Let's Talk About Anxiety and Teens
Tune into my conversation with Anna Marcolin, The Real Therapist, where I answer her questions about anxiety and today’s teens.
Some excerpted questions and answers include:
Q. What constitutes anxiety vs. normal worry?
A. “Anxiety is normal. It’s a natural, normal response to perceived danger. It is your fight or flight response. It becomes problematic when it is excessive and impacts functioning.”
Q. “How is social media impacting teen’s anxiety?”
A. “There is a lot of research out about the relationship between social media and anxiety, but the relationship is correlational. Meaning, we know there is an increase in anxiety and depression related to social media but we aren’t sure if more anxious kids are turning to social media as an outlet OR if social media itself is creating more anxiety.”
Q. “How do parents best support their anxious teen?”
A. “Parents, understandably, hate seeing their kids anxious and sad. But, we have to learn, as parents, how to be ok with our kids being anxious and not immediately come to the rescue to fix it.”
For the full episode, click here: The Real Therapist: Anxiety and Teens
To learn more about anxiety in today’s teens, check out these stories: