Growing numbers of teenagers find themselves struggling with mental health concerns related to anxiety. Anxiety is more than just feeling stress — it can impact relationships and academics and even cause physical health problems. Teen mental health treatment programs can provide relief by addressing the factors that cause teen anxiety.
Imagine Boise is a teen mental health treatment center that offers outpatient services to teens and their families in Boise, Idaho. For more information on programs that teach coping skills for anxiety for teens, call Imagine Boise at 888.597.2807 today.
The Importance of Coping Skills for Anxiety in Teens
When a teen is dealing with anxious thoughts and feelings, it can help to learn coping skills for anxiety. Teens who understand the dynamics behind anxiety and learn how to have a healthy response when triggered experience increased confidence, happiness, and quality of life.
Coping Skills to Learn
These four coping skills for teens with anxiety can be used at any time and any place to help teens feel calm and in control.
1. Breathe
Breathing exercises are one of the most helpful anxiety coping skills for teens. Anxiety is often accompanied by fast, shallow breathing. In extreme cases, this can even trigger an anxiety attack.
Breathing is deeply connected to other psychological functions. Breathing exercises can help to quickly relieve sensations of anxiety by:
- Slowing heart rate
- Lowering blood pressure
- Increasing oxygen intake
- Relieving muscle tension
When the body experiences these effects, it works to calm feelings of anxiety, which helps to slow racing thoughts and overwhelming emotions.
2. Move
Similar to breathing, moving the body is an effective way to immediately alter the physical sensations that contribute to feelings of anxiety.
Anxiety can produce a sense of panic, which is often related to feeling out of control of one’s thoughts and sensations. Movement is one of the best coping skills for anxiety in teens because it allows a teen an easy way to immediately take control of the state of their physical body.
Popular movement exercises for teens include:
- Dance
- Running
- Yoga
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Working out
- Playing sports
Teens can explore the type of movement that works best for them. Often, what begins as learning anxiety coping skills for teens grows into a lifelong hobby.
3. Create
Creative activities can serve as highly effective coping skills for anxiety. Teens who have a creative outlet are more likely to connect with their feelings and find an outlet for expressing them. Learning to express thoughts and emotions through a creative avenue like writing, playing an instrument, or making art provides a sense of release.
Talking to a mental health professional or close friends and family is helpful and often necessary for learning to identify and cope with feelings of anxiety. However, teens who learn to find a creative outlet are always empowered with a valuable tool for managing anxiety when it crops up.
4. Connect
Teenagers who struggle with anxiety may bottle up their overwhelming feelings. One of the essential coping skills for anxiety for teens is learning to reach out to loved ones and express what they’re going through.
Oftentimes, parents are a teen’s primary support system. Connecting a teen to mental health resources and learning how to discuss mental health concerns with the help of a professional are the two best ways parents can set their teens up for success.
Imagine Boise Teaches Coping Skills for Teens with Anxiety
Imagine Boise offers outpatient mental health services to teens 12-17 years old. Our treatment team works with teenagers and their families to identify the underlying causes of mental health concerns like anxiety and create a treatment plan that leads to positive, lasting change.
If you’re concerned about your teen’s anxiety, don’t hesitate to reach out for help. Call 888.597.2807 today and learn more about how Imagine Boise can help.