Anxiety Therapy for Teens in Toronto

Anxiety attacks are awful and unfortunately more common than people think. They are an indication that your teen’s nervous system is too overwhelmed. First, try to stay calm yourself – your calm, steady presence can help signal safety to their nervous system.

A soft voice and simple, comforting words can go a long way – “I’m here with you.” Avoid asking a lot of questions, talking too much, or trying to reason with them – they’re brain is not in a state where it can think logically or problem solve. Encourage slow, steady breathing (you can do it with them, too).

Something like box breathing can be helpful – inhale for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, exhale for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4. Repeat. Help them ground in the present moment. A helpful grounding technique is the 5-4-3-2-1 method.

Have them list 5 things they can see, 4 things they can feel, 3 things they can hear, 2 things they can smell and 1 thing they can taste. Reviewing distress tolerance skills might be a helpful resource for you.

Once they’re more settled, give them some space to recover. These episodes are exhausting. Check in with them a little later without pressure – “What was going on for you at that moment?” You can explore things like booking a therapy session with one of our therapists, talking about meds with your GP, or supplements with your Naturopathic Doctor.

Anxiety can affect school in a variety of ways – trouble concentrating, procrastination, avoiding assignments, or avoiding school entirely. Often, anxiety and avoidance go hand in hand, but avoiding things tends to make them feel bigger and more overwhelming over time.

At home, you can support your teen by gently encouraging them to lean in and face their fears, while also acknowledging how hard it feels. The goal is to help them build confidence facing what is difficult or uncomfortable.

If your teen’s anxiety is linked to something specific at school – like mistreatment or bullying – this may require some advocacy on your part to make sure they are safe.

It can also help to consider other supports, like another family member, guidance counsellor, trusted teacher, or your GP. Here at our clinic, we see a lot of teens with anxiety and school difficulties. Therapy can help your teen understand their anxiety, develop coping strategies, and navigate anxiety provoking situations in their life.

If your teen would benefit from speaking to a therapist, please review our therapist bios and book an appointment. If you’d like to also know how to help them further as a parent, we offer parenting support.

It can feel scary or helpless when your teen shuts down, but withdrawal is often a normal nervous system response to stress or anxiety rather than an intentional choice. Try to approach them with gentleness and patience. Simple statements like “I’m here when you’re ready” are often more supportive than asking lots of questions.

You may also support them by helping their body settle: supporting a quiet environment, offering something grounding or soothing (a blanket, cup of tea, or ice water), sitting nearby, or suggesting a low pressure activity like a walk or colouring. When they’re able to be more present again, talk with them about what happened.

Please hold out hope for them if they are struggling to hope for themselves. Therapists can help teens better understand and widen their “window of tolerance” so that they can be empowered to stay present and cope while they navigate their anxiety.

Anxiety in teens is often from a combination of several factors rather than one single cause. Temperament, biology, family history, and past adverse or traumatic experiences can increase a teen’s susceptibility to anxiety. Life stressors and experiences such as social challenges, school pressure, or big life changes also play a role.

Additionally, the rapid hormonal and physiological changes occurring during adolescence can make emotions feel much more intense. The good news is that there is a lot we can do to help anxiety.

Because it’s often the result of several factors, treating anxiety usually involves several different avenues: mental and emotional support, skill-building, healthy habits and routines, and monitoring physical health factors like diet, sleep and exercise.

There’s often a lot going on under the surface of reckless behaviour. The physiological, hormonal, and brain changes during adolescence create a perfect storm for a degree of “reckless” behaviour. Additional factors compound for some teens, leading to more extreme or frequent recklessness.

Anxiety can be one of those factors because it can make their nervous system more reactive and impulsive. This can look like impulsive reacting rather than calm, thoughtful decision making. Sometimes those reactions can have pretty major implications.

Anxiety is also a deeply uncomfortable feeling, so some behaviours that seem reckless may be an attempt to cope or change the way they’re feeling. It’s important to try to get curious about what might be influencing your teen’s reckless behaviours.

Getting support through anxiety therapy can help address the underlying causes of their behaviours.

Some signs of anxiety include:

• Avoidance of people or places
• Withdrawal from usual social activities or peers
• Recurring worries or fears about everyday routine activities
• School procrastination, avoidance or refusal
• Extreme self-consciousness or excessive focus on self or appearance
• Irritability
• Amplified sensitivity to criticism
• Sleep problems or insomnia
• Repeatedly seeking reassurance
• Headaches, stomachaches, restlessness, fatigue, or feeling “sick” with no obvious physical signs of being unwell
• Difficulty making decisions
• Nervousness, sweating, trembling, crying, dizziness, feeling lightheaded

This is a great question, and one that is very complex and nuanced. There are some factors you can consider when choosing whether to accommodate or work to overcome anxiety:

• If your teen is in a highly distressed state, it’s unlikely that they will have a successful pass at overcoming their fears at that moment. So as a parent, your attunement to them and what’s happening with them is important.
• If they are experiencing lighter anxiety or a flash of momentary anxiety, that’s a good moment to lean in and have them experience success at facing, accepting, and navigating their anxiety.
• If they are chronically anxious and avoiding something that they really need to do (like school or schoolwork), then some more in-depth support is needed. They may need more of your presence or more support from a therapist for anxiety to learn to engage with these important aspects of their lives.

If you or your teen need more support with this, please feel free to book either an individual teen session, a family therapy session or a parent support session.