Mental Stress in Teenagers

The adolescent years are a very critical period of adjustment for both teens and families. Teenagers have to adapt to many physical, mental and emotional changes during this phase of life. As parents and as community members it is important to be aware and understand how teens develop, the challenges that youth face, and the ways in which the family can help them to become and stay as physically and mentally healthy as possible. Talking to teens about issues of mental health can be difficult – but it is the best way to understand what they are going through and if they need to get help. In my experience, it is often easier for teenagers to open themselves up towards relatives, professional counselors or other non-family members.

Being a teenager is hard. Teenagers are under stress to be liked, to do well in school, get along with the family and they have to make big decisions. Most of these pressures can’t be avoided, so it is perfectly normal to worry at times. But feeling very sad, hopeless or worthless could be warning signs of a mental health problem one should seek help for. Such problems are real, sometimes painful and severe. As a teenager, look out for help if you have the signs mentioned above or if you

  • Often feel very angry or worried
  • Feel grief for a long time after a loss or death
  • Feel very fearful at times
  • Think your mind is controlled or out of control
  • Primarily communicate with others over the Internet
  • Spend lots of time on Online Games
  • Use alcohol or drugs
  • are constantly concerned about physical problems or appearance
  • Exercise, diet and/or binge-eat obsessively
  • Hurt other people or destroy property
  • Do reckless things that could harm you or others
  • Feel shy or unconfident amongst others
  • Have problems in school but see no way out of it

To find help, discuss your concerns with your teacher, school counselor or others such as a family doctor, psychiatrist, psychotherapist, psychologist, social worker, religious counselor or nurse.

(This short article is part of a weekly series dealing with psychological expat problems and general mental health issues and was published in various newspapers and magazines in Thailand, 2010)

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Richard L. Fellner, DSP, MSc.

Psychotherapeut, Hypnotherapeut, Sexualtherapeut, Paartherapeut



6 replies

asons mental health misdiagnosis support Reply

Mental health is often a very taboo subject around young adults and teenagers and people underestimate how much stress can affect them on a daily basis; which is why there are also so many cases of mental health misdiagnosis.

Young people should never try to deal with a mental illness alone as it can escalate and become more of problem.

Thanusree Dev Reply

Actually teenage life is very hard. It is always full of confusions since we have to take a lot of decisions about our future. In my opinion online games helps us in stress relief and in decision making. Don’t addict to it. Play when you are free.

Anisha Mitra Reply

AFTER TACKLING WITH SO MANY ARTICLES I FOUND THIS… IT REALLY HELPED ME FOR MY SPEECH.. THANK YOU….

ellygregory Reply

Okay so basically my mum has started this thing where I get my phone taken off me every night at 10. It has lead to countless amounts of arguments and I don’t know how to approach her in order to be trusted with it on a permanent basis.
There are many reasons why I think the whole situation of 10pm deadline phone system isn’t working
first of all,there was not a reason for it to be set again anyway: my mum didn’t have any reason to do what she did,she just did it. I have already proven to her I can be quiet at night and likewise,get up and go to school the next morning. Secondly,it stresses me out. I hate having to say goodbye to all my friends at 10. It seems I’m the only one that seems to have this in place and I hate it. I don’t understand I’m not doing any harm and as long as I’m going into school and trying my best I should be rewarded by not having so many boundaries. I’m 15, I am more than old enough to be sensible with a phone. But in her mind,she thinks I’m always up to no good in some way or another which isn’t true.
And she treats me like a 10 year old.
tonight she came and started searching through my room when I refused to hand it over. This had been going on for long enough and I hated every minute of it. She started trashing my room by throwing things off my bed and searching through all my shelves and cupboards. Which wasn’t a good way to go about it because it made me 10x angrier. I ask her to get out,she refuses and once again asks for my phone. I say no, reminding her I’m 15 and she needs to trust me with things. She keeps searching. My anger grows. I get really frustrated and then start pushing her slightly just to try and signal that I’m on the verge of exploding and it was her turn to leave. She grabs my phone charger and says, ‘your phone will run out now anyway’ and she also takes my earphones. (Which was unnecessary)
I calm down. about 15 minutes later I go into her room and willingly hand over my phone. She says forget about it and then refuses to take my phone. So I then insist and put it by her bedside table and try and explain to her why I got angry and why she didn’t help the situation but she keeps shouting over me and won’t allow me to voice my own opinions.
I then begin raising my voice just to make myself outstand her voice so I can get my point across. At this point she grabs my phone from her bedside table and says ‘here,have your fucking phone’ and throws it at the bedroom wall. It’s chipped. I’m so lucky to not have the screen smashed. I don’t trust her with my phone now at all. She still won’t give me my charger.

McCall H. Reply

There are lots of problems that teenagers have to go through that we simply don’t think about. I was reading on cfcfl.org/pdf/anybodyoutthere.pdf about how lots of teens don’t feel they have a voice, and that they are sad due to this. I really hope that more teens seek counseling, and try to get through their problems.

Liana Reply

Thanks for your informative information about teenager issues, these advice’s and tips for stress in teenagers sound useful to me as a mom.

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