Transcript Building Resilience in Teens

Stress Management
and Resilience
This too shall pass
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Fulton Psychological Group
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Individual Therapy
Group Therapy
Parent Training
Family Therapy
Couples Therapy
Psychological Testing
Psychiatry
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Fulton
Psychological Group
What is Stress
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A physical response to a perceived threat
Involves fight or flight response
Necessary to keep safe from danger
Helps you stay motivated, energetic and focused
Is natural and inevitable
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Hebbian Yerkes Dodson Law
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Positive, Tolerable and Toxic
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Positive Stress
Short lived & motivating (new school, break up)
 Teaches how to cope with stress
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Tolerable Stress
Still relatively short lived (divorce, death, accident)
 Significant, but able to be overcome
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Toxic Stress
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Intense adverse experiences over long time
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Top Stressors
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School work
Conflicts with family
Problems with friends
Romantic relationship
Problems at school
Drugs and bad
neighborhoods
Crammed schedules
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Emotional/Behavioral
Signs of Stress Reaction
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Restlessness, nervousness
Irritability, crying spells
Sadness, withdrawal or emotional numbing
Forgetful, confused, time management issues
Increased drug and alcohol use
Inaction, can’t make decisions
Rumination, intrusive thoughts, OCD
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Physical Signs of Stress Reaction
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Physical tension in muscles
Chest pains, headaches and back pain
Rapid heart rate, increase blood pressure
Stomach problems
Change in appetite
Lack of sleep
Acne
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Facts about Teen Stress
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Teenagers experience stress as more stressful
Interferes with decision making (frontal cortex)
Stress can lead to more risky decisions
Releases extra hormones
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adrenaline, cortisol
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Long Term Effects of Stress
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Psychiatric problems: depression, PTSD, anxiety
Drug and alcohol abuse
Health problems: obesity, compromised
immune system, high cholesterol
Can lead to changes in brain development
Smaller brain, damage to hippocampus (memory)
 Leads to over-reactive brain
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Characteristics of a Child who is
Vulnerable to Stressors
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Anxious
Takes things personal
Negative or unrealistic
Reactive, angry
Black & white thinker
Procrastinator
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Ways to Manage Stress Reactions
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Modify lifestyle
Change perspective
Learn emotional regulation and recovery skills
Learn problem solving
Reach out for support
Create healthy habits
Conflict resolution and communication skills
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Start with Yourself
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Are you too involved and stressing about
something that has nothing to do with you?
Are you guessing or imagining what others are
saying or thinking?
Are you being too hard on yourself?
Are you trying to control people or situations
you have no control over?
Are you letting other’s stress increase your own?
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Modifying Lifestyle
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Set boundaries with others
Reduce stressful activities, classes
Slow down life
Make time for self
Remove people from your life that create stress
Be proactive and don’t be passive
Take care of a pet
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Changing Perspective
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Internal locus of control
Feelings come from perceptions
Putting things in perspective
This too shall pass
Increase perceptual flexibility
Create reasonable expectations
Have honest appraisal of self
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Self-Regulation
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Ability to monitor and
control emotions (tension)
Includes two components:
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Cognitive (self-reassuring)
Physiological (adrenalin,
cortisol)
Calm down before doing
anything else
Social referencing
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Recovery Skills
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Ability to bounce back
Avoid shame
Reflect on what happened
Take responsibility but avoid internalizing
Consider alternatives for future action
Learn from mistakes
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Teaching Problem Solving
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Don’t fix it and don’t get mad
Ask before offering suggestions
Role model and “think aloud” about problem
solving and preparation
Ask your child how he would handle situations
outside himself (e.g. in a movie, a friend’s, your
own)
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Social Support System
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Make sure you work on having a positive
relationship with your child
Make sure your child can go to you for help
Teach your child how to reach out
Make sure your child has good peer
relationships
Make sure your child has good relationships
with adults
Get child involved with group activities
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Conflict Resolution
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Problem solving (empathize-identify problemidentify viable solutions-come up with solution)
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Teach Communication Skills
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Active listen, respond to both content and emotions
Respond to both manifest and latent content
Give feedback
Help establish feelings vocabulary
Do the “try that again” method
Model good communication
Work on timing
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Healthy Habits
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Take care of body through
exercise, nutrition and sleep
Reduce energy drinks
Keep a balance in life
between work and fun
Visualize hopeful outlook
Learn and practice
relaxation skills
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Other Strategies
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Cognitive: prioritize, make lists, put into
perspective, problem solve
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Physical: exercise, sleep, meditation, massage,
relaxation, nutrition
Emotional: express, journal, distract self
Relational: share with friends, socialize
Spiritual: pray, attend services, be in nature
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Resilience
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Adapting well in the face of adversity
and stress
Bouncing back
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Resilience Factors
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Personal Factors:
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Family Environment:
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Easy temperament: outgoing, flexible
High self-esteem
Mastery approach: success due to ability and failure due to
self (made a mistake, didn’t prepare) or environment
Warmth, closeness and structure
Close relationship with someone outside the family
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Offers support system and positive coping model (mentor)
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Characteristics of a Resilient Child
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Maintains a hopeful outlook (has faith)
Able to accept circumstances that cannot change
Develops realistic goals and works toward them
Takes responsibility and learns from mistakes
Keeps a long term and broader perspective
Manages strong feelings
Problem solver
Self confident
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Threats to Resilience
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Trauma
Abuse
Divorce
Disability
Loss of a loved
Chronic stress
Too much change
Lack of a support system
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How Parents can Improve
Resilience
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Be empathetic (we want to feel understood)
Have reasonable expectations
Teach the model of success
Give more decision making as child matures
Be communicative (think aloud)
Don’t react negatively to negative emotions
Give more responsibility to your child
Model healthy lifestyle
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