If you believe your teen is dealing with anxiety, it’s imperative that you know the signs and symptoms of anxiety, as well as how to identify them. Anxiety, especially compared to other psychiatric disorders, is extremely prevalent among teenagers. The presence of anxiety means that your teen is likely dealing with other external sources of stress and that anxiety may simply be the byproduct.
Anxiety treatment programs are a structured, individualized way to help teens manage their symptoms. At Imagine Spokane, we focus on providing various treatment programs to 12-17 year-olds. This is an essential time to ensure teens are keeping up academically. Our programs are designed to accommodate the school year, as well as family involvement, for a better quality of care. Don’t hesitate—get started now by calling 888.384.3143 to learn more.
Signs of Anxiety in Your Teen
When looking for the signs of anxiety in your teen, look at their behavior. Because anxiety most often sets in during the teenage years, it can be difficult to differentiate the behavioral changes that are due to anxiety versus those that can be attributed to development, social expectations, and so on. In reality, anxiety isn’t separate from those things; it’s often a reaction to the experiences and changes that strongly typify adolescence.
It’s not just different scenarios and experiences that affect how anxiety appears. Other types of anxiety disorders, while still under the general umbrella of “anxiety” in most cases, have vastly different triggers and potential symptoms. The five predominant types of anxiety disorder are as follows:
- Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
- Social anxiety disorder (SAD, social phobia)
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Panic disorder
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Before treating any kind of anxiety disorder, ensure your teen receives a diagnosis. Different types of anxiety disorder respond differently to methods of treatment, so the best treatment requires screening by a psychologist first and foremost.
Anxiety Symptoms in Teens
The symptoms of anxiety, as opposed to its signs, are not expressed behaviorally as much as they are internally. Symptoms are psychological and may affect different individuals in different ways. Additionally, identifying symptoms is often easier for the individual with anxiety to identify, meaning a level of self-awareness and openness will make treating anxiety much easier. The common symptoms of anxiety include:
- Feelings of distress or unease
- Inability to sleep, relax, or allocate time for self-care
- Perceived lack of agency over life
- Unwanted, racing thoughts
- Sense of impending doom
- Panic attacks
- Fatigue
- Profuse sweating
Stress incurred by changing social circles, academic expectations, and any number of external forces can be responsible for anxiety in some way. Paying close attention to the sort of stimuli that can cause anxiety helps tremendously when identifying anxiety in your teen, but it requires communication between both parties. Fostering a dialogue can be difficult, especially when the subject is both sensitive and personal, but the alternative is to allow anxiety to run its detrimental course.
Individualized Anxiety Treatment Is Available at Imagine Spokane
Teens today are subject to more potential sources of anxiety than they should be expected to handle. To assist teens, and their families, in overcoming anxiety—no matter what form it comes in, is the priority of each of us at Imagine Spokane. Treatment for anxiety is adaptive, fitting the individual needs of each patient as they come.
Anxiety can take a toll over time and, depending on its source, is unlikely to heal on its own. Working together with the help of professionals, teens can tackle their anxieties, as well as where they originate, head-on and without reservations. Make sure your teen doesn’t do it alone by calling the specialists at Imagine Spokane today at 888.384.3143 or using our secure online form.