Helping Your Anxious Child or Teen
Here, you will find practical strategies and tools to help you manage your child's anxiety, whether your child is just beginning to show symptoms, or has been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.
Strategies for Children with Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Children with GAD become anxious whenever there is uncertainty or they are unsure about something. This is why kids with GAD worry about everything. Since most things in life are uncertain, there is always something to worry about!
What is CBT?
CBT, or cognitive-behavioural therapy, is a psychological treatment that was developed through scientific research. That is, all of the components of CBT have been tested by researchers to determine whether they are effective and that they do what they are intended to do.
Separation Anxiety Disorder: School refusal
For most children attending school is an enjoyable and exciting experience. For some, however, attending school may be overwhelming and is endured or avoided. These children may suffer from separation anxiety disorder (SAD) which manifests as school refusal.
Separation Anxiety Disorder
It is normal for children to sometimes feel anxious or insecure when separated from their parents or other important caregivers. Usually, such separation anxiety fades as they grow up and become more confident. If your child's separation anxiety continues to persist after the age of five and starts affecting his or her life, then your child may have separation anxiety disorder.
Specific Phobias and Young People
Fears are common and expected in childhood; however, for some children and teens, their fears can become very severe over time, and even develop into a phobia. A phobia is an intense and unreasonable fear of a specific object or situation.
Parenting Strategies for Anxiety
As a parent, you can help your child or teen learn techniques to manage their anxiety.
General Self-Help Strategies for Anxiety
There are some general strategies that anyone can use to help manage their anxiety. Although it is always a good idea to seek professional help if you have an anxiety disorder, especially in more severe cases, help is not always readily available. Even if you do decide to seek help, there are still a number of things that you can do on your own to better manage your anxiety.
Talking to Your Child or Teen About Anxiety
Children and teens often don’t recognize their anxiety for what it is. Instead, they may think there is something “wrong” with them. Therefore, the first step is to teach your child about anxiety and how to recognize it.
