If there’s a teen in your life struggling with anxiety, one of these modalities may help.
By Joshua Sosin
Anxiety is a daily struggle for many teens — one study by the National Institute of Mental Health concluded that 31.9% of adolescents aged 13-18 in the US experience an anxiety disorder.
Each teenager’s struggle with anxiety is unique; there’s no one-size-fits all approach to finding peace. However, there are a few treatment modalities that we believe can be deeply healing for any teen who deals with anxiety. Below, we’ll take a look at each of them and share some expert insights from Dr. Laura Kostrzewski, a doctor of naturopathic medicine and co-founder of Avena Natural Health.
What Causes Anxiety in Teens?
Adolescence can be a deeply stressful season of life. It’s full of change, both in a teen’s external environment and in their body. For many teens, physical changes — shifts in hormonal health, for example — can contribute to increasing levels of anxiety.
Dr. Kostrzewski recommends that parents or caregivers of an anxious teen pay attention to the physical factors that might be at play. She specifically highlights diet, hormones, or any diseases that could cause brain inflammation. “Blood work is very important in cases of teen anxiety,” she says, “It can help us rule out infections and get a clearer picture of what’s going on.”
In addition, Dr. Kostrzewski mentions that childhood trauma can be an underlying source of anxiety. “Abuse, neglect, and family dysfunction can all be core causes of anxiety in teens.” These issues need to be addressed and processed for full healing.
Beyond factors like diet, hormonal health, and adverse childhood experiences, Dr. Kostrzewski makes it clear that there can be much more at play. Every teen is different, and it can take time and professional insight to get to the root of anxiety.
What Does Anxiety Look Like in Teens?
A teenager’s struggle with anxiety can be hard to spot at first. For many adolescents, the struggle with anxiety can be deeply private and personal, and it’s not always something that they’re ready to open up about right away. Signs that parents and caregivers should keep an eye out for can include irritability, trouble concentrating, and expressing more negative emotions than usual. However, it’s wise to keep in mind that all of these can be normal parts of everyday life for a teenager. The best way to confirm that your teen is dealing with anxiety is through an open, honest conversation.
What Treatments Can Help With Teen Anxiety? Getting Started
Treating a teen’s anxiety calls for a holistic approach that takes body, mind, and spirit into account. With this mindset, a teen and their family have all the support they need to find and address all of the root causes of the issue.
Dr. Kostrzewski recommends starting out with a clear picture of a teen’s background and family situation. This can give their professional support team the insight that they need to confront the struggle with anxiety head-on. It might look like assessing brain biochemistry, getting bloodwork done, or simply talking about family history to find out whether anxiety might be an inherited issue.
Focusing on Whole-Body Health
From there, Dr. Kostrzewski encourages parents and caregivers to support teens in whole-body wellness rather than seeing anxiety as the core of the issue. In this view, anxiety is more of an indicator that something deeper isn’t right — a symptom, not an illness in and of itself. Taking this view can help a teen practice self-compassion and find a hopeful path forward instead of feeling trapped.
A holistic care plan for anxiety will address many different aspects of a teen’s life, including their sleep, their diet, how they relax, and more. It might include practices like yoga or mindfulness, which can be grounding and calming for a teen living in an overstimulating, anxious world. In addition, it might include supplement supplements, targeted nutritional therapy, and other practices that can get a teen’s physical health on track to support their mental health.
Finding Hope in Therapy and Teen Outpatient Care
In addition to focusing on the body-mind connection, teens can find the hope and strength that they need by working with a professional therapist. Treatment modalities like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) have both been found to help teens with anxiety, and they can help a teen track their journey from anxiety to peace through meaningful, practical goal-setting.
In more serious cases — when anxiety seems to be ruling a teen’s life — getting more intensive care at a teen outpatient facility can be life-changing. This approach isn’t necessary for everyone, but it’s a powerful strategy that can help a teen get to where they need to be.
Hope for Teens With Anxiety
Dealing with anxiety as a teenager can be hard, but there’s hope. Getting support for the whole self and focusing on both mental and physical health is the perfect place to start. Working with holistic health practitioners, therapists, and other experienced professionals will give your teen the support that they need to find peace in this tough time of life.