Teen Therapy

Being a teen is so hard… especially now.

Jessica was dominated with feelings of anxiety and depression. She remembered feeling anxious and depressed in 8th grade.

She said it affected her school attendance, but she was able to still do well in school.

It was having the motivation to get up in the morning and not having any energy that were the hardest things with which to deal.

Her mom saw it, too, as Jessica would cry and beg her mom not to make her go to school. She was always complaining about her stomach aching and other physical ailments.

Friendships also started to be strained.

It only got worse when she entered high school.

Teens worry, worry, worry.

They may be worrying about grades, switching friend groups, who will sit with them at lunch, if anyone is going to talk to them today.

My friends might find out that I am not perfect. Did I study the right things for the test? What is happening to my GPA?

Worry creates anxiety and in some cases that creates panic.

Teenagers have a hard time recognizing what is happening. The only thing they know is they don’t like what they are feeling.

Teen’s see things differently from their parents.

“I think my teen needs someone to talk to besides me.” This is what I hear in almost every first phone call.

Most parents have a good relationship with their teen, which is a great launching point.

Kids worry about disappointing their parents, so they don’t say what is really on their mind to their loved one. “If I tell my parents this, they will lecture me about how I am wrong.” “I can’t tell my mom that!”

Teens are trying to discover who they are independent of their parents.

Individuation is a key component to the teen years, and teens are caught between wanting the responsibilities of being a young adult and not wanting to grow up. They are trying to figure out who they are and how they fit in the world.

It’s a lot of pressure!

What do you want to do with your life?

This question comes with so much anxiety for most teenagers. Heck, most adults don’t know what they want to do with their lives.

Succumbing to the worry and anxiety causes teens to lose motivation and shut down.

Does this sound like your teenager?

Most of the teens with whom I work are fraught with anxiety, and they don’t know what to do about it or how to stop it from taking over their lives. Usually their parents don’t either.

In Jessica’s case, her anxiety seemed to be worse at night, right before bed. She was flooded with images of a day that caused so much anxiety that it would be hard to fall asleep. I hear this from many of the teens with whom I work.

Perhaps it’s time to quit ignoring the problem.

All the things you have tried haven’t worked, so now is the time to try something totally different.

Now is the time to give therapy a chance.

You will get relief that your teen is working with someone who empathizes with teens and can connect with them through genuine caring.

They will learn coping skills to help decrease the worry and see that things are not as bad as they seem.

Therapy provides a guide for navigating the teen years.

Helping teens navigate through these years and discover who they really want to be is an amazing journey.

Teens need support to talk through this time in their life, and sometimes this support needs to come from someone not connected to their family.

Partnering with parents to help support their teens is a passion of mine. This is the reason that I know I can help.

Trying therapy is worth the risk.

Call (512) 914-0006 or text now, so we can help your teen address the worries associated with being a teenager.