The Child Anxiety FAQ

I respond to a longer question a listener had about her 10-year old refusing to sleep alone with some general thoughts about gentle parenting and child anxiety. For more specific support, my Child Anxiety Support program is always here for you and your family!

This episode offers a special message to the parent who's feeling guilty about the struggles of their anxious child or teen.

We talk about the difference between anxious tantrums and meltdowns and talk about first steps for learning how to deal with them.

Reassuring is the stickiest and the sneakiest of the parenting pitfalls. Let's talk about getting out of the reassurance loop!

I appreciate this question from a parent who's been listening to the podcast and says she doesn't mind being stuck in the Parenting PItfalls and wanted to know what I had to say about that. My answer might surprise you.

Since anxiety doesn't really have a cure -- because anxious brains are gonna be anxious -- what can parents expect from successful child anxiety treatment?

We take a look at gentle parenting, conscious parenting, respectful parenting, attachment parenting -- whatever term you use -- and consider how it impacts child anxiety and child anxiety treatment. I mention Parenting Pitfalls and remember you can take the quiz at http://ChildAnxietySupport.com/quiz

On this week's episode we do a quick dive into the controversies around the PDA diagnosis then jump to how it relates to anxiety treatment. You can check out the PDA webinar I mention on the show by going to ChildAnxietySupport.com/demands and use the code PODCAST to get 50% off the $27 training.

This question comes up for parents who are concerned that giving their child a diagnosis may limit their functioning in some way. We explore it and discuss the reasons for being explicit with kids about their anxiety.

Tackling child anxiety has two tasks. The first is to confront the anxiety. The second is learning the cognitive behavioral tools to manage anxiety. We talk about that second task this week on The Child Anxiety FAQ.

Think of learning to manage your child's anxiety like learning to cook. We dive into that metaphor to explain just why it might be messier than you think and why that's just fine.

This week we talk about how child anxiety is always a family systems issue and how we can shift the system by shifting our own behavior whether or not our child is motivated to change.

It can be difficult to understand the differences between a shy child, an introverted child, and a socially anxious child especially when those things overlap. In this week's episode we look at ways to determine whether a child's reluctance to be social is their natural way of functioning or if it might be cause for concern.

Today we explore the difference between accommodations and support using the definition from the study cited below, which is "changes in parents’ behavior in attempts to prevent or reduce child distress." Johanna Thompson-Hollands, Caroline E. Kerns, Donna B. Pincus, Jonathan S. Comer, Parental accommodation of child anxiety and related symptoms: Range, impact, and correlates, Journal of Anxiety Disorders, Volume 28, Issue 8, 2014, Pages 765-773, ISSN 0887-6185,

This week we discuss what mindfulness is, how it works, how it helps child anxiety, and how to do it. I also invite you to get my free 7-day Get Yourself Grounded email course by taking the Parenting Pitfalls quiz at http://ChildAnxietySupport.com/quiz

This week I talk about anxiety in the context of a post traumatic stress disorder diagnosis and discuss how it should be addressed. I mention EMDRIA.org in the podcast and wanted to be sure to include a link. You can also read more about the other treatments I mention here: TF-CBTWhat is PCIT?Child-Parent Psychotherapy

This episode is a response to a listener having a tough time and I hope they hear it and find comfort in the answer. And if you, too, are needing support right now, I hope it speaks to you and makes your way a little easier.

This week’s question is meant to address the concerns of parents who contact me and say they’ve tried to get their child help and it isn’t working or it hasn’t worked and they’re asking me what to do next. So I’m squishing all of these questions together into one to talk about the things that get in the way of child anxiety treatment.

The short answer is yes, social media absolutely can cause teen anxiety so I use this episode to talk about what parents can -- and should -- do about it. I mention the report: The Common Sense Census published by the Center on Media and Human Development at Northwestern University, which you can download as a PDF here: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/report/common-sense-parent-census_whitepaper_new-for-web.pdf

While the answer to this question is out of my professional scope of practice, I was able to find information in a literature review specifically about the member's question in regards to vitamin D, which you can find here: The Influence of Vitamin D Intake and Status on Mental Health in Children: A Systematic Review We talk about that and also use this episode to discuss the importance of taking a multipronged approach to the treatment of child anxiety and why that's important.