Being a teenager can be stressful. Today’s teens grapple with fear of failure, as well as social, economic, and academic pressures. They also deal with hormonal changes and all the challenges early adulthood brings. Unfortunately, many of today’s teens struggle with anxiety. A mental health treatment program is the best way to help a teen in your life understand, manage, and live a fulfilling life with anxiety.
Does a teenager in your life show signs of anxiety? Our team at Fort Behavioral Health is here to help. Our programs provide an extensive mental health treatment program for teenagers living with anxiety and other co-occurring disorders. Call us now at 844.332.1807 or reach out to us online to find the right mental health program for the teen in your life.
What Is Anxiety?
Anxiety is a common mental, physical, and emotional state of being. When anxiety is triggered, the brain and body go into fight or flight mode. This causes cortisol and adrenaline to course through the bloodstream. While this is a natural response to life-threatening danger, anxiety does not stem from preset-moment threats. Instead, anxiety focuses on the past and the future. When someone struggles with anxiety, their body will go into fight, flight, or freeze mode when ruminating about the past or worrying about the future. When the body is in this state of dysregulation, it’s tough to calm down and come back into the present moment. Anxiety treatment and mental health programs can help.
Signs My Teenager Is Struggling with Anxiety
Anxiety is very common, especially among teens.
Some common signs your teen is dealing with anxiety include:
- Nightmares
- Digestive problems
- Excessive worry
- Hair pulling and self-harm
- Obsessive behaviors
- Inability to focus
- Unable to sit still
- Not feeling safe
- Sweating and shaking
- Trouble breathing
Anxiety can be debilitating, especially without diagnosis and mental health education. Unfortunately, mental health stigmas and a lack of healthcare access keep many young adults from the treatment they need for anxiety. Most often, anxiety will present with responses that don’t match a situation. Similar to post-traumatic stress disorder, the nervous system will take a safe situation as a threatening one, leading to fight, flight, or freeze mode. This might lead some teens to behave aggressively while others become avoidant or literally freeze when asked a question. Sometimes, teens will turn to drugs, alcohol, and self-harming behaviors to cope with anxiety. If your teen is self-medicating, now is the time to get support at Fort Behavioral Health.
Help Your Teen with Anxiety Treatment at Fort Behavioral Health
The first step toward helping teenagers with anxiety is a diagnosis. Once diagnosed with anxiety, a therapist can help a teenager and their family come up with a treatment plan. For many, a change in diet, routine, and daily exercise can help manage anxiety and stress. Behavioral and alternative therapies can help teens recognize anxiety triggers and underlying fears or belief systems that contribute to anxiety. Mindfulness training, meditation therapy, and other contemplative exercises can help teens focus on the present moment. Present moment awareness is one of the best tools to overcome anxiety because anxiety is not a reaction to the present.
If you’re ready to help a teen in your life with anxiety treatment, call Fort Behavioral Health or contact us online. Our Fort Worth mental health programs provide a continuum of care for anxiety and other co-occurring disorders. Fort Behavioral Health’s master clinicians use evidence-based and alternative therapies to help teens uncover, treat, and manage anxiety for a healthy lifestyle. Help your teen today. Contact us to learn more about the benefits of mental health treatment at Fort Behavioral Health.
