Our daughter has suffered with social anxiety since lockdown and thankfully much improved due to an excellent private psychologist who said she had low self esteem (some bullying issues and serious acne) and social anxiety. Things improved greatly but she still finds social events really stressful and becomes anxious. Even school can be challenging at times but she always goes and has friends to hang out with. She is an excellent student and thankfully is able to answer questions in class and even loves debating.
I notice this morning she wouldn’t/couldn’t get out of the car at the bus stop until there were no people coming past and she was really anxious about a recent trip so it is causing her issues even though she says she’s ok. Although she has friends she definitely doesn’t feel secure in the group (they are nice kids).
I know I suffered myself as a teenager but don’t think there was the awareness of these things at the time so I was labelled as quiet and shy. I don’t even think my parents were concerned. My anxiety was overcome by my strong minded decision to ‘get out there‘ and I had a great time in my later teenage years. I put on a mask and pretended to be confident even though I was shaking inside. But it worked!
how have your teens overcome their social anxiety?
she already has hobbies and interests and we try and do lots of family things together.