A new article in The Philadelphia Inquirer is asking, “Can Your Teen’s Stress Lead to an Anxiety Disorder?” And indeed, with teen mental health issues, it’s often a question of which comes first. Does stress lead to anxiety or vice versa? Does it all lead up to serious depression, or worse? Here are some facts about teen mental health, including anxiety, stress, and depression, gathered by The Philadelphia Inquirer, that parents should be aware of.
One in eight kids can be hit with an anxiety disorder, and it’s important to know that panic disorder, OCD, social anxiety and PTSD all go under the category of anxiety. The Inquirer also wrote that anxiety can also happen with other disorders like depression and ADD.
The Inquirer recommends that if your teen is suffering from anxiety to see your family doctor, then have your child see a psychiatrist as well. As The Inquirer recommends, “Patients treated with a combination of medication and psychotherapy had better outcomes than those treated with only one or the other.” And through CBT, or cognitive behavior therapy, your teenager can learn how to deal with their anxiety and stress much better, as well as learn how to get along with their peers better socially.
Clearly, in treating teenage anxiety, it’s often not just fixing one area, but having a lot of areas all working together well that will help your teens deal with their emotions better. When dealing with your teen’s anxiety, it’s important to be empathetic and realize it may not be a phase, but a problem that needs to be, and thankfully can be, fixed.