Board-Certified Clinical
Psychotherapist Serving
Unique and Absolutely
Worthy, Diverse Individuals
Therapy for Teenagers and Young Adults
Today’s teenagers and young adults face social, academic, and identity formation dynamics that are quite different from what their parents experienced just a generation or two ago. Constant digital connectivity with less frequent personal interaction creates a complex environment that many teens and their parents feel ill-equipped to navigate. As a teenager therapist in Pennsylvania, I have supported teens through the challenges of adolescence and young adulthood for over 28 years. Through telehealth, I am now able to support folks throughout the state of Pennsylvania.
Through therapy, teens and young adults will learn to safely navigate feelings of anxiety, depression, fear, helplessness, and self-doubt while pursuing empowerment and change. My approach is client-centered and collaborative, ensuring clients feel heard and understood as we develop a goal-oriented plan to achieve your desired change.
Teenage girls and young women may notice how stress often manifests as anxiety. Pressures may be social, academic, familial, or professional, and are usually a compilation of many factors. Teens also have to navigate the physical and hormonal changes of adolescence while their social environments are often filled with drama, chaos, and externally set expectations. These challenges and pressures come from many areas of a teenage girl’s life:
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Bullying or exclusion: being “pushed out” of friend groups, becoming the subject of gossip, experiencing social media harassment
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Identity: feeling different, not fitting in, not knowing how to deal with change
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Academic and future planning: feeling pressure to perform at a high academic level, pressure to identify college and career options
In young women, these challenges can create emotional dysregulation. Teen girls and their parents may find it difficult to determine what is really going on or know how to manage it.
What parents often notice is moodiness, increased conflict, sadness and isolation. Teen girls may struggle with sleep, delve into negative and critical self-talk and lose themselves in overthinking. They might find themselves living in the drama, analyzing every word and action to try and find meaning. They often struggle with insecurity and find it hard. In their minds, there is no safe outlet.
Hidden Anxiety in Teenage Boys
Teen boys tend to internalize their feelings of anxiety, insecurity, and depression in ways that may be less visible to parents. Rather than expressing a range of emotions to give evidence of their challenges, boys may shut down emotionally or appear apathetic. Teen boys face the same social, academic, and professional pressures that girls do, and their physical and hormonal development through adolescence is no less challenging.
Boys experience bullying, social isolation, challenges to identity formation, and pressures to follow the “right” path to a successful career. In teen boys and young men, feelings may show up as problems with functioning; they may seem distracted, lazy, or apathetic in the face of overwhelming pressure and stress.
Teenage boys may:
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Spend less time on schoolwork and suffer academically
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Are routinely late for school, school, work, and other commitments
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Escape through video games or media scrolling
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May overeat, bite their nails, neglect hygiene, self-medicate through addiction to gaming or substances.
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Internalize or suppress emotional pain.
It may be difficult to recognize these behaviors as evidence of anxiety or depression. As a therapist, I work with teenage boys whose loved ones often misinterpret their symptoms. In fact, boys often misinterpret their own feelings. They may hide behind laziness or apathy to camouflage emotional distress. Their thoughts remain untapped and they can default to isolation.
Therapy for Anxious Teens in Pennsylvania
Teenagers do not need to suffer with anxiety or other distressing feelings alone. Through therapy, teens feel safe to explore their feelings without judgment. This allows them to develop improved emotional awareness and make connections between feelings and behaviors; this serves as a foundation for building new skills and achieving positive change.
For teenagers, learning to clarify and communicate about their internal thoughts and emotions is often transformative. Therapy offers a reliable, safe and comfortable opportunity for teens to explore social and academic pressures with which they struggle. With support from a non-judgmental partner who genuinely cares and collaborates to identify strengths and overcome challenges, teens make positive, lasting changes that support their mental and emotional wellbeing.
As a therapist, I offer young men and women the language and tools to better manage their internal and external worlds. This leads to developing skills that impact every area of life, such as:
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Setting boundaries for healthier relationships
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Navigating academic strengths and strategies
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Building healthy coping skills
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Exploring future plans practically and realistically
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Gaining self-reliance and independence
Therapy is not about fixing a broken teenager. It is about developing tools, learning new perspectives, setting goals, and managing challenges from a healthy mindset. It teaches how to establish and maintain a positive sense of self.
My therapeutic approach for teens draws from evidence-based modalities including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Gestalt therapy and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), a researched, effective treatment for trauma. Each teen receives a highly personalized therapeutic experience that is tailored to their specific personality, needs, and goals.
EMDR for Teenagers
EMDR has proven to be remarkably effective for teenagers dealing with trauma, bullying, depression, and anxiety. This approach to therapy helps teens process difficult experiences and reduces the intensity of painful emotions. EMDR often elicits results and relief in a shorter time than traditional talk therapy,
and helps people of all ages heal emotional pain so that they can move forward in life with confidence and fortitude.
Starting Teenager Therapy in Bucks County
As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), I have over 28 years of experience working with teens and adults who are ready for change. Free consultations are available to help you decide if my approach feels like the right fit. If so, we will work together at a comfortable pace to address challenges and move towards achieving the goals you want to make into reality.
I work with teenage clients in Pennsylvania through telehealth, easy to reach from anywhere in the state. Please text 917.605.1006, or call to set up an initial consultation. You can also email me at lynne@lynnemoser.com. I am an out-of-network provider, but insurance reimbursement may be available based on your plan.
Or give her a call/text: 917.605.1006
Monday - Friday, 10am - 5 pm
Hours:
