Teenagers And Stress

Stress.

We say things all the time like, “children are resilient. They can handle the stress or abuse or the societal chaos and upheaval.”

But this is just not always true.

Young people and teenagers are not always “better for the wear”! Or do they handle stress very well. The statistics of stress-related and harmful behaviors is alarming in this generation. Proving that children and teens are not as resilient as we think.

For example, if teens were so resilient to the chaos in society, then they wouldn’t be showing increased signs of isolation, depression, suicide, anger, homelessness, and identity issues.

Research

Look at the facts. Teenagers have been affected socially, relationally, physically, and spiritually by stress. Stress related issues are real.

The WHO (world health organization) has reported these results of stress in teenagers: ISOLATION, UNCERTAINTY, FEAR, INDECISION, and NERVOUSNESS. So, what can we learn about stress as a YTH Leader? How can we help this Gen deal with stress, depression, and ultimately suicide?

4 facts about teen stress…

1. Stress has increased among teenagers

Just 2 years ago the teenage population in mental health facilities was 19%. Today, the teenage population in mental health facilities is over 40%. We must do something about the increase of adolescents in mental health facilities.

You would have thought that spending so much time at home the last year in a pandemic would have decreased stress. But our homes are not healthy and our students were placed into stressful situations. They were removed from their friends, teams, classmates, jobs, and interaction. What did we think was going to happen?

And this created a vacuum of relationships that help teens process everything in life. That loss of relationship brought stress they could not escape from for a year of their life.

Here’s another fact…

2. Our society mirrors our children

Our children are the foundation of our country. Healthy homes build healthy children who create healthy societies.

Think about stress this way. We wouldn’t need counselors if children were resilient. If children were resilient they wouldn’t be broke, depressed, and suicidal. Broken children results in broken adults. UNLESS THERE IS A DRAMATIC TURN IN A LIFE.

“It is much easier and cheaper to raise healthy children than it is to fix broken adults” -Frederick Douglass

We are not just raising a fatherless generation anymore. We are raising a fatherless, motherless, and siblingless generation. And that affects the well-being of teenagers.

Look at the health of teenagers today and you will see the health of society tomorrow.

Here is another fact related to teenagers and stress.

3. A teen’s behavior is a response to a need

It might be easy to simply say that teenagers are emotional or teenagers are unstable. But everyone has real needs. Maybe a teenager is stressed or depressed because they actually have needs.

It could be the need for love and acceptance, it could be the need for relationship, it could be the need to be valued and heard, or it could be the need for safety.

Chronic and acute stress are one of the growing issues in teenagers - CHRONIC stress is cyclical ongoing stress, and, ACUTE stress is a single event trauma.

Let’s look quickly at some of the triggers or markers of stress:

-Negative formative life event

-Food poverty

-Neglect

-Abuse - mental, physical, or witnessed

-Trauma events

-Toxic or harmful relationships

-Identity crisis

-ACE (adverse childhood experiences)

Learning to identify these triggers can be a critical stopgap that YTH leaders can use to bring prevention and care to teenagers in crisis conflict.

4. Early intervention is critical

The earlier we intervene the better chance we have of helping someone. The later we intervene the less chance we have of helping someone.

We have to train YTH Leaders to look for the early signs of stress so they do not develop into the later signs of depression and suicide or other harmful at-risk behavior. We can stop at-risk behavior with early trait recognition and intervention.

So what do I do if I see signs?

4 Actions…

-Identify the problem/signs: Heart disease, Violence, Risky behavior, Weight gain/loss, Mood swings, Loss of milestones or purpose, Poor grades, Isolation, Random schedule changes, and Social disengagement are all signs that must be identified and addressed immediately.

-Communicate to the teen about the problem. Talking directly to teenagers will always help and bring hope and processing to the situation.

-Help solve the problem. Sometimes it only takes one solution to change the outlook of a teenager!

-Celebrate the smallest of wins. Tell a teenager that maybe the fact that we are even talking about this is the first step of healing the problem.

Finally

Identify these flags and take immediate action. Teenagers who deal with stress need conversation. Often times conversation could be the easiest way to curb stress that leads to depression and suicide.

The easiest way to help our students is for our own personal health. Make sure that you are considering your personal total wellness… Rest, diet, exercise, counselors, and even medication if needed.

Healthy YTH leaders build healthy students who create healthy societies. Our health as YTH leaders is critical to reaching students living in a stressful society.

“When hurting adults try and heal teenagers we are doing more harm than good” -Kesha Simmons, Behavioral Counselor