Introduction
In modern society, where the protection against nature’s whims is as strong as ever, stress is among the biggest contemporary threats to human well-being. Having numerous sources and thus being almost ubiquitous, it rightfully bears the name of the plague of the 21st century. One of the most notable stress sources is a feeling of anxiety – a state of mind characterized by negative mood and overall tension. People often feel doubtful and anxious, especially at a young age, when the probability of encountering something unknown is much higher. Thus it is essential to address adolescents’ anxiety issues accordingly to keep the stress at bay.
Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety usually focuses on a specific feature. If continuously left unnoticed, it might evolve into a classified disorder depending on the caused complications and the element of tension. For example, in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), the patient is deeply concerned by the events of his everyday life. His worry is indiscriminate, unproductive, and constant (Barlow et al., 2018). GAD also involves muscle tension, mental agitation, fatigue, irritability, and inability to sleep as physical symptoms (Barlow et al., 2018). The patient cannot stop worrying even if he realizes it is detrimental.
Anxiety Assessment
Confirmation of a single physical symptom is enough to diagnose GAD in the case of an adolescent. Apart from that, GAD can be diagnosed by several factors. Firstly, the state of constant anxiety lasts longer than five months (Barlow et al., 2018). Secondly, an inability to control the worry process (Barlow et al., 2018). Thirdly, a tendency to constantly worry about the minor and insignificant (Barlow et al., 2018). The significant events can also become a focus for anxiety – most commonly, teenagers feel anxious about competence in different life areas or family issues.
For GAD and other anxiety disorders’ prevention and screening, questionnaires like GAD-7 can be used. It is a commonly used scale that evaluates the frequency of anxiety symptoms in the last two weeks (Byrd-Bredbenner et al., 2021). Additionally, it might be worth consulting the possibility of drug therapy since such therapy can provide relatively quick relief (Barlow et al., 2018). Notably, it is crucial to pay attention to adolescents’ personal information during the assessment – they might not want to share everything with their families. Despite the legal right of parents or guardians to treatment data, there might be cases where sharing some of the personal information could harm the patient and thus be destructive to the treatment.
Support Options
Overall, anxiety is highly reliant on the patient’s surroundings. In the study of the active-learning setting conducted by Dou et al. (2019), they found a reciprocal relationship between the anxiety level and students’ social interactions. The latter’s indicator was reasonably low for students who deliberately and actively engaged in group activities (Dou et al., 2019). Consequently, creating an atmosphere that encourages this type of behavior can help address the anxiety issue. Regarding GAD specifically, there are two main ways of its treatment – drug and psychological therapy, Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in particular. According to Barlow et al. (2018), both approaches provide intermediate results, with the former showing better short-termed results and the latter being more consistent long-term. Unfortunately, none of them seem to be able to fully heal the patient, which confirms the strong bond between the anxiety and the patient’s environment.
Conclusion
Without proper and timely treatment, anxiety is capable of causing significant amounts of damage. It can target any area of an adolescent’s life and pour stress into the young psyche. In the worst-case scenarios, anxiety can turn into disorders like GAD, which might complicate an already dire situation. Fortunately, there are ways of GAD prevention and screening; for example, a supportive environment that encourages communication and particular questionnaires that help monitor the current anxiety state. After all, however dangerous stress might be, people are not defenseless either.
References
Barlow, D. H., Durand, V. M., & Hoffmann, S. G. (2018). Abnormal psychology: An integrative approach (8th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Byrd-Bredbenner, C., Eck, K., & Quick, V. (2021). GAD-7, GAD-2, and GAD-mini: Psychometric properties and norms of university students in the United States.General hospital psychiatry, 69, pp. 61-66. Web.
Dou, R., & Zwolak, J. P. (2019). Practitioner’s guide to social network analysis: Examining physics anxiety in an active-learning setting. Physical Review Physics Education Research, 15(2), p. 020105. Web.