Article by Madison Weber, MHC-LP
Adolescence is a critical period of growth and self-discovery, during which teenagers forge friendships and explore romantic relationships.
These connections play an essential role in shaping your identity and emotional well-being.
While it is so important for teens to have these relationships, they can also be incredibly challenging to navigate.
We know that teen friendships and relationships can be complex and sometimes fraught with emotion, leading these relationships to have a significant impact on your mental health.
Considering the profound influence that these relationships can have on a teen’s mental health, in both healthy and unhealthy ways, it may be important to explore how therapy can play a vital role in fostering healthy connections.
The Link Between Mental Health and Teen Relationships
As teens navigate adolescence, one important phase is the separation from their nuclear family, and fostering relationships with peers as their primary form of connection and relation.
Now, this might help parents and teens understand why it can feel so devastating when friendships are going through a rough patch, or your teen is experiencing challenges in their relationship.
On the flip side, these kinds of close relationships will be how you develop your sense of self and identity.
- Self-esteem and Self-worth
Teenagers often base their self-esteem on their social connections.
Positive friendships can boost self-esteem, while toxic relationships can lead to feelings of inadequacy and low self-worth.
Additionally, adolescents with pre-existing mental health challenges, such as depression or anxiety, may be especially more vulnerable to these negative effects. - Coping with Stress and Peer Pressure
Adolescents experience an array of stressors within their interpersonal relationship, and some unhealthy friendships could involve peer pressure.
As I mentioned, friendships and intimate relationships are so important to teens at this phase of life, and they often place a lot of value in these connections.
With that being said, imagine how hard it would be to resist peer pressure when you hold the people pressuring you at such a high value.
Therapy can be beneficial to help teens navigate peer pressure, as they will be provided a space to navigate their personal value system and start to develop their sense of self in a supportive and non-judgmental space.
If you are experiencing anxiety, depression, or other mental health issues, you may find it difficult to cope with these pressures, which can impact your friendships, as well as your overall well-being. - Emotional Regulation
With adolescence comes hormones flying, causing teens to experience a deep and wide range of emotions, possibly in very short periods of time.
This is a period in which emotional regulation may become critical.
However, this doesn’t always come naturally!
Teens may need to be taught emotion regulation skills, which is totally normal, and where therapy can really help.
When you have these skills, you are better equipped and more capable of handling conflicts, disagreements, and emotional ups and downs in friendships.
If you notice that you are experiencing mood swings and emotional turbulence that is affecting your relationships, it may be time to see how therapy can help you develop some skills to better navigate these ups and downs.
Honing your Skills to Improve Relationships and Mental Health
- Communication
Effective and healthy communication is at the core of any relationship, whether it is a friendship or a romantic relationship.
Unfortunately, these communication skills may need to be taught to teens, especially if they don’t have a model of healthy communication in the relationships around them.
Understanding your communication style and developing skills for healthy communication early on will not only benefit your relationships as a teenager, but throughout the rest of your life!
A lack of healthy communication could lead to misunderstandings, conflicts, and a breakdown in trust. - Boundaries
It can be incredibly hard for people to set boundaries, even adults.
Learning these skills and understanding your preferences and limits as a teenager can help promote positive and supportive friendships and relationships throughout your life.
Given how valuable these peer relationships are during adolescence, it can be incredibly difficult to set boundaries for teens.
Mental health challenges can also blur the lines of personal boundaries.
Teens with anxiety or depression may also become overly dependent on their friends or partners or, conversely, withdraw from their relationships altogether.
In order to advocate for yourself in relationships, it is crucial to understand your personal boundaries and have the tools to express them to friends and romantic partners. - Coping Mechanisms
All relationships, whether platonic or romantic, are bound to face some challenges.
It’s how these challenges are navigated that determine the strength of the relationship and your own personal abilities to persevere through empathy, understanding and tending to your emotional needs.
Unfortunately, teens don’t always have the coping skills to navigate these ups and downs without ending in a cycle of depression, anxiety, or other mental health challenges.
In these instances, if not addressed, teens may turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms, such as substance abuse or self-harm, which can harm both the individual and their relationships.
Through honing personalized coping mechanisms, you will be able to navigate these bumps along the way in healthier ways.
The Role of Therapy in Fostering Healthy Teen Friendships and Relationships
Therapy can be a powerful tool in helping teenagers build and maintain healthy friendships and romantic relationships.
- Improved self-awareness
Therapy provides a safe space for teens to explore their emotions and thought patterns.
This self-awareness helps them better understand their needs and how to communicate them in relationships. - Effective Communication Skills
Therapists can teach teens how to communicate assertively, express their feelings, and actively listen to their peers.
These skills are invaluable in maintaining strong, healthy relationships throughout your life, whether it’s with your parents,
teachers, or bosses and co-workers someday. - Coping Strategies
Therapy equips adolescents with positive coping strategies for dealing with stress, anxiety, and depression.
Working with a therapist can help you to hone these coping mechanisms to the specific kinds of challenges you’re facing, whether it’s techniques for calming down and relaxation in the face of an argument, healthier alternatives to substance use, or how to navigate your emotions when it feels like you are being swallowed up by them.
This can reduce the risk of mental health challenges impacting your relationships. - Relationship Education
Unfortunately, sometimes we find ourselves in relationships that seemed great at first, but then we notice a shift in the person, the dynamics, or how we are feeling when we are engaging in that relationship.
Therapists can provide relationship education, helping teens understand what healthy relationships look like, setting realistic expectations, and recognizing warning signs of unhealthy dynamics.
It can also provide a safe space for teens to discuss their relationships and explore their feelings within their specific partnerships and friendships.
Teen friendships and romantic relationships have a profound impact on adolescents’ mental health, and vice versa.
The interplay between mental well-being and relationships is complex, but with the right support, teenagers can develop the skills to navigate this period successfully.
Therapy plays a vital role in this process.
By investing in the mental health of teenagers and equipping them with the tools to build and sustain healthy relationships, we can ensure that they are better prepared to face the challenges of adolescence and emerge as emotionally resilient adults.
