25 Sep 2025

Parenting: Teenagers, anxiety & perfectionism

From Nine To Noon, 11:25 am on 25 September 2025
89247445 - teenage girl victim of bullying reading text message

Photo: tommaso79/123RF

Clinical psychologist Polly Schaverien talks with Kathryn about helping teenagers with anxiety and unhealthy perfectionism.

She says adolescence is a time of exponential growth and development, and the "job" of the teen is to establish their identity, develop socially and learn emotional regulation.

She says parents play a big role - and the first thing they need to do is check their own perfectionism.

In other words, are you getting joy out of your children's achievements?

Or are you deriving your own self-esteem from seeing your children achieve?