Therapy for Teens

You are very important. Unfortunately, because of all the pressures and messages bombarding you during this time, and usually lacking the time to sit and fully process how awesome you are, you may struggle with focusing on anything other than where you feel you are lacking.

This is quite a shame, and it is unnecessary and unhelpful. If negative thoughts are tearing you down, therapy may be a great place to support you in building yourself back up.

Teen therapy may benefit you…

…If you are struggling to find acceptance, from others or for yourself.

As a whole, the pre-teen and teen years are pretty much the years when people feel most insecure about themselves. Although these insecurities are often hidden from others, every teen has them.

Learning to make rational and beneficial decisions, and developing the skills to find needed resources to carry out your goals are primary tasks during this stage. Unfortunately there are no shortage of messages on how a teen should go about this and what the expectations should be - with all these messages and all these pressures, how could a teen possibly feel like they aren’t disappointing someone, or failing to measure up to something?

It simply isn’t possible to please everyone, and this may be the biggest learning experience of all in these years. The only one who really has to be happy with you in the end, is you. And if you aren’t feeling happy about yourself or your life, therapy can help. A trained therapist can help you identify your own values, strengths, and interests, and help you determine what standards you would like to have for yourself.

They can also help you sort out what messages are truly intended to help you, or what messages may have ulterior motives (like deflecting from another’s own insecurities). If you are struggling to feel good about yourself, know that you are not alone, and know that you do not have to struggle by yourself.

…If you are having conflict in your relationships

Who doesn’t have conflict in their relationships at some point? That’s inevitable. And like adults, therapy can help teens with this too. Whether you are arguing with a partner, sibling, parent, friend, or acquaintance, therapy can help.

A therapist will not give you advice the way a parent, or even a friend would, but a therapist can help you find multiple potential solutions and process around what makes the most sense for you.

In the end, you will be able to own your decisions and your successes, and you will be able to evaluate the effectiveness of your approaches without judgement.

Through this process, you will come to reflect on what is important to you in relationships, and what skills help you maintain the type of healthy relationships you deserve.

…If you are feeling overwhelmed by pressures to succeed, fit in, or make decisions and need help finding balance your life.

While feelings of overwhelm strike everyone at some point, this may be an issue particularly relevant to teens. The American Psychological Association recently found that teens may actually experience even more stress than adults do.

If this is true, that means that teens need even more support in this area. If you are feeling stressed and overwhelmed, therapy can be a great method of self care. It can allow you a space to fully express yourself and to designate time for strategizing how to manage these pressures.

It can also help to prioritize what matters most, and determine how to compartmentalize tasks to keep them all from fighting for your attention. If you are recognizing feelings of overwhelm in your own life, therapy may be a good resource for you.