When Kids Focus on Helping Others, it Can Help Decrease Anxiety or OCD as Well

When you are living with anxiety or OCD it can be all consuming. It can take up much of what you think about and dictate much of what you do. I talk tons about how to decrease anxiety or OCD symptoms in our kids. I talk often about the importance of Exposure Response Prevention and CBT. But one bonus ninja trick that kids can add to their tool box is giving back.

You might think, how on earth can I expect my child to help others, when they can’t even help themselves?!

Ironically, when we shift our focus and our attention from inward to outward something magical happens. Our inner dialogue, our inner dictator loses some of it’s stage.

I have seen kids do amazing things their anxiety or OCD would never allow them to do – all in the name of helping someone else. This could be a friend who needs their assistance, an animal who needs their love or a world that needs their voice.

In this week’s Kids Youtube video I am teaching kids how, when they help others, they are also helping themselves.

Click below to listen:

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