How Does Your Child View Life: Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full?

How Does Your Child View Life: Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full?

How your child views life in general can have a huge impact on their struggles with anxiety or OCD. If they see all the negative aspects of everything, they’ll automatically be more prone to a hopeless, defeatist attitude. 

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Does Your Child Get Anxious Anticipating Things? How to Get Relief from Anticipatory Anxiety.

Does Your Child Get Anxious Anticipating Things? How to Get Relief from Anticipatory Anxiety.

Anticipatory anxiety can be just as paralyzing as other anxiety themes. When we live in the world of what-ifs we can build up so much anxiety that we are immobilized by the time the situation or event arrives. It can help to teach our kids to build up skills on how to manage their anxiety prior to the situation. When they proactively quell the monumental avalanche of anxious thoughts they show up for the event/situation with less anxiety. In this week’s YouTube video for kids and teens I talk about some approaches to handle and reduce anticipatory anxiety.

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Does Your Child Worry About What Other People Think?

Does Your Child Worry About What Other People Think?

We all worry about what other people think, that is a human condition. But when you have social anxiety those thoughts consume you, devour you. With social anxiety we are on the hamster wheel of acceptance. We look for it, we analyze it, we tell ourselves we don’t have it – and the cycle repeats. But what if our kids could get off that hamster wheel of caring what other people think, or at least to the level that they do? What if they flipped it around and asked themselves, What do I think? How do I view myself? This is where the real work begins when trying to get rid of social anxiety. It begins with ourselves. In this week’s YouTube video I talk to kids and teens about how to shift their concern about what other people think to reduce their social anxiety.

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How Does Your Child Handle Anxious Situations?

How Does Your Child Handle Anxious Situations?

Everyone handles anxious situations differently. Even kids with anxiety disorders have different ways of showing up to these situations. Some of it has to do with wiring and some of it has to do with skill building. Do they show up to anxious situations waiting to implode? Do they know it is not going to work out before they even begin? Do they agree with their anxious thoughts and team up with their anxiety? Or do they show up to anxious situations like it is a challenge, one they are willing to take on? Do they think that it could possibly work out? Do they recognize their anxious thoughts without owning them? Regardless of whether that is their natural inclination or not, they can train their brain to show up to these situations with an attitude that will help them. In this week’s Youtube video I talk to kids and teens about learning to shift their thoughts and attitude to one that is going to build their resilience and empowerment.

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Teaching Our Kids How to Handle Discomfort is Key for Anxiety & OCD

Teaching Our Kids How to Handle Discomfort is Key for Anxiety & OCD

We all struggle to some degree when faced with discomfort. But when you have anxiety or OCD you are faced with discomfort on a completely different level. Anxious thoughts make us uncomfortable. Intrusive thoughts that are not satiated with a compulsion lead to discomfort. When we work on anxiety or OCD, a key component is building our muscles to tolerate discomfort. This can help us beyond our anxiety or OCD. Learning how to handle any discomfort can increase resilience. Life brings discomfort in many forms. Building resilience goes beyond anxiety or OCD. It can impact how we approach life, obstacles and challenges. It can make the difference between giving up and persevering. In this week’s YouTube video I talk to kids and teens about ways to build their ability to handle discomfort beyond anxiety or OCD.

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How to Help When Your Child’s Anxiety Gets Triggered by Other Anxious People

How to Help When Your Child’s Anxiety Gets Triggered by Other Anxious People

Your child has spent a lot of time and energy learning how to cope with their anxiety. Perhaps they feel like they can finally manage their anxiety. But then someone near them starts to spiral out of control. Anxiety can feel contagious, especially when someone near them is panicking. How can they be around them, while keeping themselves grounded? In this week’s Youtube video I talk to kids and teens about ways to keep their own anxiety in check when someone near them is anxious.

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When Your Child’s Faced with Anxiety or OCD Struggles Do They Give Up Before They Begin?

When Your Child’s Faced with Anxiety or OCD Struggles Do They Give Up Before They Begin?

How does your child talk to themselves when faced with anxiety or OCD struggles? How they show up to these anxiety or OCD issues can make all the difference. Do they cheer for themselves or do they cheer for anxiety or OCD? In this week’s Youtube video I talk to kids and teens about how our internal dialogue around anxiety or OCD is crucial.

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This Grows Social Anxiety (Is your child doing this?)

This Grows Social Anxiety (Is your child doing this?)

The fuel that grows our child’s social anxiety comes from the assumptions they make. Sometimes it isn’t the social interaction itself that is the struggle, it’s what they tell themselves afterwards that can be immobilizing. In this week’s YouTube video for kids and teens I discuss a common behavior that grows social anxiety and how they can avoid doing it.

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Handling Conversations When Social Anxiety Makes it Hard

Handling Conversations When Social Anxiety Makes it Hard

Having conversations can be a challenge when you have social anxiety. Having conversations in a group can be even harder. In this week’s Youtube video for kids and teens I talk about how to approach these struggles to reduce their social anxiety and have more meaningful connections.

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This Can Increase Nausea Caused by Anxiety

This Can Increase Nausea Caused by Anxiety

Anxiety and nausea seem to go hand in hand. When our nervous system feels the panic of a false alarm, the stomach eventually takes a hit. Physiologically this makes sense. Chemicals meant to aid us in an emergency are pumping through our system. Our digestion comes to a screeching halt, or worse, it urgently evacuates everything it is holding. This bodily overreaction can make a person feel nauseous. The experience is harmless, but it feels unnerving and distressing. How we react to this anxiety-induced nausea can alter how bad it can become. Often this nausea becomes an issue in and of itself, the fear of throwing up becoming its very own anxiety theme. In this week’s Youtube video I talk to kids and teens about why we get nauseous when we are anxious and how to respond during those times to lessen its long term impact.

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Helping a Child with Anxiety Around Grades and School Performance

Helping a Child with Anxiety Around Grades and School Performance

It is wonderful when our kids want to do a good job and excel in school. But what happens when that determination actually sabotages them? What happens when it makes them stay up all night working on assignments that should have taken a few minutes? What happens when they are so consumed with their good grades and school performance that they are filled with paralyzing anxiety?

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Do You Know What Helps Your Child’s Anxiety or OCD?

Do You Know What Helps Your Child’s Anxiety or OCD?

Our child’s anxiety or OCD doesn’t live in a bubble. Our kids are surrounded by people who are there to support them. But do they allow others to help them? Do they even know how to ask for help? Often they don’t communicate what they need and we are left guessing. In this week’s Youtube video, I talk to kids and teens about why it is important to let others know exactly how they can help with their anxiety or OCD.

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Are You Working Harder Than Your Child on Their Anxiety or OCD?

Are You Working Harder Than Your Child on Their Anxiety or OCD?

Anxiety and OCD often make our kids push back on help. It might create an us vs them mentality in their mind. It might make them spin their wheels thinking about how they can avoid therapy, hide their compulsions or get others to give in to their anxiety or OCD. Unfortunately, this approach is a boomerang that only winds up hurting them and their long-term progress in the end. In this week’s Youtube video, I talk to kids and teens about how to be honest with themselves about their view of the help they are receiving. I encourage them to take the wheel and start steering their own journey while welcoming the support that surrounds them.

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How I Push Back on My Social Anxiety

How I Push Back on My Social Anxiety

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.

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Is Your Child Afraid of Death and Dying?

Is Your Child Afraid of Death and Dying?

One of the most common anxiety and OCD fears is death and dying. Most of us don’t want to die, but for some this level of fear robs them from living. In this week’s Youtube video I talk to kids and teens about how to tackle the fear of death and start living life again.

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