Adolescence can be a challenging time with young experiencing biological, psychological, and social changes. Both normative stressors such as moving from middle school to high school, as well as stressors such as parental divorce have been linked to an increased risk of such internalizing behaviors as depression and anxiety, the relationship between stress and at-risk behaviors, cultural diversity youth , and various coping mechanisms.
One such coping mechanism, The Regain Your Freedom Technique along with added on methods such as music therapy, aromatherapy, massage, visualization and daily journaling are helping teens in their coping skills and recovery.
Learning to use these methods are a way of grounding themselves. This grounding is a way of refocusing the mind on the here and now as opposed to the past traumatic experiences associated with anxiety and the family of other disorders that travel with anxiety.
The secret is to not try and wipe out the memories in your mind but to approach them from a different angle.
The triggers that cause teens and adults to revisit their anger, anxiety state are eliminated when enough time has past using the Regain Your Freedom Technique and the technique has been reinforced in the mind by the fact that it is used when the first feelings or memories of anxiety begin.
Although low levels of stressful life experiences are considered to be a normal part of development, higher levels can institute a threat to the well-being and healthy development of children and adolescents.
Adolescents are exposed to increased rates of stressful life experiences and there is some evidence that increases in stressors account, at least in part, for the increased rates of psychological problems associated with this developmental period.
Many of the stressful life events and daily hassles of adolescence are similar for youths despite differences in cultural background or place of residence. However, adolescents from diverse cultural groups often encounter unique challenges that arise from the particular cultural-ecological niches that inhabit by virtue of their ethnic group membership and other context defining factors, such as their families socioeconomic status, history of immigration, integration with mainstream and ethnic communities, and the location of their neighborhoods and schools.
For some adolescents, these factors combine to offer increased opportunities for development of competencies that enable them to become productive young adults. Too often, however, these interacting factors expose adolescents to chronic adversities and cumulative stressors that overwhelm their anxiety copying capabilities.
Stress has been related to both lower socioeconomic status and poor health. This research tests a model which suggests that adolescents from varying socioeconomic backgrounds differ not only in terms of exposure to negative life events, but also in their interpretation of life situations.
Study participants were 100 high school students roughly half African American, the other half Caucasian. Students watched two different videos in a laboratory setting, one consisting of an ambiguous situation, the other a negative situation. Students answered open-ended questions, completed a questionnaire, and had their heart rate and blood pressure monitored.
Results found that lower socioeconomic adolescents were more likely to interpret the ambiguous social situations as threatening, suggesting that interventions aimed at minimizing youths threat interpretations may reduce the physiological toll associated with these perceptions.
Anxiety coping skills are still the best form of treatment to enable a teen to navigate through these years of development and deal with their changing bodies, psychological as well as situational experiences.
Many teens have already shown positive changes in their anxiety coping skills. This technique is easy to use, plus it requires no medications. Guidance from adults and working with teens in putting this method into practice will also bring a feeling of acceptance and support to the teens who are in need of this support.
Send a comment with any concerns or questions you may have. We are here to help. Anxiety does not have to be a lonely place when it can be openly spoken about and treatment received.