Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: Anxiety disorders plague high numbers of adolescents throughout the world.This demographic seems particularly susceptible due to hormonal and social changes occurring in their lives (Kendall & Peterman, 2015).Through experimental and correlational studies, lifestyle changes (including exercise, diet, and sleep) have shown to be effective in reducing adolescent anxiety, while also acting as predictors of future anxiety susceptibility (Abdollahi & Talib, 2015;Asare & Danquah, 2015).While comparable in effectiveness to pharmaceutical approaches, changes in lifestyle cause no side effects.In considering long-term treatment of adolescent anxiety, it is suggested that lifestyle changes be the foundation of treatment plans to focus on causes and not simply symptoms.Lack of data regarding how often lifestyle changes are implemented in treatment plans presents a limitation in knowing how large of an issue this is.However, it is known that pharmaceuticals are commonly used with adolescents despite the lack of studies performed on that population regarding the lasting effects of medication (Voltas, Hernandez-Martinez, Arija, & Canals, 2017).When considering the side effects and uncertainty involved in the pharmaceutical treatment of adolescents for anxiety, lifestyle changes offer a safer, more long-term option that should be implemented before considering pharmaceutical interventions.
Author: Daniel Heckathorn
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2982501382