Pre Teen Stress

Girls as young as 10 years old are feeling the pressure to grow up too fast, says a revealing new report from Girlguiding UK entitled 'A Generation Under Stress'.

According to the report, which is based on the results of an online survey of girl guides aged between 10 and 14 and published in partnership with the Mental Health Foundation, today's female pre- and young teens are far from carefree. Family and friendship breakdown, anxiety, exam stress and bullying were all cited as things young girls worry about, with more recent pressures such as premature sexualisation, alcohol misuse, wearing make-up and losing weight making their lives even more stressful.

Two fifths of the girls surveyed said they knew someone who had panic attacks, while a third said they had a friend with an eating disorder.

There are various treatments and therapies which can help ease tension and relieve stress, such as cognitive behavioural therapy, autogenics, stress management, reflexology, and breathing therapy. It’s a question of finding a treatment or therapy that suits you.

Eating Disorders Becoming More Common

"Social pressures tend to make young teenagers feel dissatisfied with themselves," says says Dr Peter Rowan, consultant psychiatrist at Cygnet Hospital Ealing's Eating Disorders Unit. "A failure to not have a boyfriend. A failure to not want a sexual relationship. A failure to not have the perfect body of a 19-year-old.

"It is easier to lose self esteem and self worth than to grow it. The place it comes from most seems to be relationships with one's own age group, so bullying and failure in these relationships are often important. Family breakdown also means that there is less security and and a lack of an emotional safety net when things go wrong – as they are sure to do sometimes.

"Eating disorders are more common when youngsters are struggling emotionally, so they are getting common in our society and it is alarming."

Cygnet Hospitals have a range of services for young people, including the Eating Disorders Unit in Ealing, which offers treatment options for patients aged 16 and over with eating disorders and the Young Person's unit at Cygnet Hospital Godden Green, for young people aged between 12-18 years who have acute mental health problems.

Their teams include specialist consultant psychotherapists and medical teams, experienced nursing teams, psychodynamic family, occupational, art and complementary therapists, dietitians and psychologists.