A teen may feel stressed before a big history exam, when he misses a goal at the championship soccer game or when he's about to go on his first date. Stress is normal response to feeling threatened, fear or danger, but when a teen experiences stress overload, it can lead to issues at school and at home, depression or an anxiety disorder.
Anxiety
When a teen experiences overwhelming stress, it turns from a normal stress response to anxiety. The difference between normal and overload occurs when the anxiety starts to affect a teen's ability to be successful at school and maintain healthy relationships. For instance, if someone feels stress because it's the first day of school, it might motivate her to get a new haircut, dress in her best outfit and read a couple of magazine articles about making friends. If the stress turns to anxiety, she might be too fearful to even introduce herself to her peers. It becomes debilitating, and she worries constantly.
Panic Attacks
According to Teens Health, panic attacks are a symptom of stress overload. A panic attack is characterized by feeling out of control, extreme fear and physical symptoms such as nausea, racing heart, trouble breathing and chest pain. Some teens report that they feel as if they might die when they have a panic attack.
Irritability
Moodiness and irritability are two of the main symptoms indicating that a teen is struggling with stress. When a teen is stressed out about an upcoming presentation that she has to give in class, she might argue more with her peers and parents. She might find herself feeling happy one minute and getting upset easily the next minute.
Issues Eating and Sleeping
Stressful situations can cause teens to have trouble sleeping. They might lie in bed for hours worrying before falling asleep or wake up in the middle of the night consumed with stress. Many teens who are stressed or anxious will have trouble eating. They might not have an appetite or find themselves eating everything in sight. This can lead to weight loss or weight gain.
Physical Symptoms
When a teen becomes stressed, he'll more than likely experience physical symptoms such as nausea, headaches, sweaty palms, trouble concentrating or chest pain. These physical symptoms can cause the teen to become even more anxious.
Risky Behaviors
Some teens who don't know how to cope with stress turn to drugs, alcohol and sex to deal with their emotions and problems. A teen might have her first drink after being dumped at a party, smoke marijuana to relax or have sex without thinking about the consequences.
Depression
Overwhelming stress can lead to depression. Teens suffering from depression are sad and moody, have trouble concentrating, feel fatigued, have issues eating and sleeping and feel hopeless and worthless. They also might have thoughts of suicide.
