The Anxiety Workbook for Teens: Activities to Help You Deal with Anxiety and Worry

by Lisa M. Schab LCSW

Overview

From managing social media stress to dealing with pandemics and other events beyond your control, this fully revised and updated edition of The Anxiety Workbook for Teens has the tools you need to put anxiety in its place.

In our increasingly uncertain world, there are plenty of reasons for anyone to feel anxious. And as a teen, you’re also dealing with academic stress, social and societal pressures, and massive changes taking place in your body, brain, and emotions. The good news is that there are a lot of effective techniques you can use—both on your own and with the help of a therapist or counselor—to reduce your feelings of anxiety and keep them from taking over your life.

Now fully revised and updated, this second edition of The Anxiety Workbook for Teens provides the most up-to-date strategies for calming fear, anxiety, and worry, so you can reach your goals and be your best. You’ll find new skills to help you handle school pressures and social media overload, develop a positive self-image, recognize your anxious thoughts, and stay calm in times of extreme uncertainty. The workbook also includes resources for seeking additional help and support if you need it.

While working through the activities in this book, you’ll find tons of ways to help you manage your anxiety. Some of the activities may seem unusual at first. You may be asked to try doing things that are very new to you. Just remember—these are tools, intended for you to carry with you and use over and over throughout your life. The more you practice using them, the better you will become at managing anxiety.

If you’re ready to change your life for the better and get your anxiety under control, this workbook can help you start today.

In these increasingly challenging times, teens need mental health resources more than ever. With more than 1.6 million copies sold worldwide, Instant Help Books for teens are easy to use, proven-effective, and recommended by therapists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684038633
Publisher:	New Harbinger Publications
Publication date:	05/01/2021
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	232
Sales rank:	31,868
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Lisa M. Schab, LCSW, is a practicing psychotherapist in the greater Chicago, IL, area; and author of eighteen self-help books, including The Anxiety Workbook for Teens, and the teen guided journals, Put Your Worries Here and Put Your Feelings Here. She has been interviewed as an expert on the Milwaukee television stations WTMJ-TV and WISN-TV, by The New York Times, Scholastic Choices magazine, Teen Vogue, Psych Central, and Kate Shannon’s Creative Therapy Umbrella podcast. Schab has authored regular mental health columns for Chicago ParentMagazine and The Sun Newspapers. She is a member of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW).

Table of Contents

Dear Reader v

To Parents, Professionals, and All Helping Adults vii

Activity 1 About Anxiety 1

Activity 2 Your Fight-Flight-Freeze Response 5

Activity 3 How You Experience Anxiety 9

Activity 4 Your Anxiety Patterns 13

Activity 5 Prevention and Intervention 18

Activity 6 Peace Is Already Within You 22

Activity 7 The Power of Attitude 25

Activity 8 Worrying Is Worthless 29

Activity 9 All-or-Nothing Thinking 32

Activity 10 Overgeneralizing 36

Activity 11 "Should" Statements 39

Activity 12 Thought Stopping 42

Activity 13 What's the Worst That Could Happen? 49

Activity 14 Cost-Benefit Analysis 54

Activity 15 Perfectionism 58

Activity 16 Pressure to Succeed 62

Activity 17 Letting Go of Control 68

Activity 18 Positive Affirmations 71

Activity 19 Serenity, Courage, and Wisdom 76

Activity 20 Seeing the Bigger Picture 80

Activity 21 Talking; It Out 85

Activity 22 Writing It Out 89

Activity 23 Eating and Anxiety 93

Activity 24 More Exercise, Less Anxiety 98

Activity 25 Progressive Relaxation 103

Activity 26 Centering Yourself 107

Activity 27 Mindfulness 110

Activity 28 Grounding Techniques 114

Activity 29 Self-Soothing 119

Activity 30 Using Your Breath 123

Activity 31 Visualization 128

Activity 32 Meditation 133

Activity 33 A Higher Power 137

Activity 34 Problem Solving 142

Activity 35 It's a Cinch By the Inch 148

Activity 36 Take a Tech Break 152

Activity 37 Staying Organized 159

Activity 38 Balancing and Managing Time 165

Activity 39 Separating Yourself From Other People's Problems 171

Activity 40 Unexpressed Anger 177

Activity 41 Managing Panic 181

Activity 42 Managing Fears and Phobias 186

Activity 43 Test Anxiety 192

Activity 44 Managing Stressful Public Events 200

Activity 45 Help Yourself By Helping Others 207

Activity 46 Future Challenges 212

Interviews

Schab resides in the Greater Chicago, IL, Area.
 

Editorial Reviews

If you are searching for a highly recommended self-help resource that will enable your teen to learn to manage their anxiety, get this workbook. In this revised edition, Lisa Schab encourages self-reflection and discovery through thought-provoking questions, and simultaneously equips adolescents with a toolbox full of useful strategies and accessible skills that they can readily apply to daily practice. Especially today, any anxious teen can benefit from these techniques.”
—Stephanie Margolese, PhD, clinical psychologist, associate member of psychiatry and an assistant professor of psychology at McGill University, and author of My Brain Team and Sam’s Big Secret

Stephanie Margolese

This is a comprehensive guide to managing anxiety and finding emotional balance! It offers interventions to calm a hypervigilant alert system, increase activity to burn adrenaline, and retrain the brain to decrease reactions to stimuli—all through engaging activities with easy-to-follow instructions. A GREAT workbook for teens struggling with anxiety!”
—Christina Reese, LCPC, PhD, psychotherapist and author of Attachment and The Attachment Connection

Christina Reese

Lisa Schab’s expertise in the field of adolescent anxiety is evident throughout The Anxiety Workbook for Teens. This book provides adolescents with practical and useful activities to help them understand and manage their anxiety with confidence. Lisa Schab understands the need for applicable exercises, and prompts teens to explore their feelings and manage them successfully. Thank you for sharing your compassion and expertise with the field!”
—Erin Shapiro, LCSW, CADC, school social worker and therapist in private practice

Erin Shapiro

The Anxiety Workbook for Teens normalizes anxiety and mental health and speaks to the everyday experiences and pressures that teenagers must navigate. Lisa Schab provides helpful tools and psychoeducation in a way that is digestible and easy to understand and apply. The exercises are simple and offer a strengths-based approach to encourage healthy habits and ways of thinking. This workbook is also formatted in a way that allows skill building to be individualized to each teen using it, which is so important and empowering.”
—Leah Aguirre, LCSW, adolescent and adult psychotherapist in San Diego, CA; and writer and contributor for Psychology Today

Leah Aguirre

The Anxiety Workbook for Teens, written by Lisa M. Schab, LCSW, is a brilliant guide for teens, caregivers, and therapists toward self-help, understanding, and freedom from everything that teens face today. This book is timely, necessary, and written in a language that teens can relate to. It is as if the author is in a teen’s head and walking in their shoes.”
—Therese Alexander-Ssebagala, LCSW, psychotherapist for Growing Potential counseling services in Waterford, CT, specializing in anxiety, depression, PTSD, substance use disorders, ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, and bio-neurofeedback

Therese Alexander-Ssebagala

I find this workbook such a great resource for teens and myself as a therapist. Most teens I encounter, personally and professionally, experience some level of anxiety. This workbook offers helpful information, new tools, and fun activities to help improve insight. I have found it to be an easy read and I highly recommend it to everyone.”
—Stacy Spang, certified family-based mental health therapist for the Family Counseling Center of Armstrong County, PA

Stacy Spang

This book empowers teens to master their anxiety. Schab relates evidence-based mental health interventions to everyday stressors they experience. Teens will find the techniques in this book help them regain control of their lives and build healthy mental habits for the future. Adolescents will benefit from this resource, whatever they are experiencing. I look forward to using it in my counseling practice!”
—Meg Smith, LCMHC, clinical counselor at Azimuth Counseling and Therapeutic Services in Essex Junction, VT

Meg Smith

With straightforward prose, Schab shows teens that their anxiety is predictable and manageable. Each chapter teaches teens a critical concept and illustrates it with examples that they can relate to. Schab helps teens recognize that anxiety is based on the story they tell themselves; and then she gives them the language they need, and activities to practice, rewriting their story. For teens who are feeling powerless, Schab provides a path to challenge their anxiety and take back their power.”
—Robyn P. Waxman, PhD, psychotherapist working with teens and families for more than twenty years, and editor of The Maryland Psychologist, the quarterly journal of the Maryland Psychological Association

Robyn P. Waxman