Anxiety can manifest in a number of ways for kids and teens. For younger kids, they may describe seeing monsters or strange creatures that aren’t there, or experience frequent mysterious tummy aches or headaches. They may be more attached to you than usual, become easily dysregulated when faced with challenges or new situations, or seem to have a lot of worries, as “what if” questions.

For older kids and teenagers, anxiety can start to move away from worries about the outside world, to worries about themselves and their relationship to others. They may describe having low self-esteem and thinking negative thoughts about themselves. They may worry about academic or athletic performance, or what their friends and peers think about them. In their bodies, they may describe a tightness in their chest or their throat that won’t go away.

Depression in children and teenagers

In both younger and older children and teens, depression can look like withdrawal from the people and activities they used to love, low energy, sadness, negative thoughts about themselves, such as “no one likes me,” or changes in behaviour (ex. increased/decreased sleep or appetite).