6 Anxiety Disorder Symptoms in Teens: How to Spot Them and What to Do

It can be tough to notice anxiety disorder symptoms in the teenage years simply because the teen years tend to ramp up in multiple ways. Hormonal shifts, friendship drama, juggling school with sports and work, and growing into their identities make things challenging in this stage.

As a parent, it’s important to take note of characteristics that seem to pop up unexpectedly, persist over time and in multiple situations, and cause your teen to avoid what he or she may normally enjoy.

Anxiety Disorders: What Are They?

There are several anxiety disorders, all of which are defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). They’re confined to one specific chapter in the DSM-5 to differentiate them from symptoms that could mimic anxiety but differ in origin, such as trauma and stress.

These include generalized anxiety disorder, agoraphobia, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, selective mutism, and substance or medication-induced anxiety disorder. While all anxiety disorders do not fit the same paradigm, many of them have some symptoms in common.

General anxiety disorder (GAD), for example, may include restlessness, worry, or a quickness to fatigue, but these symptoms don’t necessarily mean a teen has GAD. Instead, they could be present only in certain circumstances, such as when they’re in public, separated from loved ones, or have an illness that initiates the anxiety.

How do you distinguish if your teen is struggling with anxiety and what those anxiety disorder symptoms are?

Anxiety Disorder Symptoms and How to Spot Them

Anxiety disorder symptoms tend to be categorized in one of two camps physical and behavioral. Physical, or physiological, symptoms cause teens to have bodily representations. Some examples are:

Tense or tight muscles This might include neck, head, or jaw pain that persists more days than not over the course of six months.

Rapid heart rate A teen who has an anxiety disorder may experience a rapid heart rate often, especially when faced with triggers of the anxiety.

Nausea, faintness, and chills: These symptoms can occur together or separately, but like the other physiological portrayals, they happen off and on for many months.

What does it look like to have these physical representations daily?

It may be that more days than not, your child says he has a headache, his heart feels funny, or a queasy stomach when faced with situations that contribute to the anxiety. It could be triggered by simply going to school, spending time away from your home, speaking in public, or a mixture of all of these.

General anxiety disorder may contribute to your teen’s sense of worry. On top of that, if there are any of these signs, such as a weak stomach and digestive issues, persistent headaches or muscle tension, and feeling like they can’t breathe slowly and/or have a fast heartbeat, it is a good sign that your teen may need an evaluation by a psychologist.

Behavioral Anxiety Disorder Symptoms

The other category of anxiety disorder symptoms is behavioral, and these are observations you can make over time. Like with other symptoms, these would need to persist most days of the week for six months or longer. Examples include:

Avoiding situations If your teen tends to avoid anything where he or she may feel nervous or worried, such as going to school, trying new things, or spending time away from home regularly, it’s definitely worth noting.

Other avoidance may include not speaking aloud when addressed by someone they don’t live with (such as a teacher, administrator, or another student) and refusing to participate in class or group activities at church.

Unrealistic worry that can’t be soothed This may include worrying about not having the right makeup, jeans, or skincare, or worrying that an assignment wasn’t done “just so,” and fear that he or she will get in trouble with a teacher.

It might also include worry about highly unlikely situations, such as a fear of upsetting an entire classroom, forgetting essential items that are generally always in their backpack, or fearing that they won’t be able to contact family members in the case of an emergency.

Unrealistic worries can also be related to future events that are not in your teen’s season of life yet, such as what to do after graduation, where he or she will live and work as an adult, or what to do if someone in the family dies. A fear of the future that lasts months and genuinely inhibits your child’s daily life warrants connecting with a counselor.

Struggling to fall or stay asleep When students fear the future, worry about multiple unlikely events, or spend much of their day fearing the worst, they tend to have overactive minds. This can mean that they spiral in their thought process, thus making it hard to fall asleep or stay asleep.

While sleep is a physiological symptom, it is also behavioral in that teens can learn coping mechanisms to help them with the thoughts that may inhibit productive sleep.

What to Do If You Think Your Teen Exhibits Anxiety Disorder Symptoms

First, pay close attention to the things your teen says. As parents, it’s easy to tune out some of our children’s comments as “normal” and ignore them because you have so much on your proverbial plate.

Teens often experience heightened emotions due to their stage of development. However, if you notice your teen talking about feeling nervous, crying, or being visibly upset many days of the week, over several months, it’s time to start noting the symptoms and ask a few questions.

Second, ask your teen directly what might be causing some of the symptoms you’re noticing. You can do this casually without speaking in psychological terms.

An example may be, “Hey, I’ve noticed you seem more nervous than you once did. Is this happening a lot?” Or you might wait until after your teen gets home from school and ask if her day included some positive experiences.

Listening to her describe her day, multiple times a week, will give an overall sense of where her mind is. If she uses words like “she might get mad” or she frequently describes herself with low self-esteem language (such as not being “X enough”), then it behooves you to dig a little deeper. You can ask what she perceives will upset that person or what would give her a better perception of herself.

Anxiety can also have comorbidities, such as depression, so watching for persistent anger, sadness, or fatigue can give you some healthy, concerned ways to check in on your teen. If you ask him what has been making him so tired lately, he may not know, but his agreement with you that he’s been really tired the last few months is a sign that something is off.

Third, look for noticeable changes in your teen’s life. This may include engaging in risky behaviors, impulsive decision-making, or avoiding things they once enjoyed. If your teen was once the life and joy of their friend group but now prefers to stay in on Friday and Saturday nights, ask why. Maybe one of their friends upset them, and that’s okay. It doesn’t necessarily mean there are anxiety disorder symptoms.

But if your teen’s answers reflect a loss of joy, fear, or worry that goes unchanged over time, enlisting the help of a counselor who specializes in teen anxiety is recommended. Our offices have multiple locations where mental health professionals are trained and experienced at working with teens.

Fourth and finally, try not to minimize their fears, worries, and refusal to engage in activities. Acknowledging your teen’s concerns and asking if you can help is a good first step to initiating an evaluation by a counselor. Suggesting a school counselor is one way to approach it, but many students won’t take that step themself.

The best approach is to help your teen recognize the value in talking to a professional licensed counselor. Help them understand that a counselor can help them evaluate whether or not these feelings and physical symptoms are disruptive – and how to move forward with hope.