Why kids and teens may face more anxiety far more these days
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Why kids and teens may face more anxiety far more these days

Looking for the Light

By Amy Ellis Nutt Washington Post 

When it comes to treating anxiety in children and teens, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook are the bane of therapists’ work.“With (social media), it’s all about the self-image — who’s ‘liking’ them, who’s watching them, who clicked on their picture,” said Marco Grados, associate professor of psychiatry and clinical director of child and adolescent psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital. “Everything can turn into something negative … [K]ids are exposed to that day after day, and it’s not good for them.”

Anxiety, not depression, is the leading mental health issue among American youths, and clinicians and research both suggest it is rising. The latest study was published in April in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. Based on data collected from the National Survey of Children’s Health for ages 6 to 17, researchers found a 20 percent increase in diagnoses of anxiety between 2007 and 2012. (The rate of depression over that same time period ticked up 0.2 percent.)

Philip Kendall, director of the Child and Adolescent Anxiety Disorders Clinic at Temple University and a practicing psychologist, was not surprised by the results and applauded the study for its “big picture” approach.

The data on anxiety among 18- and 19-year-olds is even starker. Since 1985, the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA has been asking incoming college freshmen if they “felt overwhelmed” by all they had to do. The first year, 18 percent replied yes. By 2000, that climbed to 28 percent. By 2016, to nearly 41 percent.

The same pattern is clear when comparing modern-day teens to those of their grandparents’ or great-grandparents’ era. One of the oldest surveys in assessing personality traits and psychopathology is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, which dates to the Great Depression and remains in use today. When Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, looked at the MMPI responses from more than 77,500 high school and college students over the decades, she found that five times as many students in 2007 “surpassed thresholds” in more than one mental health category than they did in 1938. Anxiety and depression were six times more common.

Those responding yes were asked to describe the level of both anxiety and depression in their children: 10.7 percent said their child’s depression was severe, and 15.2 percent who listed their child’s anxiety at that level.

Among the study’s other findings: Anxiety and depression were more commonly found among white and non-Hispanic children, and children with anxiety or depression were more likely than their peers to be obese. The researchers acknowledge that the survey method — parents reporting what they were told by their child’s doctor — likely skewed the results.

 Grados often identifies anxiety in the children and adolescents he sees as part of his clinical practice in Baltimore. “I have a wide range [of patients], take all insurances, do inpatients, day hospital, outpatients, and see anxiety across all strata,” he said.

The causes of that anxiety also include classroom pressures, according to Grados. “Now we’re measuring everything,” he said. “School is putting so much pressure on them with the competitiveness … I’ve seen eighth graders admitted as inpatients, saying they have to choose a career!”

Yet even one of the latest study’s authors acknowledges that it can be difficult to tease out the truth about the rise in anxiety.

“If you look at past studies,” said John T. Walkup, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, “you don’t know if the conditions themselves are increasing or clinicians are making the diagnosis more frequently due to advocacy or public health efforts.”

Nearly a third of all adolescents ages 13 to 18 will experience an anxiety disorder during their lifetime, according to the National Institutes of Health, with the incidence among girls (38.0 percent) far outpacing that among boys (26.1 percent).

Identifying anxiety in kids and getting them help is paramount, according to clinicians. “Anxiety can be an early stage of other conditions,” Grados said. “Bipolar, schizophrenia later in life can initially manifest as anxiety.”

For all these reasons, Kendall said, increased awareness is welcome.

“If you look at the history of child mental health problems,” he said, “we knew about delinquency at the beginning of the 20th century, autism was diagnosed in the 1940s, teenage depression in the mid-’80s. Anxiety is really coming late to the game.”

Amy Ellis Nutt covers neuroscience and mental health for The Washington Post. She won the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing in 2011 and previously worked at the Star-Ledger in Newark, NJ and Sports Illustrated.

Follow @amyellisnutt

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15 thoughts on “Why kids and teens may face more anxiety far more these days”

  1. Well now they are being judged, bully, teased facing problems and find no solution because parents are also not healthy. They are being distracted and everyone say that’s normal but that is not

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      1. Tell me one thing if you know someone is teasing you intentionally and you have fear that they will talk I’ll about you behind your back , someone trying to tease you. You have money but you can’t buy food because of them because you have too much fear that if they will se they will try to tease you in front of so many and your life would be very difficult . You can’t change your location again and again. What would you do. What is the best here you can do?

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        1. I was teased and bullied until my teens and it was horrible. The for me was not caring what people thought of me, or what they would say. It’s harder then it sounds. I had to grow my confidence first. They I went about my business, like going to the store I wanted to, it didn’t matter if they were there. Do you respond to them in any way? If so, don’t respond, just ignore like you don’t even know they are there. Sometimes people like that want a reaction and when your ignore they they stop after a bit. Do you have someone you can take with you when shopping? It would be interesting if they teased you others around. If it doesn’t stop soon, personally I would up my game and look at any social media platform they are on and learn more about them, you may find out this person has repeatedly done the same thing. It hard to deal with an abusive person, you’ll have to continue to look for ways to deal with or force them to go away, say like calling their parents. That’s one of those you have to think about first. There is no easy answer, I would start working hard to build your confidence and a thick skin. This type of person seems to move on to someone else quickly. I hope there’s a nuget in there that helps you.

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          2. It started when I first went to school, I had buck teeth and people were calling me Bucky because of my buck teeth. It stopped until I was 12 and got braces, then I was metal mouth. Then someone started a rumor that I called my best friend a bad name and she believed it, this where the ongoing bulling started.I was followed home by her and her gang of friends. One of them came up behind me and hit me with a coke bottle. It was nasty. I stayed silent because it would make matters worse. I didn’t have anyone to help because my parents were abusing me and they would somehow make it my fault. Part of the reason I managed was because it was worse at home. I moved away at 12 and that bulling started and at my new school none one bothered my. I had strenght from a young age because of the abuse, yeah it bothered me but I didn’t let it consume me. One thing I thought about after my last comment is if this person is constantly showing up at the places you go, that is stalking. Stalking can look different in each case. One way to know is keep a log for two weeks, write the date and each place you went and if he was there. I you find it’s happening every time or the majority, that is stalking. If that is the case, you can file a complaint with the police and request a restraing order. I’ve been stalked 3 times, you are always scared along with having anxiety. Two of three stalkings were bad and very freighting. Maybe that’s what you feeling and there’s no getting over the feeling until it stops. I hope that is not the case yet it is worth thinking about. Hope that helped.

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          3. Thanks for sharing.
            People also wasted my time they made me to leave the place where I could get something good . I had to leave everything my study and job.
            I faced horror. But I survived later I found out I am the only one, no parents no supporter, nobody.
            Someone scam me. I am here where I can’t cry or laugh. I published two books self worth and real magic.
            In self I wrote everything that I knew how to leave, where to live and about environment, friends, family and love. I just added one chapter my discomfort where I wrote something about me.
            But next I have learned so much but I dont know what to do. Where is that supporter or place I can rely. So I just trusted God. Now whatever will happen is his will.
            I am not furious, I am calm but don’t know where to go. So I am just sitting on one place. I am not mad on anybody not worried about me but I ask myself what to do. You faced too much . Now you are in a good place so I am hopeful about me if this whole universe helped you then that’s gonna help me too. But it is really scaring situation I have nothing now.

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          4. It might be helpful if you broke down each item that is bothering you and take them one by one. No one has to be stuck and nowhere to go. You need to look inside really deep and ask yourself what you can do or want to do. Tackeling one issue at a time makes it much easier tha being overwhelmed by the whole of it. Stay focused on what you want in life and pray for answers.

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