Dealing with stress
If you notice your teenager sulking more than usual or having trouble sleeping at night as he lies awake thinking for hours, your teen may be struggling with stress. Emotional stress can definitely occur at this time period for a teenager when he is going through many changes physically, socially, and mentally. But the problem occurs when your child may not know how to deal with his normal emotional stress and it escalates into a full-blown disorder such as depression or anxiety.
Specifically, teenagers who are perfectionists and noted to be highly grade-conscious to a point that it actually becomes a destructive mind-set instead of a productive one, may tend to suffer from anxiety. For these teenagers, the time of quarterly examinations can prove to be a time of hell for them as stress consumes them. Not just taking the tests themselves but waiting for the results can affect them considerably. Here is where some teenagers of this nature have been known to go from white to black. Once a teenager under this kind of pressure snaps, he may decide to no longer care at all about his academic performance. In a way, it is a jumping of extremes. Anxiety can definitely lead to a teenager’s nervous breakdown which can turn an A-student into an F-student in just a school quarter.
Vital Support
Depression may stem from several physical, social, or mental changes within your teen. If your teen is a bit underdeveloped than the other boys his age, he may definitely get his share of teasing. He may even feel that he doesn’t fit in with the others as well as a result of this. This in turn may then affect his self-image or self-concept.
All these factors may lead to his sulking which can become depression. As in the general example given, there are many other ways or combinations of factors concerned that may lead to your teenager’s bout with depression. A practically endless number of combinations may hit your child, and it is in the manner in which he deals with them that will determine if his times of sadness will develop into full-blown depression or not.
You can help prepare him for tests and trials by providing support for your teen. Being there for your teenager by showing your unconditional love will help a lot. A parent’s expression of love for one’s child can equip him with an inner strength to battle whatever emotional wounds he may incur through the challenges of high school. Just knowing that you are loved has amazing healing properties for the mind. |
