If you have a child with anxiety or OCD they are bombarded daily with horrible, upsetting thoughts. This sea of overwhelming images and ideas can drown kids and pull them into a dark abyss. It can be hard to cope with anxiety or OCD when you are constantly fighting these thoughts.
Kids will often ask what they can do to get some relief from these thoughts, images and ideas. One of the best weapons I have used in my practice is teaching kids to create a “world.”
How to Help Kids with the Fear of Dying This episode is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the guidance of a qualified professional. The fear of dying is a common core fear in both anxiety and OCD. So how do we help kids deal with something that inevitably will happen to all of us? In this week’s AT Parenting Survival […]
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.
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.
How to Handle When You and Your Child Both have Anxiety or OCD Anxiety and OCD are both highly genetic, so it’s not surprising that many parents find themselves raising kids with similar issues. Often though, many of us back burner our own help to focus on our children’s needs. But what if focusing on your needs also helps your child’s struggles? In this episode […]
Why Anxiety or OCD Therapy is Not Enough for Our Kids Many of us think that if only we can find a qualified anxiety or OCD child therapist, all of our child’s struggles would go away. I wish that were true. I wish that was the case for the children that I have treated and for my own children. But the truth is, as parents […]
How to Help Kids with Anxiety or OCD When They are Angry Kids with anxiety or OCD aren’t just fearful, often they are angry. Anxiety and OCD can cause kids to rage, meltdown and talk back. It can make them dig their heels in and be oppositional. But when parents react to those behaviors in “typical” ways, they often hit a brick wall. Why? Because […]
How to Help Kids Who Worry They Will Never Fall Asleep “But what if I don’t fall asleep?” That’s a question many of us hear from our anxious kids at bedtime. The ironic thing is, the more a child worries they won’t fall asleep, the harder it actually is to do it! So how do you get your kids out of this vicious loop? […]
Empowering Our Kids with Anxiety or OCD to Help Themselves We want the best for our kids. We want our kids to blossom and live a happy fulfilling life. But when our kids start to struggle with anxiety or OCD we might think that rosy picture is gone forever. We might think we have to “cure” anxiety or OCD for them to be well again. […]
Helping Anxious Kids Who Crumble Under Pressure Anxious kids crumble under pressure for a variety of reasons. They might worry about deadlines and school work. They might worry about the social pressures of being called on or being watched. They might fear being less than perfect or being worse than others. They might have difficulties making decisions, worried about picking the wrong choice. In this […]
How to Help Anxious Kids Help Themselves It is hard to watch our anxious kids suffer. It is hard to stomach their pain. It is very tempting to swoop in and protect them. To soften their fall. To protect them from feeling discomfort. But that is robbing them of the opportunity to build their skills. I find that the best way to help anxious kids […]
A house packed with friends and family. Music blaring. Relatives beckoning and begging for tight hugs. It can sound like a hallmark card for most people, but for anxious kids it can be a living nightmare. Seriously. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can help anxious kids survive the holidays with some proactive planning!
How to Help Anxious Kids Deal with Big Family Gatherings It’s that time of year again. Big family gatherings. Cue up the noise, the chaos, the triggers and the picky eating. Perhaps you might even get a side dish of insensitive comments or unsolicited judgement. Does your heart start palpitating just at the thought? If so, you are not alone. I often get asked how […]
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