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In our world today, teens belong to an age group under a tremendous amount of pressure andstress. From dealing with body and hormonal changes, to academic and social pressures, manyteens experience stress on a daily basis. Statistics show that around 50% of adolescents have hada mental disorder at some point in their lives and these numbers are increasing over the years.Especially post pandemic, the number of teens struggling with mental health issues hasdrastically increased. The shift from daily interactions with people to suddenly being quarantinedat home for a year, led to a growing sense of isolation and the rise of mental health pandemic.Additionally, with the rise in usage of social media in teens, these numbers have gotten evenhigher. From people comparing themselves to others to looking for social validation, the numberof teenagers struggling with self esteem and isolation has increased dramatically. These issueshave a long term impact on physical and mental health. Nearly 20% of teens will experiencedepression by the time they reach adulthood.
Now more than ever, it is critical that adolescents seek the mental health help that they need.However, only 28% of teens actually seek mental health treatment. This could be due to manyreasons including a denial that they need help, a lack of access to resources, or most commonly,the stigma present around getting help. Driven by a fear of being judged by their classmates orfamily members, many teens hesitate to seek help even when they need it.
There are countless benefits to teens seeking counseling services. Counseling can help teensmake sense of their feelings, learn coping strategies, and acquire helpful tools to help themsucceed in the present and also set themself up well for the future.
Overview
- Teens are under tremendous pressure driven by academic, social and other pressures
- The number of teens experiencing mental health disorders and stress has increaseddramatically
- There is still a huge stigma around seeking mental health treatments
- Seeking counseling services can be very helpful to treat the near term stress and mentalhealth disorders, while also setting them up for long term healthy lifestyle
Issues Teens Face Today
There are many reasons why teens struggle with mental health disorders, and may seekcounseling including:
- Depression / Anxiety Disorder: Depression is a medical illness that leads to feelings ofsadness. Nearly 17% of teens struggle with this disorder and a larger proportionexperience depression by the time they reach adulthood. Depression often goes hand inhand with anxiety and around 21% of teens frequently experience feelings of anxiety orworry. Both of these can negatively impact a person’s day to day life and interactionswith others, and are a common reason for teens to seek counseling.
- Academic Pressure: School and extracurriculars are a major source of stress for manyteens and approximately 75% of high school students reported feeling stressed overacademics on a daily basis. Whether it's the pressure to keep good grades, to get into agood college, or to impress parents and family, academic pressures are a common issueteens face today.
- Low Self Esteem: Self-esteem is how a person values and perceives themself andbetween 25 to 50% of adolescents suffer from low self esteem. This can stem from atraumatic childhood, medical issues, social media, poor body image and other stressors inlife. With the growing use of social media, especially with teens today, low self esteem isan increasingly prevalent issue
- Substance Abuse: Teen drug use is an issue in the United States and the number ofoverdose related deaths is increasing. Substance abuse can have many harmful effects onteens including poor grades, loss of friendships and relationships, difficulty focusing, lowself esteem, etc. This prevalent issue is a major cause of teens seeking therapy.
Benefits of Counseling
With the countless issues listed above and other stresses that teenagers face in their daily lives,counseling is an incredibly important avenue for teens to explore. Counseling can not only helpteens make sense of their emotions and manage stress and anxiety but also create long termcoping strategies. Counseling offers a safe space for individuals to create short term tactics,coping skills, and long term strategies to overcome mental health issues and foster personalgrowth. Through these counseling sessions, individuals will be able to deal with life changes,improve their relationships, etc.
Despite these benefits, many teens do not seek counseling. This is due to the extreme stigma thatsurrounds teens getting help. Many adolescents believe that their peers will perceive themdifferently if they seek help or are reluctant to admit they need help. With these barriers to helpfor teenagers, mental illnesses and negative behaviors are only worsening in severity. Counselingis critical and extremely beneficial to teenagers seeking any form of therapy and treatment.
Types of Counseling Available
There are several safe and effective therapy options available for teens:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): This therapy is a form of talk therapy andinvolves breaking down big problems into smaller problems, using problem solvingskills, building self confidence, etc. CBT can be used to address depression, anxiety,substance abuse, and other mental illnesses.
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): DBT is another form of talk therapy is based onCBT but is especially directed at people who experience very strong emotions. Some ofthe disorders that DBT can help with include PTSD, self-harm and suicidal behavior,substance use, etc.
- Narrative Therapy: This therapy form involves patients separating themselves from theproblem and attempting to view the issue from an outsider’s standpoint. It can be used totackle issues like depression, PTSD, anxiety, and grief.
- Self esteem work: Self esteem, as mentioned earlier, is a major issue facing teens and acommon reason for teens to seek therapy. Whether with the guidance of a therapist or onyour own, working on self esteem can be extremely beneficial at addressing the rootcause of many other mental illnesses. Strategies for increasing self esteem includepositive affirmations, journaling, setting up a support system, etc.
Finding the Right Counselor
Seeking counseling is extremely important but finding the right counselor is equally important.
There are many factors to consider when going about this. Some include:
- Credibility of the therapist
- Therapist’s experience with teen counseling
- Patient’s comfort level with the therapist
- Personality match with the therapist
- Therapist’s approach / strategies
Conclusion
In conclusion, mental health issues are an extremely critical and current issue facing adolescentstoday. While there is a lot of stigma surrounding seeking counseling or therapy, it is extremelycommon for teenagers to struggle with their mental health. Seeking counseling can be extremelybeneficial to teenagers as it can help them make sense of their emotions, learn coping strategies,and have a safe space to share their thoughts and feelings. Counseling is an incredibly helpfulavenue for teenagers and more than 85% of people find that counseling helped them with theirmental health issues.
References
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