Your adolescent daughter is starting to grow up and is turning into a beautiful young lady. Sadly, as she is maturing, she is no longer the sweet girl you used to know, what used to be a joyful child is now acting differently. She now prefers to stay most of the time alone, doesn't talk much, and her mood swings have been putting you off. What could it be?
Anxiety in Girls at Puberty
Your daughter may be suffering from an anxiety disorder. Anxiety is a feeling of intense worry coupled with helplessness. An anxious person feels butterflies in the stomach, a sinking feeling, and nausea. In more severe cases, anxiety manifests as sweating, trembling, and chills.
Teen girls are more emotionally advanced than boys of the same age. The evolutionary theory postulates that girls mature emotionally early in order to take care of their newborns. Because their roles in society required bravery rather than emotions, boys of the same age would not need to be as emotionally advanced.
As emotionally intelligent beings, girls will worry about any little thing because they understand much more. It could be the future, a pimple on the face, a wrong dress code, or even being snubbed. Normal anxiety in most will disappear over time. If it lingers on, then it is an anxiety disorder. Tag along to learn more about anxiety disorders.
Types of Anxiety Disorders
1. Social Anxiety Disorder
Girls worry a lot about what other people think about them. They are so overwhelmed by that fear that they will avoid people or avoid going to crowded places.
2. General Anxiety Disorder
This disorder is characterized by depression, insomnia, loss of appetite, and withdrawal. On top of not having control of her anxiety, your daughter will be worrying about multiple things including her future and health.
3. Separation Anxiety Disorder
SAD is the fear of separation. Your teenager will worry excessively about being far from you, thinking something terrible will happen to you. She will avoid activities such as school and sleepovers, and will object to you going to work. Physical symptoms include nausea, vomiting, sleeplessness, and headaches.
4. Panic Disorder
Panic is a full-blown anxiety attack. Out of the blue and for no reason, your daughter may start crying, shaking, becoming dizzy and nauseous, and even having shortness of breath.
Causes of Anxiety in Teen Girls
You must be curious to know why anxiety occurs. Here are the reasons:
1. Hormonal Changes
Biologically, the body sexually matures at puberty, evidenced by secondary sexual characteristics such as enlargement of hips and breasts. The body uses hormones to achieve this. Your teen might feel angry, depressed, and upset without cause because of hormonal fluctuations. There are excellent treatments available to adults once they have matured, like TMS treatment for depression. This treatment, however, isn't suited for adolescents. Hormonal changes will also cause menstrual cramps. Hormones added to general immaturity and inexperience are a culprit for anxiety in teenage girls.
2. Peer Pressure
Kids influence each other in every other thing in life. Peer pressure can be harmful or beneficial depending on the circumstances. For instance, her friends may have expensive taste in jewelry, live in leafy suburbs, date the big shots, or even have the luxury to be driven to school. You might not be able to afford such a life for her, which could negatively affect her.
Positive peer pressure could be her classmates performing better than her and applying to institutions of higher education. She will be motivated to study more to be like them.
Contentment is a vital life skill. You should impart to her that she will not always get everything she wants in life.
3. Turning Down Her Requests
Puberty is a very awkward and sometimes very frustrating stage in life. Girls will want to be noticed and appreciated by everyone. They will want you to approve every request they make and won't take no for an answer.
On the contrary, they are usually rebellious to authority. It is ironic when teens ask you for permission to do the very things you've told them not to do. The result of this rebellion is an eternal tug of war between you, the parent, and your teenage girl, which is very upsetting. They will, therefore, feel stressed and anxious.
4. Immature Brain
The human mind develops as one grows and starts to reach maturity in the early twenties. But the problem is that the body has matured. So teen girls tend to think that they're mature and want to do things they feel are adult-like. Everything suited to their age looks childish. The fun adult activities such as dating are usually risky since they don't know what they're doing. Stopping them will cause stress and anxiety.
The society also expects teens to take on adult roles, but sometimes they lack the skills, which will cause frustration and anxiety.
5. Drug and Substance abuse
Your girl is at an age where she will want to experiment with everything. In this manner, she may stumble across drug abuse during one of the numerous parties and bashes. Abusing drugs lead to addiction, and in no time, they get hooked. Realizing they can't get out brings anxiety and panic disorder. At this point, many teens indulge themselves in more substance abuse, ignorant of the fact that some drugs raise anxiety to dangerous levels. The fear of being caught abusing drugs can also cause a lot of anxiety.
