Key Points to think about when discussing teenage anxiety
- Emotions have three parts: thoughts, physical feelings, and behaviors. These parts are interconnected, and any of those parts can be a trigger that starts the anxiety cycle.
- Anxiety, like all emotions, can be adaptive. It protects us from harm in dangerous situations. But, sometimes, the system goes off in the absence of real danger. This feels uncomfortable but is actually harmless as long as you don’t start actively avoiding it.
- Anxiety fades if you let it. Emotions are like a wave – they peak, and then recede, even if you don’t do anything to control or manage them.
- Managing anxiety is about building strategies to change your thoughts (e.g., by reality-checking them), calming your physical reaction (e.g., via breathing exercises), and facing your fears. These strategies are part of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), a type of therapy that research shows help to manage anxiety.
- One of the best ways to manage anxiety is to face the things you fear using a strategy called ‘exposure’: break down your feared situation into small steps, and practice facing them bit by bit. This helps you cut out avoidance, which feeds anxiety long-term.
