How To Deal With The Anxiety Of Your Preteens And Teenager?
Anxiety represents a natural emotion of excitement, nervousness, fear, anger, dread, stress, or sometimes even panic. Being anxious at some moments is not unusual for any of us. However, coping with an adolescent‘s persistent anxiety is certainly not child’s play. If you also find your teen turning over anxious and not sure how to help him/her cope with it, then this blog can be helpful.
Causes For The Rising Anxiety In Children
Let’s first explore what could be the reasons driving adolescents into extensive anxious states. Here's the list:
Physical changes – Visible body changes because of hormonal imbalances may bring discomfort in teenagers. Frequent physical comparisons with peers may eventually transform into anxiety.
Pressure to perform – High expectations from the parents, family, or teachers to perform in studies or else, may soon overload them with intense stress that shapes into anxiety.
Inapt experiences in life - Experiencing some unpleasant incident in life may grow into a phobia, and later into a reason for a teen’s chronic anxiety.
Separation anxiety - Children in their early teens are more susceptible to developing separation anxiety if are parted from their parents or any loved one due to any reason.
Inappropriate company - Sometimes teenagers are trapped and manipulated by evil people who exploit and push them into the darkness of anxiety and depression.
Social media addiction- The expanded popularity of social media during the past few years, has forced adolescents into the virtual race of staying popular and superior to their peers. Sustained efforts to excel over others flood them into a state of unseen fear and anxiety.
Symptoms Of Anxiety In Adolescents
Every adolescent may show unique anxiety characteristics, still, the following are a few common noticeable behavioral changes seen during anxiety.
- Constant stress and restlessness
- Extensive self-consciousness
- Poor concentration/focus
- Persistent irritability
- Mood swings
- Refusal to school
- Sleep issues
- Avoidance of social interactions
- Over-aggressive or oversensitive behavior
- Panic attacks
- Alcohol/Drug use
How To Pacify Your Over-Anxious Teenager?
To ease your child's anxious mind, you first need to keep your own mind and emotions in control and then try to:
Trace the reason for his/her anxiety - If your child agrees to open up to you, find out the root cause for his anxiety however if he doesn’t, don’t compel him, and rather seek external help.
Don’t disregard his feelings - Listen to your child’s fears and concerns respectfully, and convince him about everyone experiencing general adolescent issues unless it is something extreme.
Help him to overcome his fears - Remind him of his qualities and convince him that he can handle the toughest situation by giving examples from prior experiences.
Engage him in some leisure activities - Strategy board games like chess have been found to create a positive effect on anxiety. So let your inner child come out and play with your teen. Involve his friends and other family members in game nights. Accompany him/her by watching some standup comedy or funny movies together, or planting a garden together to help overcome stress.
Seek professional advice - If his anxiety lasts over 6 months, take help from a health expert to know the anxiety level and remedies to overcome it.
Persuade legal help when it's really needed - If your child’s anxiety is arising due to some offensive conduct, seek help from cops or court as required to prevent any inappropriate consequences later.
Take medical help - Don’t hesitate to follow the anti-anxiety treatment for your child, usually a combination of cognitive-behavioral therapy and anti-anxiety drugs like Beta-blockers, Benzodiazepines, Antihistamines, etc. (Note - Consult a doctor before following any medication). You can seek online doctor consultations as well.
Connect emotionally - Anxiety or depression makes the teenager emotionally tender and fragile and also vulnerable to self–destructive and suicidal thoughts. Assuring him of your absolute love will work as a natural therapy to pull your teen out of anxiety.
Teen anxiety, mostly, can be treated in conventional ways however in some instances it may outgrow and seek extreme interventions. Necessary steps should be taken by parents or families to prevent adolescents from losing their innocence to the hands of anxiety.
For personal guidance and advice, talk to a Child Psychologist now. Our specialized doctors will answer you in minutes.
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