Managing Anxiety During a Vacation with DBT Skills
Whether you’re going to the beach, the mountains, or a cozy bed and breakfast, family vacations are thought to be a fun and relaxing time. However, for some teens, it can cause anxious feelings instead of enjoyment.
What Causes Anxiety during a Vacation?
Anxiety is a feeling of unease over unknown outcomes. It can give them a nervous feeling, a rapid heart beat, shortness of breath, stomach issues, and a feeling of dismay or dread. These symptoms are basically a defense process for the body during a real threat situation, but if they become more frequent or severe, they can affect a teen’s ability to relax and enjoy themselves on a trip with the family.
There are many elements of going on a vacation that could trigger anxiety in a teen, such as:
Going to an unfamiliar location
Spending time around strangers or too many people
Concerns about eating too much food or too little food
Being around too much noise or too much stimulation
DBT Skills for Anxiety during a Vacation
Although anxiety can be scary in the moment, dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) offers skills that your teen can use to cope during a crisis. Consider talking with your teen about how they can use these skills during a vacation with the family:
Mindfulness : Mindfulness is about being aware of and accepting what’s happening in the present moment. Encourage your teen to take time to breathe and notice their new surroundings without judgment, like the waves on the beach or the flavor of new cuisine.
Distress Tolerance : Distress tolerance skills help a person to get through rough patches without turning to potentially destructive coping techniques. Make a plan with your teen in advance of ways they can cope with distress in the moment in a healthy way.
Interpersonal Effectiveness : Interpersonal effectiveness skills can help a person to be clear of rapid mood changes. Let your teen know that it’s okay for them to communicate things like, “This shopping center is so noisy. I need a break,” or “I’m tired, and my feet hurt. Can we spend some time back at the hotel so I can recuperate?”
Emotional Regulation : Emotion regulation skills help a person learn to deal with primary emotional reactions before they lead to a chain of distressing secondary reactions. Talk to your teen about the emotion they’re feeling and help them get to the root cause so they can regulate the proper emotion.
Summer is a time when teens are out of school and can have the opportunity to enjoy a vacation with their family. For a teen trying to manage their emotions, coming up with small behavioral steps to begin to approach the trip will begin to break the incapacitating hold of anxiety.
