Coping with Teen Stress - Essay Example

ID: Douglas Crabtree Mrs. McNiel English 10 11-12-06 Coping with Teen Stress Everybody expresses some stress everyday. Teenagers are especially vulnerable to the stressful situations because they are at transition stage of growing up. Teens are adopting to the adult life and it is not always easy. Stress is the reaction to the events and can be expressed through body (lack of sleep) and/or emotions (disturbance, lack of motivation and overall depression). This is the way the teen prepares to meet the difficult for him situation. However, the stress is not always negative and teenagers, as well as adults, can benefit from it. Stress makes people less vulnerable to the crisis situations and prepares them for the future. Learning the stress management techniques helps teenagers to handle stress and minimize the negative effect of the difficult or painful experiences. Teenage stress must not be ignored by adults, especially parents, because if left untreated, it can result in the serious problems such as mental disorder and de-socialization. The events that cause stress are called stressors and the stressful event can be anything starting with the fear, peer pressure, passing the exam, divorce of the parents and death of the relative or the friend. Teens have the psychological predisposition to perceive the situations more dangerous than they are in reality (Sluke 11). Most of the situations causing teen stress are not problems in the eyes of the adults. For example, the failure to become the cheer leader in the school team can be a huge stress for the teenager, while the adults would not consider it to be the failure at all. This is one of the causes why teen stress is often not treated seriously by the adults and teens have to cope with their inner pain on their own even if they have no resources to cope with it. Some sources of the teen stress include but not limited to the school frustration, negative self-perception, body changes, misunderstandings with friends, separation of the parents, changing schools, setting too high expectations, and financial problems in the family If teenagers become overloaded with stress and do not receive the outside help or support, they are at risk of developing anxiety, social withdrawal and even physical illness. Stress impacts the teen’s health – faster heart rate, increased muscle pressure and upset stomach (Sluke 39). The similar changes occur when the teen feels relieved from stress. Teen who learn to relax emotionally using stress coping techniques are less helpful and are able to respond to stressful situations. When the teen experiences the emergency situation (the friends made on joke on him), the body reacts with either fight or flight response. The fight response makes teens defensive and aggressive, while the flight response is the way to escape stressful situation and leave it untreated. Psychologists believe that neither of the two responses is helpful for teens. They advise to step back at first, allow some time to think over the situation, to ask for help if needed and develop the plan of further reaction. A little level of stress, on the contrary, is helpful because it helps to achieve the goals and rise to the challenges. Ongoing stress, the divorce of parents for example, might have the long term consequences like the undesired or inability to create the family in the future. Stress is the result of the physical and emotional overload. Teenagers feel overloaded when they face the following situations on continuous basis: bulling or violence at home/school, family conflicts, problems at school caused by disability, and too intense schedules (Sluke 44). The parents should pay special attention to their teens and react if they notice the stress signs such as anxiety, feeling of the need to hurry, irritation, allergic reactions, lack of sleep, drinking or smoking habits and depression. If these symptoms are untreated, the teenager can become angry and take his stress out on the people around him. Others might keep all stress inside but develop the abuse problems. In any case, the consequences of untreated stress are negative. Thus, it is necessary not to leave the teenage alone with his stress. The first step in helping the teen to cope with the stress is conversation with parents. If the teen is not willing to talk about his problems with the parents, the help of the psychiatrist or the mental health professional is advised. Most importantly, the teens should acquire the stress leading skills in order to deal with the stress by themselves. Stress coping techniques are working better when they are used regularly and teenager knows how to overcome the stress and remain calm. Some of the helpful techniques include (Sluke 60-65): Making the schedule less intensive (if the teenager feels overloaded with activities, it is helpful to refuse from at least one of them) Being realistic (teens strive for perfection and realization of being not perfect can lead to the stress) Having enough sleep (enough sleep is vital for the teenager and makes them more prepared to cope with stress) Developing relaxation response (the teens should have time to relax and be aware of the relaxation techniques such as breathing exercises and calming activities) Treating the body well (regular physical exercise, well-balanced eating and resistance to smoking help the teen to oppose stress more successfully) Thinking positively (adults should encourage teens to feel optimistic about their life through showing them that they are loved and valued) Solving problems (teens need to learn about problem-solving techniques and not be afraid to solve on their own everyday problems – it would help to develop stress resistance skills and taking actions to find the right solution). At least one third of all American teens feel stressful on the daily basis. Partially, this is the result of the too high expectations set by parents and society in general. Teenage stress is a problem and cannot be left untreated; otherwise, it might help the long-run consequences in the life of the teen. There are numerous techniques helping to cope with the stressful situation, however, not all teens are able to deal with stress themselves and the support of parents becomes the most important factor. As soon as the teenager expresses some signs of stress, he needs help from outside. Too much stress has the negative impact on the body and emotional state of the young adult and can lead to the dangerous distress. Therefore, if stress cannot be avoided, teenagers need to be able to cope with it on the daily basis. Works Cited Sluke, Sara and Vanessa Torres. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Dealing with Stress for Teens. Alpha Publication, 2001. Read More