Treatment For Teen Anxiety
Psychological Treatment for Teen Anxiety
Effective psychotherapy can
- Help your teen understand anxiety, its possible causes, and what can be done about it
- Normalize his or her experience and reduce fears of losing control or "going crazy"
- Expand his or her tolerance of anxiety; i.e., how much anxiety can be held inside without the need to act it out in the form of self-defeating behaviors
- Help your adolescent understand the difference between adaptive and maladaptive anxiety
- Expand the teen’s feeling of competence to handle what happens to him or her, rather than solely relying on outside aids, such as medication
- Avoid the possible side effects of medication
- Address the multiple anxieties that most anxious individuals experience
For information on how to choose the best therapist for your teen, see: Choosing a Therapist.
Biological Treatment For Teen Anxiety
Psychotherapy alone will be sufficient for the treatment of many of the anxiety conditions that adolescents experience. However, when that is not the case, biological interventions (medications) should be considered.
Several medications have been found to be effective in the treatment of anxiety disorders, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), tricyclic antidepressants, benzodiazepines, beta blockers, and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs).Your physician, preferably a psychiatrist, working in consultation with your therapist (who generally will know your child much better because of the amount of time spent with him or her) can best determine the specific medication and dosage for your child.
For useful tips to remember when taking medication in the treatment of teen anxiety, see: Considering Medications.
What You Can Do
There are a number of things you can do to help your teen. See: Supporting Your Teen.
If you believe that your teen, or anyone else in your family, including yourself, is suffering from excessive anxiety, we hope that you will reach out for help. Such anxiety causes can be greatly reduced, and in some cases completely eliminated. The sooner it’s treated, the better the probable outcome.
Leon Pyle, PhD
