According to the National Institute of Health, roughly one in three adolescents (ages 13 to 18) will experience an anxiety disorder. The statistics appear similar for depression. And these numbers are steadily rising.

However, Eva Carlston Academy explains that it’s well documented that helping teenagers get involved with sports, arts, and even volunteering can significantly improve their mental health, particularly if they’ve experienced childhood trauma. In fact, these activities form part of various holistic approaches and therapy programs.

Understanding how each activity enhances a teen’s mental health and well-being is the key to encouraging parents, caregivers, and teachers to help the teenagers in their lives get involved.

Sports As Part of a Holistic Healing and Therapy Program

Any sport, but particularly team sports, has a positive impact on teens’ mental health. Naturally, most people think about the physical benefits, but the psychological advantages, like those listed below, are just as prevalent:

Learning Emotional Control

Teenagers going through difficult times can have trouble expressing themselves in healthy ways or controlling their emotions. Sometimes, this can lead to behavioral problems or internalized stress reactions like depression, anger, and anxiety.

Involvement in team sports can offer an outlet for negative emotions and reduce the likelihood of acting out their feelings in less helpful ways. Plus, coaches teach how to lose and win with grace, further enhancing the reduction of otherwise explosive outbursts.

Developing Healthy Relationships

Teens who have been through childhood trauma often have inhibited oxytocin (a hormone that plays a major role in relationship development) production. But a study conducted by Dr. Gert-Jan Pepping at the University of Groningen indicates that involvement in sports can help boost oxytocin levels.

Celebrating sport-related wins provide a rush of oxytocin, strengthening the bonds between players and helping their performance. Ultimately, that leads to teenagers forming better, healthier connections in other areas of their lives too.

Getting Teens Involved with The Arts for Healing

Humans have used art to communicate and express themselves for years. Thus, art therapy has become a valuable therapeutic tool for diagnosing and treating a range of mental health conditions in adolescents and adults.

Art, regardless of its form, helps teenagers to:

• explore and share emotions
• manage stress
• uncover different parts of their personalities and identities
• work through problems
• strengthen their inner-self
• boost self-esteem
• discover healthier coping mechanisms and skills

Art therapists utilize psychotherapy and artistic principles to guide the practice, helping teenagers overcome difficulties and develop interpersonal skills, confidence, and frustration tolerance.

Volunteering: Helping the Community for Personal Mental and Emotional Healing

There’s observational evidence linking volunteering with improved mental health in teenagers. Various studies suggest that getting involved with charities and other volunteer groups as part of a comprehensive approach to treating a range of affective disorders is highly effective for adolescents.

Volunteering allows teens to interrupt their internal negative thoughts by developing positive self-regard and establishing self-efficacy. Plus, it can enable them to form improved connections to and perceptions of those around them.