Every 1 in 3 adolescents of ages between 13 to 18 years will experience an anxiety disorder according to statistics provided by the National Institute of Health. These figures were rising steadily for decades and went up to approximately 20 %. Usually, anxiety is normal, it is merely a reaction to stress, but sometimes it can lead to severe anxiety disorders in teenagers.
Almost every teenager goes through this phase where everything irritates them, or they feel left out or being ignored by their parents, and all this leads to anxiety. Teenagers experience some amount of anxiety issues at times. Sometimes being a little anxious helps in dealing the stress, and other times it affects us negatively. Ordinary things such as exams, public speaking, competitions, or feeling of depression or uneasiness can trigger anxiety in many teenagers. Besides, new opportunities and challenges provide us stress, which leads to anxiety in the long run.
What are the causes of Anxiety?
- Peer pressure
Many things can trigger panic attacks, but above them, peer pressure ranks higher. According to statistics shown in daily health news, around 90% of teenagers have experienced peer pressure. It can have both negative and positive impacts on teenagers; however, both are the reason behind rising stress levels. For instance, being forced to commit something wrong or shoplift is negative peer pressure, and on the other hand, peering to get excellent grades or gaining admission to an elite university is a positive one.
- Parental neglect or disapproval
Parents getting a divorce can destroy a child mentally. The fear of separation and stress can lead to severe anxiety attacks. Teenagers are furious. They want to do things on their own and act like a rebel, but they need the approval of their parents after all. They get anxious and frustrated when things go other ways. All this puts a lot of pressure on teens to imitate and keep up.
- Brain Development
Until children are in their early to mid-twenties, they don’t have fully developed brains during their teenage days. They are expected to take responsibility for an adult but don’t have an acquired mind to do that. This leads to anxiety and frustration in them. Adulting leads to a rise in teenage anxiety levels if mixed with frustration.
- Hormonal changes
During adolescence, hormone production in teens usually increases and decreases. Sometimes they feel anxious, depressed, and angry or upset for no reason at all. Most of these feelings are a cause of hormonal fluctuations in our body, which make teenagers uneasy and uncomfortable. Teenage girls suffer from hormonal shifts due to mensuration, and boys deal with testosterone surges. Feeling it for the first time, they feel more anxious as the feeling is now mixed with a lack of experience.
- Depression
Many times depression is present at the same time of anxiety, and it becomes difficult to understand that your child is under depression or is just anxious because of the changes going around. Therefore, it becomes difficult to infer what the main reason behind their symptoms is. Though anxiety can be because of depression also and vice averse.
- High expectations
With changes going around and inside their bodies, they are under a lot of pressure, which increases the stress levels. In teens, the level of expectations is higher than in adults that are the leading cause of their anxiety. These expectations don’t only cause stress, but it can give little time for quiet time and sleep. However, in some children, it leads to sleep deprivation, which can lead to many other health problems. Even an article about issues caused by sleep deprivation was published in daily health news stating it can increase anxiety levels, especially in teenagers.
Managing teenage anxiety
There are some lifestyle changes that physicians recommend if a teen has anxiety. You can always see a mental specialist if these remedies don’t help in curing anxiety. Follow the following tips to combat stress:
- Encourage your child to eat healthily
- Help your child to evaluate schedule
- You must teach him/her some relaxation techniques
- You can also encourage them to indulge in daily exercises.
In Final Words
You can work with your teenager and help him/her tackling the period of transitioning from childhood to adulthood. Read more about mental health issues and anxiety disorders on daily health news.
Author Bio:
Vaibhav Sharma is a digital marketing expert by day and writer by night. He is a project manager at True Scoop News who specializes in blogging, article writing and copywriting. He loves to write technical how-tos and tutorials as long as there is a bit of information technology.
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