Effective Treatments for Teens with Social Anxiety Disorder

By Christine Cadena

Teenagers experience a unique set of emotional health complications, often attributed to hormonal fluctuations. For teens that develop anxiety early in childhood, there is often a risk for developing social anxiety disorders in adolescence - a condition that requires effective treatment using a collaborative approach into adulthood.

Collaborative approaches to treating mental health disorders often encompass the use of medications, therapy, and alternative medicine in a supportive role. For teens that have social anxiety, medications will be necessary as a first line of treatment as they work to minimize the physical symptoms of anxiety. Once medications are used, and symptoms of anxiety are controlled, then other forms of treatment can work to resolve underlying causes of anxiety.

For most teens, treating social anxiety disorder will require exposure therapy as well as cognitive-behavioral therapy. Because your teen will need to be "exposed" in some social situations, and the techniques of these therapies tested, it is not uncommon for additional anxiety to develop. As a parent, it is important to support the treatment nonetheless.

Beyond medications and therapy, teens may also benefit from support groups, the use of acupuncture, hypnosis, and even aromatherapy. Before considering these effective treatments for your teen, be sure to follow up on traditional care and then use these as supportive treatment. Keep in mind, most teenagers need customized care and can not seek out treatment that is not customized as what works for one teen may not work for another. When treating social anxiety, it is important to also keep a close eye on the use of social networking as this can often make the treatment ineffective if your teen is anxious when interacting with peers online.

Social anxiety in adults is often related to a condition of childhood and can adversely impact an adult in many ways. To reduce the risk for adult complications with social anxiety, always work to effectively treat the condition, in adolescence, using these effective remedies.