If your final year has you lying awake every night, running through deadlines and worrying about what happens next, you’re not the only one.
It might seem like everyone around you has it together, but most people your age are dealing with the same thing right now. Senior year anxiety is something almost everyone feels at this point, even the people who hide it well. The good news is that there are things you can learn and do to help lighten the weight of senior year.
This page covers:
The worry you experience as a high school senior is often different from the worry and stress you felt in junior year. Although the workload is definitely a part of it, senior year also brings the uncomfortable feeling that one stage of your life is coming to a close and a new, uncertain one is about to begin.
Some parts of getting ready for that major high school transition can start to feel overwhelming, and they’re not always easy to spot when you’re in the thick of it.
Filling out college applications is a normal part of senior year, but it can also be a high-pressure, anxiety-causing experience. There’s a lot of work that goes into putting an application together. It needs to show off all the hard work you’ve been doing in high school.
Then, once you submit it, there’s the waiting, and that can be even harder than the work of putting the application together in the first place.
Waiting on a decision that could form the next few years of your life, if not your whole life, is one of the most anxious experiences you ever have. It may be the first time you’ve even felt this level of anxiety, and that can be a lot to cope with.
Whether you’re heading to college straight after graduation, searching for a job, or perhaps taking a gap year to figure out your next move, you may be a little uncertain right now about what comes next.
While this future uncertainty is perfectly natural, it’s still difficult to stop the racing thoughts about what’s next to come.
Feelings of loneliness are common during this stage. Senior year is a time when you will part ways with friends, but you’ll also leave behind small things, like the same cafeteria you ate at every day and the daily route you took to school every morning.
It’s something you don’t really think about until the time comes, so if you’ve been feeling anxious recently, try to remember that it’s a natural part of a life transition.
Research on school transitions has found that these changes can affect a young person’s mental health.[1]
On top of all the anxiety, the worry, the uncertainty, and maybe even the loneliness, there’s the actual schoolwork itself. It’s still in full force and just as high-stakes as ever. You might be a little more used to the intensity of it by now, perhaps more than you were in junior year, but the academic stress and school pressure are no less than they’ve ever been.
When anxiety, worry, uncertainty, loneliness, and schoolwork all start piling up, it can feel very overwhelming.
Senior year is a difficult stretch, and there will be moments that test your resilience. But feeling that way doesn’t mean your only option is to wait for it all to pass. There are strategies you can learn now that make this period and similar moments later on in life easier to manage.
A large part of what happens during senior year is out of your hands. You don’t get a say in things like admissions decisions or exactly how the future turns out. So instead of dwelling on these uncontrollable parts of senior year, put your energy into the areas that you can control.
Studies on anxiety support this idea, with researchers finding that the more control someone felt, the less anxious they were.[2]
For example, you’re in charge of what you put in your college applications, so invest more of your time in making them the best they can be. You’re also in charge of taking care of yourself during this tough time, and things like exercise and maintaining a healthy diet are actions that you control.
There’s always a temptation to push down and ignore any negative feelings you might be experiencing during this time, especially when they get in the way of your schoolwork. For example, you might be in the middle of studying when graduation anxiety hits after a fleeting thought about the future.
This can make it too difficult to concentrate, so you learn to ignore these feelings and power through the task.
While it might be a temporary fix, research suggests that this backfires more than it helps. One study found that people who learn to accept their difficult emotions report much better mental health overall than those who ignore them.[3]
If you feel sad that this part of your life is coming to an end or you’re worried about what comes next, let yourself feel it. It’s healthier to feel something than to fight to suppress it.
When your head is always in next year, you miss the one you’re in right now. Practicing staying present is a key skill to learn during your senior year, and the research backs it up.
Studies have found that learning mindfulness reduces anxiety and stress, and it doesn’t take much to get started.[4] For example, if you learn to catch yourself when your mind spins off into the future, you can bring your focus back to the moment you’re in.
It might be difficult at first, especially when the thoughts feel so intense, but with practice, you’ll get better at handling them.
Teens who get the support they need from others are less likely to have anxiety symptoms. Speaking with others about how you’re feeling could be exactly the support you need to get through the challenges of senior year.
Parents, trusted adults, friends, and classmates can all offer a friendly ear and honest advice. A trusted adult could be a coach, a teacher you get along with, another family member, or anyone who makes you feel comfortable opening up.
School counselors can help too, as they see students go through exactly this every year, and they often know what support is available at your school.
Feeling emotional stress before a huge life change is completely normal, and most of the time, it settles down as life moves forward.[5] But in some situations, worry can contribute to teenage anxiety that may need extra attention.
It can be quite difficult to tell the difference between ordinary nerves and something more serious, so understanding the warning signs is useful.
If you’ve noticed one or more of the following signs in yourself, and they’ve been present for a while, it could mean you’d benefit from extra support:
Mission Prep is here to help you or your loved one take the next steps towards an improved mental well-being.
Extra support for anxiety usually means talking with a therapist or counselor who is trained to help you understand what you’re feeling and teach you tools that allow you to deal with it.
In most cases, it’s straightforward. You carry on with your normal life, attend school, see your friends, and go home every day, all while meeting with a therapist for regular outpatient sessions.
A first session with a therapist is usually just a conversation. They’ll likely ask what’s been going on and how you’ve been feeling, and you’re never expected to share more than you’re ready to talk about. They can then help you decide what level of support you need.
This isn’t something you have to arrange on your own, and a parent or trusted adult can help you find the right person to talk to. The level of care needed will depend on your individual circumstances.
While outpatient programs can be enough for many teens, some situations may need more intensive support such as residential care. Residential treatment allows adolescents to completely focus on their mental health in an environment with 24/7 clinical care.
Mission Prep provides treatment for teens experiencing various mental health conditions. Anxiety support is a phone call away – call 866-901-4047 to learn about your treatment options.
See our residences in Southern California’s Los Angeles & San Diego areas.
View our facilities in Loudoun County, VA within the DC metro area.
If you or your teen is struggling with mental health issues like senior year anxiety, support is available. At Mission Prep Teen Treatment, we use evidence-based therapeutic approaches and innovative interventions to foster sustainable change for adolescents and their families.
We offer a variety of personalized treatment programs. Whether your teen could benefit from residential treatment at one of our locations in California or Virginia, or something more flexible like an outpatient mental health program or virtual telehealth to treat their mental health concerns, our team can help.
Mission Prep Teen Treatment accepts insurance and is in-network with most major providers. We are happy to help you check your insurance coverage for mental health care.
Contact us online or call 866-901-4047 to speak with a caring member of our team who can answer any questions you might have. Reach out for a free, no-obligation conversation.
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