There are many times when the actual theme of our child’s anxiety or OCD can undermine their ability to get help. How are we supposed to help our kids (or clients/patients) when the very nature of helping is triggering their anxiety or OCD? In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I explore the most common ways anxiety and OCD themes get in the way of helping and what parents and therapists can do when it happens.
Teaching our kids to trust their gut instinct can be a lifesaver. But what do we do when anxiety or OCD feels like gut instinct? What if intuition is really their OCD magical thinking in disguise? In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I explore the differences between gut instinct and intuition vs anxiety and OCD.
We don’t get rid of our anxiety or OCD. We can make it super small. We can make it insignificant in our lives. But the whisper of anxiety or OCD is often still there. I like to look at my own social anxiety as a daily practice. It is a daily practice how I show up to the annoying whispers of “you are not enough.” It is a daily practice how I show up to the pleads to avoid uncomfortable situations. It is a daily practice to walk towards the things that overwhelm me with my head held high. In this week’s Youtube video I am talking to kids about my own social anxiety and what I do on a daily basis to keep the beast at bay.
The best ways to directly help our kids with anxiety or OCD is through effective treatment, but there are some side dishes that can aid in their progress. When we help others it can improve self-esteem, mood, and purpose. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast, I discuss how having our kids help others can actually help them as well.
Having a child with anxiety or OCD can be a challenge, but when it impacts eating, it can become a major health issue. Many kids with anxiety or OCD struggle to eat for many different reasons. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I explore common core fears that drive restrictive eating and what you can do if your child has ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) or is working their way towards it.
Working on anxiety or OCD is like lining up dominos. Without certain pieces, you aren’t going to get too far. One of the first dominos is trust and communication. Without trust and communication, helping our kids with anxiety or OCD is going to be an uphill battle. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I explore how parents can improve their trust and communication to set their child up for long-term success.
We are only one piece of the puzzle in our child’s long term success with anxiety or OCD, but our attitude is something we have full control over. How we show up to our child’s struggles can have a big impact. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I talk about our parental attitudes and how to shift them while having self-compassion.
As parents we want to encourage our kids with anxiety or OCD to move towards their fears and discomfort, not away from them. But how do we do that? In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I talk about the small steps we can take to help our kids move towards their fears. I also talk about effective ways to offer encouragement and instill the feeling of success.
It is not uncommon for our kids (and us) to worry about worrying. They might wonder: What if my anxiety or OCD grows bigger? What if I am not able to go to school or get a job? What if I can’t find happiness? Feeling worried about their future can impact their present. It can also rob them (and you) of any energy they might have to meet these struggles head on. In this week’s Youtube video I talk to kids and teens about how to handle their fears of the future, while making progress in the here and now.
Puberty is hard enough, but add anxiety and OCD to the mix and UGH! In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I talk about the good (yes there is some good), the bad (oh yeah, there is that too) and the ugly (plenty of that) when kids with anxiety or OCD enter puberty.
Agoraphobia can prevent our kids from being able to leave the house, be in crowds, go to the movies or travel – just to name a few. It can be a debilitating and life altering disorder and often the signs and symptoms can start in childhood.
Anxiety and OCD can rob us of the things we love the most. It can also be a powerful tool to motivate our kids to work on their anxiety or OCD. In this Youtube video I talk to kids and teens about what anxiety or OCD is taking away from them and what things they want to take back
You finally found help for your child with anxiety or OCD but they don’t want to work on it. Now what? That can be beyond frustrating! Especially if it took you a long time to connect with the right resources or help.
It is hard not to want to control our child’s anxiety or OCD journey. It is hard not to have expectations for how it should turn out. It’s human nature to want to do everything in our power to help our kids. But sometimes the best thing we can do for ourselves and our children is to recognize what areas we do not control. Sometimes we can make the most progress when we learn to let go of expectations and perceived control.
A common theme among kids with anxiety or OCD is their health. Are they breathing? Are they choking? Is that bump going to lead to a horrible disease? This week I brought Dr. Dawn Huebner onto the AT Parenting Survival Podcast to discuss how to help kids who have health anxiety or OCD.
