Ask the Child Therapist

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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The Grief Rock: Navigating Love & Loss with Kids

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Does OCD Make Your Child Doubt Their Memory?

OCD loves to cause doubt and so it makes sense that OCD would sometimes target your child’s memory. This can show up in various ways. In this week’s Youtube video for kids and teens I talk about the various ways OCD can target their memory and what they can do about it.

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Does OCD Make Your Child Worry They’ll Harm Someone They Love?

OCD can make our kids worry about all sorts of things. OCD comes in many disguises and themes. Harm OCD themes are often missed or misunderstood. In this week’s Youtube video I talk to kids and teens about what harm OCD themes look like and what they can do to get some OCD relief around this type of theme.

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Parenting a Child with OCD? Don’t Do This.

If you are parenting a child with OCD you might be scouring the internet looking for ways to help your child. It can be such a relief when you finally stumble on the right approaches to help your children with OCD. You might have found the right OCD therapist or the right OCD support online. Often when we find these resources we dive head first into changing things at home. It can be exciting when you learn that there is a treatment approach for OCD that is highly effective. You might want to start doing ERP (Exposure Response Prevention) right away. But often we are missing some foundational steps. We haven’t poured the concrete and yet we are already building a house. In this week’s Youtube video, I talk about the importance of assessing where your child or teen is at before jumping in with OCD interventions.

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When OCD is Bothering Your Child What Should They Do?

Your kids have a predictable relationship with OCD. OCD gives them an intrusive thought or feeling and they do their part in responding. A key part in getting OCD relief is disrupting this predictable OCD loop. In this week’s Youtube video, I’ll teach them how to disrupt OCD compulsions to throw OCD off-kilter and start taking their life back.

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A Common Reason Why OCD Exposures Might Not Work

OCD exposures, ERP (Exposure Response Prevention), is the go-to strategy when working on OCD. But what if exposures don’t seem to be helping? In this week’s Youtube video I talk about one of the most common reasons why OCD exposures don’t work and what to do to make this OCD approach more effective.

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How to Help Kids Handle Mental Compulsions

OCD isn’t just about physical compulsions, there are mental compulsions as well. Compulsions are compulsions whether they are physical or mental. All of them serve to make OCD bigger and more overwhelming. So how are you supposed to help your child with mental compulsions? In this week’s Youtube video I talk to kids and teens about what mental compulsions are and the best strategies to decrease them.

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Why Do OCD Intrusive Thoughts Feel So Real?

Have you ever noticed that when you try to rationalize your child’s OCD intrusive thoughts away it doesn’t help? Even when you tell them their compulsions don’t make sense, they have a hard time not doing them? That feeling of danger, incompleteness, or fear is not in their mind, it’s in their brain. There is a biological reason why they can’t shake off those uncomfortable feelings. Once they understand the science behind their doubt, it will make more sense why it is so important for them to override those feelings and not give in to OCD’s demands. In this week’s Youtube video, I talk to kids, teens and young adults about why those OCD intrusive thoughts feel so real and what to do about it.

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Helping Kids with the Fear of Choking

One of the most common anxiety themes is the fear of choking. Kids with this fear often hyperfocus on what they eat and how they eat. At its worst they can avoid all sorts of foods that they feel are “unsafe.” This can limit their diet and cause nutritional issues. In this week’s Youtube video I talk to kids and teens about the fear of choking and what they can do to overcome it.

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Does OCD Make Your Child Worry About All the “Bad” Things They’ve Done?

OCD comes in many flavors. One flavor involves the ongoing fear of being a bad person. Ironically the most kind hearted people often struggle with this type of OCD theme. When our kids have these types of intrusive thoughts they might find themselves consumed with worry about behaviors they did in the past. OCD has access to their mental database and can present them with a long list of “bad” things they’ve done. We are all human and have done things we regret. In this week’s Youtube video I talk to kids and teens about how OCD uses their experiences against them and how they can stay one step ahead and stop OCD in its tracks.

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What’s Your Child’s Personal Relationship Like with OCD?

What’s Your Child’s Personal Relationship like with OCD? This video is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the guidance of a qualified professional. What is your child’s relationship with OCD? They are in a private relationship that no one, not even those closest to them can see. Only they know when they are feeding their OCD. Only they know when they […]

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OCD is Back! Now What?

It can be so disappointing when your child has gotten relief from OCD, only to find it rear its ugly head again. It can be even more disappointing if you had the mentality that you can “cure” OCD. OCD is like Diabetes or Asthma. It is something that needs to be watched and managed throughout their life. But there is good news! The more they build those skills at recognizing and identifying OCD, the better they’ll be able to handle the bumps that come their way. Their skills are not lost. All that they worked on is not lost. Their OCD muscles to handle discomfort and deal with OCD head-on are still inside of them. Don’t let OCD convince them that they are starting from square one. They aren’t. You’ve got this. They’ve got this. In this week’s Youtube video for kids and teens I remind them that even with setbacks their skills are still there; their strength is still there.

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Does Your Child Worry About Throwing Up (Tell Them Not to Do This!)

The fear of throwing up is a common anxiety. In fact it is one of the most common anxiety themes I saw in my therapy practice. Emetophobia, the fear of throwing up, impacts many people. But most people suffering from the fear of throwing up get this one thing wrong. They work hard on convincing themselves that they won’t throw up. Unfortunately, that only serves to grow Emetophobia more. In this week’s Youtube video I talk to kids and teens about how to get relief from Emetophobia by outsmarting their anxiety and not falling for the trap that will grow it bigger.

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How to Help Our Kids Stop OCD Intrusive Thoughts (Tell Them Not to Do This!)

Often when our kids have OCD intrusive thoughts the first thing they do is try to get those intrusive thoughts out of their head. They might do what OCD wants them to do. They might try to not think about it. They might debate, argue and fight OCD. Or they might try to come up with a practical solution to the problem OCD is presenting. The issue with all of those OCD solutions is that they are all based on the validity of what OCD is saying. When they take the OCD intrusive thought seriously, they are already hooked into OCD. In this Youtube video I talk to kids and teens about how to not get hooked into OCD’s lies from the start!

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This Can Increase Nausea Caused by Anxiety

The Grief Rock: Navigating Love & Loss with Kids

Does OCD Make Your Child Doubt Their Memory?

Does OCD Make Your Child Worry They’ll Harm Someone They Love?

Parenting a Child with OCD? Don’t Do This.

When OCD is Bothering Your Child What Should They Do?

A Common Reason Why OCD Exposures Might Not Work

How to Help Kids Handle Mental Compulsions

Why Do OCD Intrusive Thoughts Feel So Real?

Helping Kids with the Fear of Choking

Does OCD Make Your Child Worry About All the “Bad” Things They’ve Done?

What’s Your Child’s Personal Relationship Like with OCD?

OCD is Back! Now What?

Does Your Child Worry About Throwing Up (Tell Them Not to Do This!)

How to Help Our Kids Stop OCD Intrusive Thoughts (Tell Them Not to Do This!)

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