Adolescent Anxiety | Psychology and Counselling

The Centre of Emotion Focused Practice is a leading psychology practice in Melbourne for the treatment of adolescent anxiety

The Centre for Emotion Focused Practice offers counselling services with both individual therapy and family therapy for adolescents. A wide range of problems can be explored and worked through in a safe, non-judgmental, facilitated environment.

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Adolescent Anxiety Conditions treated at the Centre for Emotion Focused Practice

Anxiety is the foremost mental health problem experienced by adolescents. The psychologists at the Centre for Emotion Focused Practice are experienced in treating all forms of anxiety issues in teenagers. Some common anxiety related problems experienced by adolescents include

Generalised Anxiety
Separation Anxiety
Stress at School
Exam Anxiety
Adjustment Problems
Absenteeism issues
Bullying, cyber bullying
Social Anxiety
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Perfectionism
Peer pressure
Body Image issues
Eating Disorders
Phobias
Panic Attacks
Panic Disorder
Sleep Disorder

Adolescent Anxiety | Centre for Emotion Focused Practice

Early intervention in adolescents with persistent anxiety issues can prevent chronic mental health issues later in life while providing vital resilience against the confusing, challenging and often painful experiences of ‘growing up’.

Is Adolescent Anxiety different from what’s experienced by adults?

Adults as well as adolescents experience anxiety. The issues they are anxious about may be different, but the effects are as painful in adolescents as in adults.

An adolescent’s symptoms can be classified much in the same manner as that of an adult:

Worrying thoughts or fears: Feeling of dread or excessive worries about a circumstance or situation. These worries translate into anxious reactions or physical symptoms and can thus be discerned by the parent.
Anxious reactions: When adolescents are anxious, they seek to avoid a certain situation or issue and respond by resisting, avoiding or refusing to do something or to go somewhere. For example, a teenager who is new to a school or is being bullied may not want to go there and may show resistance. He or she may exhibit anger and act out or could go into a shell refusing to answer and becoming isolated.
Physical symptoms: Symptoms of panic such as racing heart, sweaty hands, shaking, stomach upsets, headaches, nausea and other symptoms of physical distress.

Symptoms of Adolescent Anxiety

If your teenager has many of the following symptoms, then he or she could be suffering from anxiety:

Anxious behaviour when trying new things or going to new places.
Refusing to go to school or to staying in an unfamiliar place.
Excessive worries and a multitude of fears
Regressive behaviours like wanting to sleep in the parents’ bed or wanting a parent in the room always when going to sleep.
Difficulty falling asleep.
Always seeking reassurance from parents excessively.
Gets upset when separated from parents.
Displaying physical symptoms such as racing heart, sweaty hands, shaking, stomach upsets, headaches, nausea, etc., when there’s no medical reason for such symptoms.
Displaying symptoms of perfectionism
Gets upset when something is not the way he or she likes it to be.
Displaying unhealthy eating patterns, such as refusing to touch food or picking at the food, or eating excessively.
Spending an inordinately long time looking at the mirror, worrying about what to wear and focusing a lot of time on his or her appearance.

When Should Parents Seek Professional Help for Adolescent Anxiety?

Adolescence is a time of transition, both physically and mentally, with hormonal changes and brain and body transformations. It is normal for your teenager to feel insecure, anxious or stressful from time to time, especially when dealing with their peers. Generally teenagers seek help from family and friends in handling their problems and deal with their issues without any lasting detrimental effect.

Nonetheless, sometimes the anxiety or worry may become too much for them to handle and may require professional assistance from a psychologist specialised in dealing with adolescent anxiety.

Asking yourself these questions can help you decide if your teenager needs professional help:

Is your teenager being more sensitive or more emotional than usual?
Is he or she sad, withdrawn, or aggressive?
Has this behaviour been persisting for more than two week?
Is he or she finding it difficult to eat or sleep?
Is this behaviour interfering with his or her ability to perform daily activities?

A psychologist can help the parents comprehend what the adolescent is going through, and assist the teenager in dealing with his or her fears and worries, using strategies to build resilience and gain coping skills for life.

At the centre, with the help of the counselling services at the centre, adolescents are able to find resolution to their anxiety problems, lowering their stress and anxiety, by finding healthy solutions for their conflicts and issues. The Centre for Emotion Focused Practice is a safe, secure, and ethical place where your youngster gets the opportunity to explore his or her emotions and forge out an effective and long lasting change.

Youth & Child Psychology Services at the Centre

Child psychology consultations and treatments
Treating Anxiety in Children and Youth
Parenting support consultations

Every psychologist at the Centre for Emotion Focused Practice is a highly experienced professional who can help the youth deal with a variety of psychological, emotional or behavioural issues through adolescent anxiety counselling and psychological treatments.

Practitioners Offering Youth and Child Counselling Services

The centre’s therapists are all fully qualified and strive for empathy, genuineness, respect and a positive working alliance during child psychology appointments. This has been shown to be the best predictor of a curative outcome.

Head to Psychology Practitioners’ page to view the practitioners’ profiles and to find out more about them.

To find out more about adolescent anxiety counselling services or to get an appointment, please call the Centre for Emotion Focused Practice at (03) 9820 5577.