The best place to start would be to open up a conversation with them about it. Anxiety is a normal experience and having an opportunity to talk it out can go a long way. Asking open-ended questions, listening with care, and offering loving support and validation all help. Don’t feel as though you need to jump to solutions, focus first on listening and truly understanding.

If you’re finding a roadblock in your communication with your teen or you think their anxiety is impeding on their day-to-day, consider connecting your teen with a therapist on our team.

Therapy for anxiety can help your teen build greater self-understanding, tools, and resilience to manage their anxiety.

It’s important to notice signs such as procrastination, avoidance, perfectionism, difficulty concentrating, frequent physical complaints, or shutting down around school work. Teens with anxiety often feel trapped in a vicious cycle. It’s common that their attempts to cope with the anxiety (i.e., avoidance) further perpetuates the anxiety.

It’s important to remember that anxious kids are not choosing to “not care” – their brain is just flooded with overwhelm and they’re struggling with feeling stuck, fearful, and mentally overloaded. At home, it can help to focus less on pressure and performance and more on understanding the root of their anxiety and helping them build coping strategies to reduce overwhelm.

If they’ve fallen behind in school, helping them prioritize and break down tasks into smaller, bite-size pieces can help.

If their anxiety is significantly affecting their education, it’s likely time to consider additional support, such as speaking with their family doctor, guidance counsellor, and connecting with an anxiety therapist.

We can think of panic attacks as a very high dose of fear flooding their system and leading them into overdrive (fight-or-flight). Anxiety or panic attacks can be caused by any number of factors, but usually the fear acts up when their brain has perceived some level of threat.

Often, these “threats” aren’t visible and may be imagined (i.e., rejection, imagining a worst case scenario), but the response is very real. Since the attack is coming from an abstract place, it’s important to ground your teen to the present moment. If they’re in public, you should take them to a quiet and safe space where they aren’t so overstimulated by their surroundings.

The 5-4-3-2-1 technique is one way to ground them. 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. Help them breathe, focusing primarily on breathing into their belly (diaphragmatic breathing) and slowly exhaling.

Once they’re more regulated, help them through the aftershock which often comes with exhaustion. For example, you can go through a distress tolerance list together. If your teen has a therapist, it will be helpful to encourage your teen to talk with their therapist about their panic attacks.

If they don’t have a therapist, consider connecting them with an anxiety therapist.

While some withdrawal and increased privacy are developmentally expected during adolescence, significant isolation can signal that your teen is struggling emotionally or socially.

Experiences such as anxiety, depression, or bullying can contribute to withdrawal.

It’s important to try to approach your teen with gentle care and curiosity. Avoid pushing them to “get out more” as this can contribute to feelings of shame or defensiveness. Focus on maintaining connection in small, low-pressure ways. Spend time together without forcing conversation, check-in gently, and consistently show them you’re available and there for them.

Ask them in which ways they’re comfortable to leave the house and encourage that (take a drive, a visit with a trusted friend or family member). Importantly, this level of isolation is often a sign that they may need professional support.

Counselling for social skills and isolation can help uncover what’s causing the isolation and help them build tools to gradually re-engage with life.

Encourage them to attend therapy in person and if they’re not able to, online therapy may be a great place to start.

Yes, therapy can help build the confidence and skills required to manage anxiety in all kinds of situations. Therapists will use various different approaches and strategies to help your teen build their tolerance for discomfort and confidence in their ability to cope with stressful situations.

It can be difficult to tease apart “normal stress” from anxiety disorder. If you’re asking the question as to if it’s something more than “normal stress”, it is likely worth listening to your intuition.

If you’re noticing that the stress/anxiety is negatively impacting their day-to-day life, their sense of confidence and self-worth, or their social life, it’s important to pay attention to that.

Speaking with your family doctor, pediatrician, or a therapist is a good place to start as they can help you and your teen gain a better understanding of what’s going on and what treatment would be most helpful.

We also encourage you to read this blog by Marlie Standen: Stress in Adolescence for a helpful guide about stress and anxiety.