“Understanding and Addressing Anxiety in Teens” is the nineth of fifteen teen articles received in spring 2024 from Piute High School students. Three of them were published in The Byway‘s most recent May paper. The rest will be featured online.
Teenage problems involve a wide range of social, psychological, and academic challenges. These challenges influence individual development significantly. Among many of these challenges is an increase in anxiety disorders found in youth. Claire McCarthy wrote in an article called “Anxiety in Teens is Rising: What’s Going On” that “according to the National Institutes of Health, nearly 1 in 3 of all adolescents ages 13 to 18 will experience an anxiety disorder.” This only goes to show the rising concern for our youth. While anxiety is not completely curable, there are many factors that contribute to helping anxiety: increasing awareness, limiting pressure, having access to mental health services, addressing systemic issues, and teaching coping skills.
Anxiety can significantly impact a person’s life, causing many physical, emotional, and cognitive symptoms. An article called “Anxiety Disorders” from the World Health Organization states some of the following symptoms of anxiety: “trouble concentrating or making decisions,” “feeling irritable, tense or restless,” “experiencing nausea or abdominal distress,” “having heart palpitations,” “sweating, trembling or shaking,” “trouble sleeping,” and “having a sense of impending danger, panic or doom.” This just goes to show how easily anxiety can diminish the quality of life, not to mention if left unmanaged, it could aid in the development of other mental illnesses.
“Stop Anxiety by Adjusting Expectations” written by Loretta Graziano Breuning states, “If there’s a reasonable match between expected and actual, your brain releases a bit of dopamine and moves on. If it’s a bad match, cortisol is released, which motivates closer inspection. Cortisol helps us avoid being misled by false expectations, but it’s also the root of anxiety.” This shows that by limiting the pressures of expectations we are able to limit the anxiety put on teenagers.
The key to helping people that struggle with anxiety is reducing the pressure that is put on them. These pressures can come from a variety of places, whether it be academic pressure, social pressure, peer pressure, performance pressure, or even pressure due to family expectations. Besides those pressures that are highly increasing the anxiety of our youth is the pressure surrounding mental health. This could cause people with anxiety disorders to feel ashamed, misunderstood, or judged.
How do we limit pressure? Teens struggling with anxiety should promote balance into their lifestyle. Open communication should be encouraged through home and school to provide support. Start setting realistic expectations, and form an understanding that not everything can be perfect. Teach coping skills that include time management which can give them realistic expectations of what can be done. Reduce social comparisons by limiting the amount of time spent on social media. Support seeking help by letting people know that it’s okay to reach out to adults, counselors, or mental health professionals. Create safe places where students can go when feeling anxious, so they’re not afraid to go to school.
To address anxiety found in teens, schools have started 504 plans. 504 plans are used to accommodate people with issues that affect their learning. These accommodations may allow for breaks when students are stressed out, as well as a quiet room to test in, and much more. Unfortunately, 504 plans aren’t always looked at in a positive light. Many people don’t fully understand that anxiety is a form of disability which may affect your learning. Some parents fear 504s because they think it is enabling children with anxiety when in reality it’s just giving them equal access to education. We should recognize the difference between enabling and empowering these teenagers. By encouraging 504 plans it evens the playing field for students who are lacking in learning due to anxiety. This is where educating people, especially parents, becomes critical. Not many fully understand the nature of anxiety and the effect it plays on a student’s learning.
Another major key to helping teens suffering with anxiety is addressing systemic issues. We need to find and fix the problems that contribute to causing anxiety. These systemic issues include policies, education and awareness, community support, economic support, and cultural sensitivity. We should always be striving for a better future for these teens. Policies should be changed to help accommodate people with anxiety in education. We should research more into direct causes of anxiety, and explain to our youth root causes rather than just symptoms. Everyone should be educated on the topic to fully understand the problem at hand. We should advocate for access to mental health services and establish support networks for these teens so they can better cope with anxiety. We should monitor progress in interventions to make adjustments and find what helps these struggling teens the best. We should form an understanding of diverse cultural beliefs, values, and practices involving mental health. It’s important we respect cultural norms but also address cultural stigma that may be surrounding mental health. Along with this, we should make sure there is access for individuals with limited English. For this to be effective we must put every one of these factors into helping teens struggling with anxiety. Long term commitment and using each of these techniques is crucial for solving this large problem.
Ultimately there are many factors that contribute to anxiety found in teenagers. In fighting this battle with anxiety, we must put efforts into every sector of society. By understanding what causes anxiety, we can limit the triggers for these teens and prevent others from developing disorders. It’s important that anxiety disorders should be looked at as a legitimate disability. We should recognize the challenges faced by these teens and join together to increase awareness, reduce pressure, provide access to mental health services, address systemic issues, and promote coping skills which will lead to a healthier and happier future generation.
– by Brandi Sylvester (10th) Marysvale
Feature image courtesy of Abbie Call, The Byway.
Read more from Piute teens in The Connection Between Peer Pressure and Self-Esteem by Carlos Mar.
Read more about anxiety in schools in How School Is Causing Teens to Have Anxiety by Halley Mickelsen.