication management. The sooner your teen is empowered to take action, the sooner they can begin to heal.

Create a Safe Space at Home

One of the most important ways you can support your teen with debilitating anxiety is to help them create a safe space at home. This can be a room in the house or a portion of their own teen bedroom where they can be creative when it comes to painting or designing the safe space so it makes them feel comfortable. This safe space not only provides privacy for your teen to practice self-soothing and relaxation exercises when feeling anxious but can also help them immensely when dealing with symptoms of anxiety or other challenges to their mental well-being because it promotes autonomy and independence.