Anxiety is a normal response to stress or perceived danger, helping us stay alert and ready to cope with challenges. However, when anxiety becomes overwhelming or constant, it can begin to interfere with daily life. Teenagers are particularly vulnerable to anxiety because adolescence is a time of rapid physical, emotional, and social change. Academic pressures, social expectations, family dynamics, and the influence of social media can all contribute to increased stress. By understanding the causes of anxiety and recognizing the signs early, parents and professionals can help teenagers manage stress effectively and build resilience. Causes of Anxiety in Teenagers Several factors can contribute to anxiety in young people: Biological Factors Brain Development: Teenagers' brains are still growing, especially the areas that control emotions and decision-making, which can make them more prone to intense feelings, including anxiety. Genetics: Anxiety can run in families. If a parent or sibling has an anxiety disorder, a teen may have a higher risk. Hormonal Changes: Puberty hormones can amplify stress responses, making anxiety more likely. Life Events and Social Pressures Peer Pressure: Teens often feel intense pressure to fit in with friends or social groups. School Expectations: Tests, homework, and exam pressures can lead to stress and anxiety. Social Media: Online platforms can create unrealistic standards, leading teens to compare themselves to others and feel inadequate. Family and Environmental Stressors Family Conflict: Arguments or unresolved issues at home can make teens feel unsafe or anxious. Parental Expectations: High expectations can create pressure, especially if teens think they aren't meeting them. Stressful Home Life: Financial problems, health issues, or family separation can increase anxiety. Chronic Stress or Traumatic Events Bullying: Both in-person and online bullying can have lasting effects on mental health. Academic Failure: Struggling at school can reduce self-esteem and increase stress. Traumatic Events: Losing a loved one, accidents, or significant life changes can trigger anxiety.

Schizophrenia is a complicated mental health disorder that affects about 20 million people worldwide. Even though it is not very common, it can have a big impact on people who have it, as well as their families and communities. Learning about schizophrenia is important for everyone, because it can help people get better support, reduce unfair treatment, and improve care. Schizophrenia is a long-lasting condition that changes how a person thinks, feels, and acts. People with schizophrenia might have symptoms like seeing or hearing things that aren’t there (hallucinations), believing things that aren’t true (delusions), and having trouble doing everyday activities. These symptoms can make it hard for someone to know what is real and what isn’t, which can be very upsetting. One of the challenges with schizophrenia is that it looks different for each person. Symptoms can change over time. Some people have times when their symptoms are very bad, then feel better for a while, while others have symptoms that don’t go away. This means treatment and support need to be tailored to each person. Scientists don’t know exactly what causes schizophrenia, but they think it is due to a mix of genetics, biology, and life experiences. Research has given us clues about how the brain works in schizophrenia, but there is still more to learn. This article explains what schizophrenia is, what causes it, its symptoms, and how it can be treated. The goal is to help people understand schizophrenia better, so we can support those who live with it.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health problem that can happen after someone experiences or sees a very scary or dangerous event. Trauma means something that threatens your safety or makes you feel helpless. This can include accidents, natural disasters, violence, or war. After a traumatic event, your body and mind react to protect you. Sometimes, these reactions do not go away and lead to PTSD. People with PTSD may have bad memories, flashbacks, nightmares, strong anxiety, and may avoid things that remind them of the trauma.

Depression is the most common mental health condition with about 5-10% of adults experiencing it every year. It can be mild and last a relatively short time but about 25% of women and 10% of men have an episode of depression at some point in their lives that’s severe enough to need treatment. The average length of an episode of clinical depression is 6-8 months. It is a medical condition that can be serious, but most cases improve over time, and treatments such as lifestyle changes and talking therapies can help. It's very important to seek help early if you notice any persistent symptoms of depression. Although depression affects people in different ways, the core symptoms are of persistently low mood or sadness, and a significant lack of enjoyment or interest in anything, even in activities you normally enjoy. It’s a marked difference from how you were before and you may also find it difficult to concentrate and focus. You may feel excessively tired, sluggish and lack motivation, and you may find it hard to start tasks or complete them. Your sleep may also change, such as sleeping in the daytime, finding it hard to get to sleep or to sleep through the night, and waking early in the morning. You may lose your appetite or begin over-eating. People with depression often describe feeling worthless or hopeless, and they often avoid seeing other people. Depression can be categorized as mild, moderate or severe depending on the number of symptoms and how severely they are affecting you. Everyone can feel a bit sad from time to time, if you are going through difficult times such as losing a loved one or a divorce, but this doesn’t necessarily mean you have depression. This can be a normal and appropriate response, and your coping strategies will help you get back on your feet. This becomes more concerning if you’re feeling down for more than a few weeks and it’s getting worse, if it wasn’t in response to anything, or if you’re finding it hard to do your job or get everyday tasks done like washing or cooking. This is more like clinical depression. Depression can lead to persistent thoughts of suicide or self-harm. This can have a significant impact on people's lives or be life-threatening and is why it is important to seek help if you are suffering from depression. Even the most severe depression can get better with the right support and treatment.

Epilepsy is a condition that affects the brain and causes seizures. These seizures happen because of abnormal electrical activity in the brain. Epilepsy affects lots of people all over the world and can have a big impact on their lives. It doesn't just affect the person who has epilepsy, but also their families, friends, and the wider community. Living with epilepsy can be tough. People with epilepsy can have problems with their memory, mood, and daily activities. They might also have a hard time with school, work, and social activities. It's important to learn about epilepsy so you can understand what it is and how it affects people. It can also help people with epilepsy to feel more supported and valued. If you or someone you know has epilepsy, it's important to seek help from your doctor. There are treatments available that can help manage seizures and improve quality of life. Remember, you are not alone. With the right support, you can live a happy and fulfilling life, no matter what challenges you may face.

Bulimia, also known by its longer medical name of bulimia nervosa, is a mental health condition and type of eating disorder. It can have a huge impact on people's day-to-day lives and can lead to further health problems, which in severe cases can be life-threatening if not treated. Symptoms and the severity of symptoms can vary from person to person. Still, bulimia is characterized by cycles of eating or binging on large amounts of food in a short space of time and then compensating for this by restricting food, inducing vomiting, using laxatives, or excessively exercising. The compensatory behaviors to try and avoid weight gain cause hunger and can lead to binge eating, which is why bulimia can be a vicious cycle of binging followed by purging or restricting. Along with this, poor body image specifically regarding weight, is also a common factor.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a lifelong mental health condition that is characterized by difficulties in regulating emotions and interacting with others. It is also known as an emotionally unstable personality disorder, and is a common and well-known type of personality disorder.

Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition that used to be called manic depression. It can lead to extreme changes in mood, energy, and ability to function. There are two distinct parts of the illness: periods of feeling depressed and low, and then huge emotional highs – called mania - where the person can be incredibly overactive. Unlike daily mood swings, people with bipolar may be in one state of either mania or depression for weeks or months at a time. In between these episodes, the person may feel normal and well. (Less commonly, some people with bipolar disorder can have what is known as a mixed bipolar episode, where they can alternate between depression and manic symptoms in a matter of hours). Bipolar symptoms can be severe and may affect your daily life, work, studies and relationships and is very different from the normal mood swings we can all have from time to time. If you have less severe mania symptoms, this is known as hypomania. There are two types of bipolar disorder – Type I and Type II. Type I usually starts with manic symptoms, often mixed with depression whereas Type II only involves hypomania. Around 2% of people develop bipolar disorder at some time in their life and it can occur at any age although it usually presents between the ages of 18 and 30. Men and women are equally affected. The average length of a manic episode is four months, and six months for the depressive phase. It’s impossible to predict how long each manic depressive cycle will last, and the average number of episodes you may experience in your life if you have bipolar disorder is ten. Three quarters of people who have an episode of bipolar disorder have another one within four years.

Panic attacks are sudden extreme episodes of anxiety that can happen out of the blue with no clear trigger. They are common, with around 1 in 10 people experiencing them during their life. During a panic attack, your body has gone into "fight or flight" mode, where adrenaline is released into your bloodstream. This causes physical changes where your heart starts racing, and you're breathing fast (hyperventilating).

Parkinson's disease is a complex nerve disorder that affects movement. Approximately 1% of the population over 60 years has the condition. Symptoms start slowly, usually in those over 50 years old, and progress over time. It affects both men and women but is very slightly more common in men. The main symptoms are tremors, stiffness, and slowed movement, which can significantly affect their day-to-day activities. There is no cure for Parkinson's disease, but medication can be used to improve symptoms, and most people respond well to it.

As a parent, it can be a tough job to work out whether your child has an anxiety disorder or they’re just dealing with the challenges of growing up. Pediatricians face this dilemma daily in their clinics. They try to decide the difference between a healthy state of anxiety and an unhealthy one and where parents should go next.

Anxiety is when someone feels under threat or stress. It is a natural response that has helped with the survival of humans across the ages, but in today’s world it becomes a problem if it stops us from living our everyday life to the full and we can’t get things done. We all get anxious from time to time – such as before a job interview or an important meeting - and this is normal, but some people find that anxiety is constant and affects their everyday life. Anxiety can cause symptoms of feeling worried, tense or panicky and physical symptoms can develop, such as a feeling of the heart beating hard or fast, sweating, shaking, dry mouth, feeling sick, breathing fast and heaviness in the chest. These occur in response to your body releasing adrenaline when it feels under threat. Everyone will experience this feeling at points in their life, but anxiety can also be problematic at times. If anxiety occurs without a reason, if it persists after the threat or stress is over, if the level of anxiety is out of proportion to the threat, or if it affects your day-to-day life, this might be reason to seek help. Anxiety disorder is an ‘umbrella’ term for many related conditions. People are affected with anxiety in many different ways but some of the more well-known or common anxiety disorder conditions include: generalized anxiety disorder, which is near-constant anxiety about lots of different things in life panic disorder, where regular panic attacks occur without a specific reason social anxiety disorder, which is severe anxiety around social situations or the thought of social situations post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), where severe anxiety occurs after a traumatic event obsessive compulsive disorder, known as OCD, where severe anxiety causes repetitive thoughts or actions phobias, which is severe anxiety around a specific thing or situation