1. Managing Teen Anxiety Candice Ackerman, PhD
Psychologist & Clinic Director
Flourish Counseling & Mental Wellness Center

2. Disclaimer
This is not medical advice, nor does it constitute a therapeutic relationship - this is general education
If you have questions about your child (or anyone else you know), please come and talk to us! We offer free consultations!

3. What is Anxiety? Anxiety can be: ”Normal” anxiety
When anxiety is a problem
Anxiety can be:
Restlessness
Excessive worrying
Difficulty sleeping
Fatigue
Difficulty concentrating
Irritability
Tense muscles

4. Other forms of anxiety
Anger
Physical Symptoms
Depression

5. Why do we get anxious?
Anxiety is a message to our brain: DANGER! Your life is at stake! Do something!
Problem: We are rarely in real life-threatening situations anymore, but our mind doesn’t know the difference if we let it
Fight versus Flight versus Freeze
Instinctual responses because now is not the time to be thinking slow (remember, you could die!)

6. What makes anxiety worse?
In general:
Avoidance (Flight)
Beliefs that reinforce anxiety
Low self-esteem
Avoidance also lowers self-esteem and self-confidence

7. A typical anxiety episode

8. Rational vs. Emotional Mind
Healthy Mindset
Fear
Calm
Brain Stem
All Parts
Prefrontal Cortex

9. Negative self-talk
Our emotional brain is very good at coming up with ”drama”
“I can’t do this”
”I will always be this way”
“I’m weird”

10. The problem for teens:
The rational brain is not completely online yet!
i.e. Life is more drama-filled

11. Okay, so what do I DO about it?
Things to not say:
“Calm down”
“Suck it up”
“Its all in your head”
“I know how you feel”
“Its really not a big deal”
“What do you have to worry about?”
“Why can’t you just ____________?”
“Did I do something wrong?”

12. Responding to Anxiety Ask questions The art of listening
Express understanding

13. Asking Questions Help your teen verbalize what is going on for them
“What happened?”
“What’s going on for you right now?”
“What are you feeling?”
By increasing verbalization of feelings, their rational brain can come back online

14. The Art of Listening and Understanding
First: Listening is HARD!
Listening can consist of:
“Minimal encouragers”
“Yes” “Uh-huh” “Whoa!”
Paraphrase
Repeat back what they just said to you
Reflection (of empathy/emotion)
“That sounds so hard!”
”It sounds like this really worries you.”

15. How to work to your teen
FIRST: You do not need to know all of the answers! Listen to understand, not to reply
“How can I help?”
Normalize anxiety, but do not enable avoidance. “Its okay to be anxious!”
Unconditional Positive Support and Love
Speaking to anxiety as separate from your teen
Encourage a discussion of thoughts, emotions, feelings, “give me the play-by- play” to bring the prefrontal cortex back online

16. When therapy is a good idea
Anxiety is affecting school performance, relationships with other people, health, ability to have fun/relax
Basically, anxiety is causing your teen a sense of paralysis
Therapy helps encourage this process of “uncovering” what is going on in our heads – once we know and understand our fears, it is easier to work with them
If your teen has no one to talk to (because lets face it, some teens don’t want to talk to their parents)
Repeated attempts to try and relieve anxiety with no success

17. Questions? director@flourishcounselingcenter.com
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