Anxiety in Young People
Updated: Sep 7
Understanding Anxiety: Recognising It and Finding Your Way Through
Anxiety is that unsettling feeling that disrupts your peace. It affects everyone, especially young people today. Unfortunately, it is one of the most misunderstood and frequently dismissed experiences that young individuals face.
How often have you heard a child express worry only to be told not to be silly? How many teenagers have shared feelings of being overwhelmed, only to be told they are overreacting? Many young people sit in classrooms right now, hearts racing and minds spiraling, holding it together on the outside while feeling like they are falling apart on the inside.
This article is for every young person who has ever felt this way. It is also for every parent, teacher, and caregiver who wants to understand what anxiety truly is, what it looks like in young people, and what can genuinely help.
What Anxiety Actually Is
Anxiety is not a sign of weakness or drama. It is not a character flaw, nor does it indicate that something is fundamentally wrong with the person experiencing it.
Anxiety is the body's natural alarm system. When we perceive a threat, whether real or imagined, our nervous system triggers a cascade of physical and psychological responses designed to help us survive. Our heart rate increases, breathing quickens, and muscles tense. In these moments, our thinking brain hands control over to the survival brain.
This response, known as fight, flight, or freeze, is incredibly useful when the threat is physical and immediate. However, it becomes problematic when it activates in response to a school presentation, a social situation, an exam, a family conflict, or simply the accumulated weight of everyday life.
For young people with anxiety disorders, this alarm system is chronically over-activated. It fires too frequently, too intensely, and in response to situations that do not warrant such a survival response. The result is exhausting, disorienting, and often deeply isolating.
How Common Is Anxiety in Young People?
The numbers are sobering.
The World Health Organization estimates that one in seven young people aged 10 to 19 experiences a mental health condition, with anxiety disorders being among the most prevalent. According to the American Psychological Association, anxiety is the most common reason young people seek mental health support.
Research by Merikangas et al. (2010) found that anxiety disorders affect approximately 31.9% of adolescents at some point in their lives. This makes them the most common category of mental health conditions in young people. Yet, fewer than 20% of those affected receive any form of treatment.
This is precisely why tools like bibliotherapy, alongside professional support wherever accessible, matter so deeply.
What Anxiety Looks Like in Young People
One reason anxiety is often missed in young people is that it does not always look the way adults expect. It does not always present as visible worry or tearfulness. In many young people, anxiety manifests as:
Headaches
Stomach aches
Nausea
Fatigue
Sleep disturbances
Withdrawal and social difficulties
Avoidance and refusal to attend school or social activities
Irritability and anger (particularly in teenage boys)
These signs are essential to recognize. Perfectionism and excessive worry about performance can also indicate anxiety, especially when a young person is disproportionately distressed about exams and assessments.
Additionally, young people may constantly ask questions, need repeated reassurance from parents or teachers, struggle to make decisions independently, and excessively worry about what might go wrong. These are common presentations of generalized anxiety disorder.
The Impact of Untreated Anxiety
When anxiety in young people goes unrecognized and unsupported, the consequences can be significant and long-lasting. Academic performance suffers, social development is affected, and physical health may deteriorate.
Untreated anxiety significantly increases the risk of developing depression, substance use disorders, and other mental health conditions in adolescence and adulthood. Kessler et al. (2005) found that anxiety disorders typically precede the onset of other mental health conditions, making early intervention critical.
What Actually Helps
The good news is that anxiety in young people is highly treatable, especially when identified early and responded to with compassion rather than dismissal.
Professional support is the most important first step for moderate to severe anxiety. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has the strongest evidence base for anxiety in young people. It is widely recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Young people with significant anxiety symptoms should be referred to a qualified mental health professional whenever possible.
Creating a safe environment at home and school is equally important. Research consistently shows that young people with strong, trusted relationships with at least one adult in their lives: whether a parent, teacher, or mentor demonstrate significantly better mental health outcomes. Simply being present, consistent, and non-judgmental is one of the most powerful things an adult can do for an anxious young person.
Practical coping tools, like the 4-2-6 breathing technique, can also be beneficial. Inhale for four counts, hold for two, and exhale for six. This technique activates the parasympathetic nervous system and can reduce acute anxiety symptoms within minutes. Grounding exercises, physical movement, and consistent sleep routines all have evidence-based support for anxiety management in young people.
Reducing avoidance is one of the most important yet counterintuitive interventions for anxiety. While avoiding anxiety-provoking situations provides immediate relief, it strengthens anxiety over time. Gradually and compassionately supporting young people to face rather than avoid the things they fear, with appropriate support, is central to most evidence-based anxiety treatments.
The Role of Bibliotherapy
Bibliotherapy, the therapeutic use of books to support emotional well-being, has a growing evidence base as an adjunct to professional support for anxiety in young people.
A study by Gregory et al. (2004) found that bibliotherapy produced significant reductions in anxiety and depressive symptoms, with effects comparable in some cases to face-to-face therapy, particularly for mild to moderate presentations.
Books help anxious young people in several specific ways. Reading about a character who experiences and manages anxiety reduces the shame and isolation that often accompany the condition. It normalizes the experience and demonstrates that anxiety, while painful, is survivable and manageable. The act of reading itself, when the material is engaging and well-matched to the reader's needs, is one of the most effective stress-reduction activities available. Research by Lewis (2009) at the University of Sussex found that reading can reduce cortisol levels by up to 68%.
At The Harbour Library, our Still Waters collection is specifically curated for young people with anxious minds. Titles include Guts by Raina Telgemeier, an honest graphic memoir about a child's experience of anxiety, Demian by Hermann Hesse, a searching novel about the internal world of a young person navigating fear and self-discovery, and Les Pensées by Blaise Pascal, a profound meditation on the anxious mind and the search for inner peace.
Our Steady Waters collection, our newest addition, was created specifically to support mental health and emotional regulation in young people navigating the particular challenges of contemporary life.
Every title is completely free at www.theharbourlibrary.com.
A Note to Young People Reading This
If you are a young person who recognized yourself in any part of this article, please hear this clearly.
What you are feeling is real. It is not weakness. It is not your fault, and you do not have to manage it alone.
Anxiety is one of the most common human experiences. Some of the most brilliant, creative, and courageous people who have ever lived have navigated it. The writers, artists, educators, and leaders whose books sit in The Harbour Library knew what it felt like to carry more than felt manageable. They wrote about it, through it, and beyond it.
You can too.
Talk to someone you trust. Reach out to a counselor or doctor, and in the meantime, come and find a book that understands you. We built this library for exactly this moment.
Books that heal, grow, and connect.
If You Need Immediate Support
If you or a young person in your care is experiencing severe anxiety or is in crisis, please contact a mental health professional or your local emergency services immediately. The International Association for Suicide Prevention maintains a global directory of crisis centers at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/.
-Olapeju Okungbowa, Founder of The Harbour Library
References
American Psychological Association. (2023). Anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. APA.
Gregory, R.J., Canning, S.S., Lee, T.W., & Wise, J.C. (2004). Cognitive bibliotherapy for depression: A meta-analysis. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 35(3), 275-280.
Kessler, R.C., Berglund, P., Demler, O., Jin, R., Merikangas, K.R., & Walters, E.E. (2005). Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the national comorbidity survey replication. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62(6), 593-602.
Lewis, D. (2009). Galaxy stress research. Mindlab International, University of Sussex.
Merikangas, K.R., He, J.P., Burstein, M., Swanson, S.A., Avenevoli, S., Cui, L., Benjet, C., Georgiades, K., & Swendsen, J. (2010). Lifetime prevalence of mental disorders in US adolescents: Results from the national comorbidity survey replication adolescent supplement. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 49(10), 980-989.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. (2019). Anxiety disorders: Quality standard. NICE.
Rapee, R.M., Lyneham, H.J., Schniering, C.A., Wuthrich, V., Abbott, M.A., Hudson, J.L., & Wignall, A. (2006). The Cool Kids child and adolescent anxiety program therapist manual. Centre for Emotional Health.
Vitasari, P., Wahab, M.N.A., Othman, A., Herawan, T., & Sinnadurai, S.K. (2010). The relationship between study anxiety and academic performance among engineering students. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 8, 490-497.
World Health Organization. (2022). World mental health report: Transforming mental health for all. WHO.
World Health Organization. (2021). Adolescent mental health. WHO Fact Sheet.
Comments