Halloween Anxiety: Preparing High School and College Students for Holiday Social Interactions
For many teens and young adults, Halloween is about more than candy or costumes. It’s a night full of social expectations - it’s parties, group costumes, meeting new people, loud environments, unstructured plans. For students already managing social anxiety, this can feel overwhelming, scary or even isolating.
At Compassionate Counseling St. Louis, we specialize in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) - a research-based, highly effective approach for treating anxiety. We work with high school and college students to help them develop the confidence and coping tools they need to move through challenges in life, including Halloween.
Let’s explore why Halloween can feel so difficult and what they (and you, as parents or supporters) can do to prep for the holiday.
Image Credit: Unsplash John Hayler @johnfold
Why Halloween Feels Extra-Intense for Anxious Students
Social anxiety is not just shyness. It’s a persistent fear of being judged, embarrassed, or rejected in social situations. Halloween often turns up the volume on all those fears:
Unpredictable Social Dynamics: Parties may involve people they don’t know well or old friends they feel distant from. Social pressure to "have plans" can increase feelings of being left out, loneliness or feelings of being not good enough.
Costume Pressure: Choosing a costume can bring up fears of being "too much" or "not enough," standing out in the wrong way, or being judged for their choices.
Sensory Overload: Crowded rooms, flashing lights, and loud music can quickly become too much for students who are already hyper-aware of their surroundings.
FOMO & Social Comparison: Watching others post highlight reels of happy Halloween photos on social media can lead to painful self-doubt and shame.
If this sounds familiar for your teen or young adult, there are ways to help.
How CBT Helps: Tools for Managing Social Anxiety on Halloween
Our St. Louis therapist team at Compassionate Counseling St. Louis specializes in using CBT to help teens and college students struggling with anxiety. CBT helps students understand the link between their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. CBT offers practical tools to challenge anxiety, instead of avoiding it. Here’s how we help students prepare:
1. Name the Thought, Not Just the Feeling
Before heading into Halloween weekend, we help students identify the anxious thoughts fueling their discomfort. Common ones include:
“Everyone will think I’m stupid.”
“If I go and don’t have fun, then something is wrong with me.”
“If I don’t go, I won’t have any friends.”
Once these thoughts are out in the open, we can challenge them together using CBT’s “thought-testing” approach: Is this thought 100% true? What evidence do I have? Is there a more balanced way to look at this? Compassionate Counseling St. Louis senior therapist Molly Shaffer, MA, LPC often uses Fact vs Opinion based activities to help her clients build and maintain this skill.
2. Plan Ahead, With Flexibility
All or nothing thinking makes anxiety worse. Instead, we help students build flexible plans:
Make plans with a few trusted friends.
Decide ahead of time on a “signal” or exit strategy if things get overwhelming.
Consider alternatives to large parties: movie nights, pumpkin carving, or smaller get-togethers.
Planning in advance and using coping tools can help teens and college students be more prepared to face challenging situations. If you notice your child having a tough time preparing, reach out to Compassionate Counseling St. Louis and let our St. Louis therapist team help them develop their coping tool skills toolkit.
3. Practice Exposure — With Support
Avoidance keeps anxiety alive. One CBT technique is exposure: helping teens and college students face feared situations gradually, rather than avoiding them altogether.
This might mean:
Practicing small talk or introductions with a counselor or safe person.
Walking through stressful events step-by-step and identifying where anxiety spikes and deciding how to respond.
Each small success builds confidence and the therapist team at Compassionate Counseling St. Louis is here to help your child walk through these steps.
We’re Here to Help
If your teen or college-aged student is struggling with social anxiety, during Halloween or any time of year, we’re here to support you.
Our team of St. Louis CBT therapists at Compassionate Counseling St. Louis offers therapy that’s practical, affirming, and grounded in understanding what it’s like to navigate the pressures of high school and college.
Reach out today to schedule a free 15 minute consultation call to learn more about how our team can support your family.
Curious to learn more about anxiety counseling? Wondering if CBT at Compassionate Counseling St. Louis could be a good fit for you or your child? Reach out to us at hello@compassionatecounselingstl.com. As child anxiety experts, we love working with kids, teens, college students and parents to help manage their anxiety, stress, and anger. Compassionate Counseling St. Louis is located in Clayton, MO and works with families by offering both in-person counseling and online therapy throughout St. Louis City, St. Louis County, Ladue, University City, Town and Country, Webster Groves, Creve Couer, Kirkwood, Richmond Heights, and Brentwood. We also provide online therapy Missouri -wide to teens and college students. You can set up your first free consult on this website, on our consultation page.