Episode 68 | Teenage Anxiety: Supporting Caregivers with Sophia Vale Galano, LCSW

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  Are today’s teens truly more anxious — or are we simply seeing anxiety more clearly?

In this episode, we unpack the narrative of “the anxious generation” and explore what current research actually shows about adolescent anxiety. We discuss adolescent brain development and expected shifts in mood, sleep, and emotional intensity, and how to distinguish developmentally expectable distress from clinically impairing anxiety.

We also explore how contextual factors — COVID-19 disruption, social media and parasocial relationships, and expanded access to telehealth — shape our understanding of youth anxiety reporting without assuming pathology.

Finally, we delve into a critical relational factor: how caregiver anxiety and over-accommodation can unintentionally reinforce avoidance — and what differentiation looks like in practice when supporting teens.

Joining me is Sophia Vale Guarino, LCSW, author of Calming Teenage Anxiety — a practical guide for caregivers who want to support teens with clarity and steadiness.

Get her book here: https://a.co/d/005IWBFj