Teen Anxiety: Understanding the Signs, Causes, and Treatment

Perfectionism

Oct 27

Adolescence is a transformative time, full of life transitions, physical changes, and identity development. It can also be a time of mental health struggles. The pressure to succeed, navigate friendships, and prepare for the future can feel overwhelming. While it’s normal for teens to experience some level of stress, it becomes a problem when it starts to interfere with their daily life.

At Carino & Co, we understand that anxiety can be a significant struggle during these years. That’s why all of us here specialize in teen and family treatment. Our goal is to help families understand the signs and symptoms of anxiety in teens, explore potential causes, and help you figure out how to best support your child.

What Causes Teen Anxiety?

Anxiety is a natural response to life's challenges, designed to help people manage and overcome stressors and obstacles. For example, it’s normal for a teen to get nervous before an important test or presentation. However, when anxiety symptoms become chronic and continue even after the stressors have passed, it may indicate chronic anxiety or an anxiety disorder.

Teen anxiety often arises from a combination of factors, including the following:

Genetics: Studies suggest that around 40% of anxiety risk is inherited. If a close family member has experienced anxiety or another mental health disorder, a teen is more likely to also experience it.
Bodily Changes: During adolescence, the brain is under development, and the teen body experiences hormonal, chemical, and physical changes that can amplify anxiety.
Academic Pressures: School can be a major source of anxiety for teens. The intense pressure to excel academically, choose a career path early, and compete with peers for recognition or college admission can be incredibly stressful and lead to perfectionism and anxiety.
Unaddressed Trauma: Trauma includes any situation that leaves someone feeling unsafe or destabilized. For teens, this can include bullying, school violence, abuse, neglect, a significant loss, family struggles, or a serious illness. When trauma is unprocessed or unresolved, it often leads to chronic anxiety.
Social Media: Social media is known to cause problems for some adolescents, including fear of judgment, body shame, and comparing themselves with others’ digital personas. This can heighten mental health issues like feelings of loneliness, disconnection, and anxiety.

How to Recognize Anxiety in Teens

As a parent, it can be tough to tell when your teen is being a typical moody adolescent or struggling with something more serious, like an anxiety disorder. Familiarizing yourself with signs and symptoms of anxiety in teens can help you determine what’s really going on.

The difference between signs and symptoms of anxiety is that signs are observable indicators, whereas symptoms are subjective experiences. If you pay close attention, you’ll likely notice most of the signs of anxiety in your child. However, symptoms are internal experiences that your child is navigating. They may not be apparent unless your child talks to you about their inner world.

Signs of Anxiety in Teens

Academic struggles
Avoidance of certain activities or situations
Jumpiness and fidgeting
Changes in social behaviors
Negative self-talk
Sleep problems, including trouble falling or staying asleep
Unusual eating habits, or disordered eating
Intense moods such as irritability, frequent anger outbursts, and tearfulness
Substance use, self harm, or other risky behaviors

Symptoms of Anxiety in Teens

Feeling overwhelmed by worries that are out of proportion
Restlessness, edginess, and inability to relax
Catastrophizing, or fearing the worst-case outcome
Physical complaints, including muscle pain, stomachaches, nausea, and headaches
Difficulty focusing or concentrating
Memory struggles
Fear of the future
Panic attacks

Types of Anxiety in Teens

Teen anxiety rates have surged over the last two decades. While anxiety disorders affected only about 5% of young people in 2003, today they impact nearly one in three teens. Conditions such as generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety disorder, specific phobias, and panic disorder have become more common. Here are some of the most common anxiety disorders among teens.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is characterized by excessive, uncontrollable worry about various aspects of life, including everyday situations.
Social Anxiety Disorder involves intense fear of social situations or being judged by others.
Panic Disorder includes episodes of sudden, intense fear accompanied by physical symptoms like difficulty breathing, chest pain, and light-headedness.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is intense anxiety that results from a traumatic event or series of events.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a series of repetitive, involuntary thoughts and behaviors that cause distress and interfere with daily life.
Specific Phobias, such as fear triggered by spiders or heights.

Teen Therapy for Anxiety in Westchester County

Chronic anxiety wears away at a teen’s well-being, with resounding impacts on self-esteem, family life, academic performance, and relationships. If your teen or family are struggling and you’re looking for support, we’re here to help.

Each of our experienced therapists is trained specifically in adolescent mental health, including teen anxiety. We know teen anxiety treatment is about more than just fixing the symptoms – it’s about healing the underlying causes.

We offer teen anxiety therapy to help your teen uncover root causes of their struggles, learn helpful ways to cope with difficult stressors, and build essential life skills like emotional regulation and resilience development.

We also provide family therapy in situations with challenging family dynamics. This type of therapy is for families that want to learn better communication skills, understand and overcome trigger points, and improve or repair parent-child relationships.

Curious about working together? Reach out to set up a free consultation today. Let’s help your teen build a healthier, more empowered life.

If you're struggling with perfectionist tendencies and would like support in managing them, I'm here to help. Get in touch to learn more about how therapy can help you find balance and peace in your journey towards self-improvement.

MEET THE AUTHOR

Justine Carino

Justine is a licensed mental health counselor with a private practice in White Plains, NY. She helps teenagers, young adults and families struggling with anxiety, depression, family conflict and relationship issues. Justine is also the host of the podcast Thoughts From the Couch.