If you experience anxiety, you might be feeling anxious about going to teenage rehab. You may not know what to expect or what you’re going to go through. This article is meant to ease your mind a little by sharing a clear description of anxiety rehab. Plus, it will include ways that you can facilitate your own healing while you’re there.
Because there are many teens and adults who have experienced anxiety, there is a typical way that anxiety is treated. But first, you should know that there are levels of anxiety treatment depending on the severity of your symptoms. If you, your family, and your doctor are considering teen anxiety rehab, then you will likely participate in one of five levels of treatment:
- Early Intervention Services – You may only need to receive educational, preventative, and brief intervention services.
- Outpatient Treatment – Depending on your needs, you may only need to participate in 6 hours or less for a period of time.
- Intensive Outpatient Treatment – You might receive services by attending a treatment center during the day while living at home.
- Residential or Inpatient Treatment – You might live on site at a treatment centers where you receive treatment services for a period of time depending on your needs.
- Medically Managed Intensive Inpatient Treatment – If you have physical, emotional, and psychological concerns that are so severe that they require 24-hour primary medical care for a period of time, then this is the type of experience you may need.
In addition to the type of treatment facility you’re at and depending on the severity of your anxiety, the teen anxiety rehab you attend might treat you with medication and with psychotherapy. A common form of psychotherapy used to treat anxiety is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). CBT identifies negative and distorted thinking patterns. This successful form of therapy emphasizes the link between thoughts, feelings, and behavior, and more importantly, it attempts to identify the way that certain thoughts contribute to the experiences of anxiety and other problems in your life.
Psychotherapy can be useful because it can provide you with coping tools to use when your anxiety gets challenging. For instance, instead of reaching for marijuana or a drink when feeling nervous or anxious, you might instead take a moment to recognize your feelings and not let it get the best of you. In the same way, instead of jumping into a car with friends who have been drinking because of feeling disappointed, for example, you might stop for a moment and rethink your decision. In an extreme example, if you were feeling depressed and you were about to take your life, you might call for help instead.
You can see that teenage anxiety rehab can be an experience of learning and healing. In fact, if you wanted to facilitate your healing, you may want to try the following:
Stay closely connected to others who are also in recovery. Of course, you will meet others throughout your teenage anxiety rehab experience, and it will be important to let those friendships support you. Even after anxiety rehab, you can also stay in touch with other recovering teens by making an effort to call them periodically. It is important to stay in the company of those who share the same life goals, who want to stay healthy and who have a positive vision for their lives. Having friendships and peers around you is a reminder that you’re not going through anxiety rehab alone and that you have support.
Other ways to facilitate your anxiety rehab experience is to eat three meals a day. Eating well can keep your body properly nourished, and that alone can facilitate making better decisions. In that way, healthy eating can facilitate mental health. Another suggestion is to exercise at least three times per week. Physical activity can release endorphins, which alone help to boost positive feelings. However, exercise can also help with long-term mental health, including making new connections in the brain, which alone can facilitate enduring sober living and long-term change. Lastly, get good sleep. Stress usually inhibits a regular sleep schedule; however, having a regular sleep schedule can help build resilience to that stress.
If you’re headed to anxiety rehab, let it be an experience that changes your life. Don’t resist this opportunity, facilitate your health and well being by participating in it.
