Anxiety is a mental health disorder. It affects all age groups. That said, co-occurring mental health treatment, such as anxiety, must look different for adolescents than it would for older demographics. Learn more about Foothills at Red Oak Recovery and how we help treat anxiety in teens.

Why Your Adolescent Needs Anxiety Treatment

Feelings of worry are taking over. They’re anxious, even if there’s nothing really going on. Grades may be good. In fact, school might be over for the summer, but the anxiety continues.

Soon, it’s difficult for your teen to function. Worries and feelings of dread make it hard to participate in activities. Unwanted thoughts and emotions seem to intrude at the least opportune moments. In addition, there are the physical symptoms.

Foothills at Red Oak Recovery treats co-occurring issues, and therapists have heard of constant tiredness. Your adolescent feels like they’ve been on edge and unable to relax during the day or night. Not surprisingly, they’re feeling irritable. Similarly, the individual can’t concentrate.

Anxiety treatment addresses the mental health disorder as well as the symptoms while also simultaneously working on substance abuse issues. It enables your teen to deal with intrusive thoughts. Most importantly, it helps with physiological expressions of the condition.

What Treatment Could Look Like for Your Teen

Co-occurring mental health treatment center specialists work with adolescents to determine their treatment needs. Your teen has the opportunity to participate in shaping a care protocol. At any time, they can point out modalities that work well as well as those that don’t. The teen therapy services NC provides include:

• Family therapy, which helps you find new ways of supporting your teen during and after treating anxiety and co-occurring issues
• Pharmacological support that establishes neurotransmitter equilibrium and prevents the sudden anxiety attacks
• Cognitive behavioral therapy as a way to swap out negative patterns with healthy coping skills
• Dialectical behavior therapy to reclaim control over strong emotions in challenging situations your teen can’t change
• Meditation to self-soothe and reduce stress through guided breathing and relaxation exercises
• Group therapy for stress management education and coping skills development
• Trauma therapy at the anxiety treatment center that helps with unresolved situations from the past

Several experiential therapeutic approaches also work. For example, exercise therapy is essential for assisting with neurotransmitter release. It also combats the urge to withdraw from others. Teens with anxiety frequently self-isolate because peers make critical remarks.

Nutritional counseling is another modality. Although it falls under life skills training, it’s a critical care approach. It gives your teen control over one aspect of daily living. Doing so boosts self-confidence.

Similarly, it encourages healthy lifestyle choices. Nutritional choices influence sleep patterns and energy. Therefore, the adolescent learns to take control of these aspects of life. In the process, they learn to listen to the body and develop self-esteem.

What Happens If You Do Nothing?

Anxiety treatment isn’t something that you should consider treating separately from substance abuse issues. Your adolescent is facing some genuine struggles. They permeate all aspects of life. School, peer group interactions, and extracurricular activities become more difficult because they can lead to anxiety attacks.

Soon, the teen may look for ways to numb the intrusive thoughts and emotions. Some reach for alcohol or marijuana. These drugs temporary numb the anxiety. Others may lose themselves in a video game addiction.

That said, neither of these choices is healthy. Similarly, they don’t actually deal with the underlying condition. Only care at a good-quality anxiety treatment center will achieve that.

How to Get Help

If you notice that your adolescent has unusual thoughts and feelings, find help for them today. Don’t put off connecting with caring therapists any longer. Learn more about anxiety treatment and contact Foothills at Red Oak Recovery by calling 866.300.5275 now.