teen dd and anxiety - pls help

[reachforthestarseveryday]

A couple of nights ago dd (15) had a nightmare. She hasn't been able to get the nightmare out of her mind and has spent the two evenings since crying hysterically about it. She has been able to go to school.

She has 'glass half empty' tendencies and has been anxious about various things over the years. But this is worse than I've seen her. I had to sleep in her room with her last night.

We have various things she does/she can try when she's feeling anxius but she's very negative about them, saying that nothing will work and she's always going to feel like this.

I have two questions:

What resources are there out there for anxious teens?

What would you do with your dd if she was acting like this? She's being so unreasonable and is focusing all her energies on this nightmare - which could never ever come true - rather than thinking about all the REAL things that could be happening. She has so many things to be happy and grateful about, and she chooses to focus on this...

I'd like to sort this now as I really don't want her becoming an anxious adult.

It could be a premonition? Don’t brush it off but maybe discuss how the situation could be best handled if it did occur.

It's a ghost/horror movie-related thing. Not a thing that could be real. That's why I'm having trouble understanding why she's so upset by it.

Hi Op,

Sorry to hear your daughter is struggling. I did in my teens too, she is very lucky to have you supporting her. Have you look at ‘Mind’ online, there are some great mental health resources on there. It may also be worth speaking to your GP to see if there are any ‘talking therapies’ which may help.
Hope this helps

That was my next idea for tomorrow. Thank you.

sometimes being overly anxious about something relatively inconsequential/obsessing over it, is a way of avoiding thinking about what is REALLY creating problems for a person.

I would speak to your GPS about a referral to Camhs

GP obviously! !! Phone hates me

Thanks. I don't think she's severe enough for CAMHS - they have fairly high threshods for accessing services, @whywontthey

She's not worrying about anything else, @dangermouse.

I spoke to someone at The Mix - www.themix.org.uk/ - and got good advice and people to contact. I'd recommend them for other parents in the same situation.

DD is much better this week. Thank you for your help.