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How anxiety affects teenagers mental health 

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How anxiety affects teenagers mental health 

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Anxiety in teens comes from many different things. Some people think anxiety in teens has increased after the pandemic. Others believe it comes from worrying about themselves, their grades, social media, sports, and how others perceive them. Some symptoms of anxiety in teens are irritability, substance use, drop in grades, and sleep problems. self-image can also lead to anxiety, they worry about how they look to others and compare themselves. There are some things you can do to help your anxiety. you can go to therapy, go on antidepressants, others try to teach people how to let it go away and not bother them anymore.

have you ever struggled with anxiety?

if so did you ever get it to go away?

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All teens deal with stress in some way or another and can benefit from learning stress management skills. Most teens experience stress when they are in what they perceive as a "dangerous situation". Some teens become overloaded with stress and that can lead to many issues and problems. Some of those include anxiety, aggression, physical illness, or poor coping. Some people when they get overly stressed go to illegal things to cope such as alcohol or drugs. When there is a situation that is difficult we can have the fight, flight, or freeze response. Which has an effect on us, it makes us have a faster heart rate, clammy hands, upset stomach, and even a sense of dread. Though if we feel we are in a safe environment we can have a relaxation response. A relaxation response makes us have a decreased heart rate, relaxed breathing rate, and sense of well being. People that have a good relaxation response usually deal with stress better than those with a not very good relaxation response.

So have you ever experienced a "dangerous situation", and how did you handle it?

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TEENS - The American Institute of Stress

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Stress in Teens Teenagers, like adults, may experience stress every day and can benefit from learning stress management skills. Most teens experience more stress when they perceive a situation as [...]

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How Teens Mental Health Connects To Substance Use

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How Teens Mental Health Connects To Substance Use

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In one test study of 10,00 kids two-thirds of them had a substance disorder and they all had at least one mental health disorder

Teenagers facing emotional challenges often resort to alcohol or drug use as a means of coping, similar to adults, but their developing brains make them more vulnerable to the negative consequences of such self-medication. While substance use may temporarily alleviate symptoms of anxiety, depression, or irritability, it can ultimately worsen these conditions and lead to addiction. Adolescents with untreated mental health disorders are particularly at risk, as nearly half may develop substance use disorders if their mental health issues go unaddressed.

Substance use can be increasing the likelihood of impulsive behavior and suicidal tendencies.

How can you prevent this from happening to you?

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When teenagers are struggling with emotional problems, they often turn to alcohol or drug use to help them manage painful or difficult feelings. In this, they are not different from adults. But because adolescent brains are still developing, the results of teenage "self-medication" can be more immediately problematic.

In the short term, substance use can help alleviate unwanted mental health symptoms like hopelessness, anxiety, irritability, and negative thoughts. But in the longer term, it exacerbates them and often ends in abuse or dependence. Substance use escalates from experimentation to a serious disorder much faster in adolescents than it does in adults, and that progression is more likely to happen in kids with mental health disorders than in other kids.

"The rule of thumb is that almost half of the kids with mental health disorders if they're not treated, will end up having a substance use disorder," explains Sarper Taskiran, MD, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Child Mind Institute. A 2016 study of 10,000 adolescents found that two-thirds of those who developed alcohol or substance use disorders had experienced at least one mental health disorder.

Substance use also interferes with treatment for mental health disorders and worsens the long-term prognosis for a teenager struggling with one. How can we help these young people avoid the substance use trap when the deck seems to be stacked against them?

Kids who are anxious or depressed may feel more emotionally "even" if they drink or smoke marijuana. For socially anxious kids, it can quiet the anxiety enough to allow them to function in peer groups. And since their friends do it, it's not stigmatized the way taking medication is.

"Pre-gaming is a lot about anxiety," notes Jeanette Friedman, MSW, who works with families of adolescents with substance use problems. "The kids are saying, 'Let's go have some fun before we go to the real party.' But in fact, most of them feel like they need it to calm down enough so they can walk into a group where they're going to feel exposed and criticized."

A teen with anxiety might start by smoking marijuana to calm down before social events and soon find himself smoking every morning just to get to school. "I've had very stressed-out kids say, 'I get high before I go to school because I'm so anxious when I think about the start of the school day,' says Ms. Friedman. "'If I smoke a little weed, I don't feel so anxious.'"

Kids who are depressed may use alcohol or marijuana to cheer themselves up, Dr. Taskiran notes, and blunt the irritability that is a symptom of adolescent depression. "They know there's something wrong with them," he says. "They're not taking pleasure in things, they're not feeling happy. So if their peers are offering a drug that makes you happy, that's often the first thing they turn to." Substance use can quiet negative thoughts that plague depressed kids.

It's also common for children with mental health or learning disorders to develop self-esteem problems, a sense that there's something wrong with them or that they're flawed. When these children reach adolescence, with its focus on fitting in, notes Ms. Friedman, "They really want to be normal, and they don't feel normal. And that means they're more vulnerable to somebody passing around a drug because they're just trying to feel better."

Alcohol affects teens differently from adults. While adults tend to get more subdued and slowed down by alcohol, in adolescents, it's the opposite. They tend to become more energetic, engage in more risky behavior and get more aggressive.

Dr. Taskiran uses the example of driving. "When adults drink and drive, you worry about slowing of the reflexes and lapses in attention, like missing a stop sign," he explains. "But with adolescents, we're worried that they're going to get more activated. It's not that they won't see the red light, but they might try to run it."

This is especially dangerous for kids with ADHD, who are already impulsive. And substance use makes depressed teenagers more prone to impulsive suicidal behavior. "The adolescent will still be depressed," says Dr. Taskiran, "but the things that usually hold him back won't be there while he's intoxicated, like love for family or the belief that he's going to get better."

Adolescent alcohol or drug use accelerates very quickly when an untreated mental health disorder is present. "Within months, we can see problematic use," says Dr. Taskiran.

Why are they different than adults? In the adolescent brain, pathways between regions are still developing. This is why teens learn new things quickly. This "plasticity" means the brain easily habituates to drugs and alcohol. "If you start drinking at 30, you don't get addicted nearly as fast as if you start drinking at 15," adds Ms. Friedman.

Alcohol and drugs also affect the same brain regions that are at play in behavior disorders like ADHD and ODD, says Dr. Taskiran. Teenagers who have those disorders get more satisfaction from the substance - and are more likely to become addicted. "Biologically they get more from the drug," he adds, "so that's why they get more hooked on it."

It's important to know that substance use can disrupt a young person's life even if they are not technically dependent on the drug. This is especially true for youth with mental health disorders. "You might not see withdrawal, you might not see the craving, which are the hallmark symptoms for dependence," says Dr. Taskiran. "But the impact in their social life and academic life, or in terms of their mental wellbeing, might still be large."

" Self-medicating" with recreational drugs and alcohol works temporarily to alleviate symptoms of anxiety or depression because they affect the same brain regions that the disorders do. But the result is that teens feel even worse when not using. That's one reason substance use is a risk factor for suicide in kids with depression, Dr. Taskiran notes.

Another negative effect of substance use is that it undermines treatment. First, it diminishes a teenager's engagement in therapy, and hence its effectiveness. Second, if they are taking prescription medication, it may lower the effectiveness of that medication. "The drugs and the medications target the same areas of the brain," explains Dr. Taskiran. When meds have to compete with drugs or alcohol, they are less effective. "Also, it's not uncommon for kids who are using substances to be non-compliant with their meds."

Michael Birnbaum, MD, is a psychiatrist who heads an early treatment program for young people who have had a first psychotic episode, usually signaling the onset of schizophrenia. Dr. Birnbaum estimates that at least 50 percent of his patients have at least some history of drug and alcohol use. Getting a handle on substance use is important for the recovery process, he says. "Folks who are still using are more likely to struggle with ongoing psychotic symptoms and also are more likely to have a relapse."

Most of the people who come to the early treatment program have just come from a hospitalization, he notes, and they are eager to make sure that doesn't happen again. "So part of the discussion is how do we prevent a relapse?" he continues. At Dr. Birnbaum's program, clinicians work to understand what substance use was doing for the patient. "It may seem obvious to us," he says. "'Okay, you need to stop using now.' But there may be other reasons for continued use that, to the patient, outweigh the risks."

Dr. Taskiran echoes that approach. "The last thing I'd say from the get-go to one of my patients is, 'Marijuana is bad for you,' because the kid has heard that from teachers, parents, TV, everywhere. So instead, what I say is, 'What is it doing for you? What are you getting out of it?'"

All behavior serves a purpose, even if it's self-injurious or risky behavior. "If you're trying to take something away from a teenager, you need to replace it with something," says Dr. Taskiran. "So instead of just saying, 'Don't do that, it's bad for you,' we're trying to replace the need for substance with a coping strategy, with tools for coping without the substances."

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Mental Health Disorders and Teen Substance Use - Child Mind Institute

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Teenagers struggling with ADHD, anxiety, depression and other emotional problems often turn to alcohol or drugs to help them manage painful feelings. But because their brains are still developing, teenage "self-medication" is more dangerous than it is for adults.

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Most teens start/try using drugs or alcohol when they are in a social setting most likely because of peer pressure so they can "fit in". Teens also use things such as drugs and alcohol to cope with stress and anxiety to distract themselves from it.

Some also start simply because they are curious but that never ends well because then they end up addicted. Some side effects of these addictions are changes in personality, body image, judgment, and depression. Teens also try drugs because online people make them look cool and fun.

Some ways you can prevent this are by knowing when to put your phone down and when something is bad for you.

if you know someone who is addicted to drugs/alcohol what would you do to help them quit?

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Anxiety is common in many teens, and it is something that can cause a lot of issues. Anxiety is found in around 15-25 percent of all teens and a variety of things cause it. Things like family problems, being stressed, or things that happened in the past. Anxiety makes them scared of how people look at them, and it makes them fearful of making a decision that could ruin their image. Anxiety can lead to a lack of sleep which can lead to concentration problems in school which leads to lowered grades. The teens may become so fearful they might stop doing things like the things they like or going to school. Teens who have anxiety may eventually get tired of being anxious all of the time and they may resort to drugs and alcohol to reduce the anxiety. The drugs and alcohol may work as a quick fix for a bit for them, but eventually, they may get addicted to the substances and will start using them more, which will harm the teens in the long run. There is no fast and easy cure for anxiety, but there are ways to treat it, like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or medications, but the quick fixes never work.