Signs of Anxiety Disorders in Teens

As the founder of the West Virginia-based Greenbrier Academy for Girls, L. Jay Mitchell brings decades of experience developing teen-focused mental-health programs to the therapeutic boarding school. L. Jay Mitchell is also the codeveloper of strong relationality, a theory that focuses on self-discovery through building strong interpersonal relationships. It informs Greenbrier’s work with its clients, helping them overcome negative and destructive behaviors and cope with non-acute mental-health conditions such as depression and anxiety.

Many parents wonder how they can differentiate their teen’s mood swings from what might be a serious anxiety disorder. Most teens experience some degree of anxiety, a normal response to stress that can sometimes serve as a coping mechanism. Although “normal” differs for each individual, mental-health clinicians note a number of key indicators that could be signs a family should seek a professional opinion. These include emotions and situations that adversely affects their participation in everyday life at home and at school, as well as their ability to engage with others.

Social withdrawal, hypervigilance, continual nervousness, and other extremes associated with fear and worry can indicate an anxiety disorder, especially they occur without an actual threat present. A teen might seem consistently irritable or restless or even display outbursts of emotion with no discernible cause. Their behavior in social settings can range from appearing dependent or overly emotional to uneasy or restrained.

Anxiety disorders can also involve physiological issues like unusual or intense episodes of fatigue, listlessness, headaches, or unexplainable physical pain. Problems with falling or staying asleep and frequent uncontrollable nightmares can also be signs.

The intensity of symptoms can vary, as do their triggers. Anxiety can manifest as a free-floating general unease or morph into phobias or panic attacks, which can signify a specific type of anxiety disorder. Moreover, their wide-reaching effects can lead to school problems, worsened by an inability to concentrate or complete tasks.

Families Note Greenbrier's Role in

L. Jay Mitchell and his team at Greenbrier Academy for Girls in West Virginia provide adolescent women with a rigorous academic program and individualized treatment to address a variety of non-acute conditions. The therapeutic boarding school creates plans to help students cope with anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and substance use. In addition, L. Jay Mitchell has built Greenbriar around methodologies designed to help heal students’ strained and broken relationships with parents, peers, and themselves.

The testimonials posted on the school’s website offer a glimpse into the ways that students and their families have received assistance.

One former student noted how many aspects of her life have changed for the better since she attended Greenbrier. She described her former self as someone who experienced difficulties with alcohol and drugs, as well as a history of destructive relationships. Toward the beginning of her time at the academy, she put up barriers between herself and the staff and students that recreated past unhealthy interactions in her life.

It was during a Greenbrier Village Retreat that she was able to confront her baseless feelings of worthlessness and inadequacy. She overcame ingrained habits of thought that had conditioned her to always feel in competition with her brother. Her relationship with him became easier and more secure, and she went on to succeed in college.

A mother of another Greenbrier student wrote that she will never forget that staff consistently said that they were going to love her daughter until she could learn to love herself. This mother witnessed her daughter’s growing maturity and ability to develop a sense of purpose and integrity that exceeded the family’s initial expectations.

Numerous other students and families have shared how Greenbrier’s team invested themselves in students’ healing journeys and the extent to which programs bring out students’ authentic selves in constructive ways.