Freeing Your Child from Anxiety, Revised and Updated Edition: Practical Strategies to Overcome Fears, Worries, and Phobias and Be Prepared for Life--from Toddlers to Teens

by Tamar Chansky Ph.D.

Overview

Childhood should be a happy, carefree time.

Too many children are stressed-out and exhibiting symptoms of anxiety. In Freeing Your Child from Anxiety, childhood anxiety expert Dr. Tamar Chansky shares a proven approach for helping children build emotional resilience for a happier and healthier life.

Parents everywhere want to know: What is normal? How can you know when stress has crossed over into a full-blown anxiety disorder? How can you prevent anxiety from taking root? And how do you help your son or daughter break free from a pattern of fear and worry and lead a happy, productive life? Fortunately, anxiety is very treatable, and parents can do a lot to help get their children’s emotional well-being back on track.

Freeing Your Child from Anxiety contains easy, fun, and effective tools for teaching children to outsmart their worries and take charge of their fears. This revised and updated edition also teaches how to prepare children to withstand the pressure in our competitive test-driven culture. Learn the tips, techniques, and exercises kids need to implement the book’s advice right away, including “How to Talk to Your Child” sections and “Do It Today” activities at the end of each chapter.

These simple solutions can help parents prevent their children from needlessly suffering today—and ensure that their children have the tools they need for a good life tomorrow.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780804139809
Publisher:	Harmony/Rodale
Publication date:	07/29/2014
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	480
Sales rank:	92,369
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

TAMAR E. CHANSKY, Ph.D., founder of the Children’s and Adult Center for OCD and Anxiety, has helped thousands of children overcome fears and gripping mental compulsions. She is also the author of Freeing Your Child from Negative Thinking, Freeing Your Child from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and Freeing Yourself from Anxiety.

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Excerpted from "Freeing Your Child from Anxiety, Revised and Updated Edition"
by .
Copyright © 2014 Tamar Chansky.
Excerpted by permission of Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodale.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Authors Note to Second Edition xi

Introduction How to Be a Worrywise Parent and Raise a Worrywise Kid 1

Part I Anxiety Disorder Basics: What You Need to Know to Set Your Child Free 19

Chapter 1 "I Can't; I'm Too Scared": Understanding Children's Fears and Worries 21

Chapter 2 Making the Diagnosis for Anxiety: Is It Just a Phase? 38

Chapter 3 When and Where to Turn for Help: Treatments for Childhood Anxiety 54

Part II Behind the Scenes in Your Brain: Teaching Your Child to Outsmart the Tricks the Brain Can Play 65

Chapter 4 How to Explain Worry to Your Child 67

Chapter 5 How to Change Your Child's Thinking and Get Them Unstuck 86

Chapter 6 How to Calm the Body and Unplug the Alarms 109

Chapter 7 How to Change Anxious Behavior and Help Your Child to Face Their Fears 123

Chapter 8 Putting It All Together: The Master Plan for Taking Charge of Anxiety 143

Chapter 9 The Project: How to Make the Process Work 166

Chapter 10 The Parent's Stance: Broadening Your Child's Base in the World and Expanding the Confidence Zone 184

Part III All Worries Great and Small: Common Childhood Fears and Worries and Problem Anxieties 205

Chapter 11 From Everyday Worries to Generalized Anxiety Disorder 207

Chapter 12 From the Mini-Scaries to Real Phobias 230

Chapter 13 From Shyness to Social Anxiety and Selective Mutism 253

Chapter 14 From Clinginess to Separation Anxiety and Panic Disorder 279

Chapter 15 From Superstitions and Rituals to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and PANS 309

Chapter 16 From Nervous Habits to Tourette's Syndrome and Trichotillomania 338

Chapter 17 From Acute Stress to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder 358

Part IV Anxiety: Beyond the Diagnoses 375

Chapter 18 Things That Go Bump in the Night: From Nighttime Fears to Sleep Anxieties 377

Chapter 19 Expanding the Focus: Anxious Children at School and with Friends and Family 394

Chapter 20 Worry Prevention in the Real World 413

Chapter 21 Taking the Pressure Off of Pressure Cooker Kids 423

Chapter 22 Freeing Yourself from Anxiety: Your Child Will Lead the Way 442

Acknowledgments 451

Index 453

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Freeing Your Child from Anxiety:

"An excellent book, one of the best of it's kind...This book has the potential for helping thousands and thousands of children, their parents, and their families." —Judith S. Beck, PH.D., President, Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research, Clinial Associate Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania

"The master of providing clear, accessible, practical advice and guidance for wise and loving care of the anxious child." —Jeffrey M. Schwartz, M.D., author of Dear Patrick

Praise for Freeing Your Child from Negative Thinking:

“Tamar Chansky, Ph.D., has done it again—written another incredibly helpful, practical book. Freeing Your Child from Negative Thinking offers specific strategies for parents (or any adult) to use with children and describes variations on these strategies for younger children and older adolescents. Every parent who has a pessimistic, negativistic child should read this book! As parents use the thinking and behavioral strategies that Dr. Chansky recommends, they will undoubtedly find that they themselves are becoming more optimistic and positive, not only toward their child but also more generally in their own lives. I highly recommend this wonderful book.” —Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., Director, Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research and Clinical Associate Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania

“Many youngsters are burdened by self-doubt, negative feelings, and depression. Their lack of confidence and sadness typically trigger feelings of confusion and distress in their parents as the latter struggle to find the best approach to help their children develop a more optimistic, resilient outlook. Tamar Chansky’s book Freeing Your Child from Negative Thinking offers a wonderful resource for parents. In a very skillful manner, Dr. Chansky’s explains the roots of negative thinking, but most importantly, she offers specific, realistic strategies with actual dialogue that parents can use to minimize their child’s negativity. Her empathy and understanding for children and parents is evident on very page of this very readable, practical book. It is a book that parents of children of all ages will read and re-read as they seek to help their children perceive themselves in a more hopeful light.” —Robert Brooks, Ph.D., Faculty, Harvard Medical School and co-author of Raising Resilient Children and Raising a Self-Disciplined Child

“Tamar Chansky gives parents a dynamic approach to helping their children escape thinking badly about themselves and their world-thoughts ranging from mild negativism to clinical depression. Her insightful and creative techniques, based on scientifically grounded cognitive behavior therapy, are, on any given day, helpful not only for parents and their children but for all of us. Next time I want to blame myself for something that went wrong, or feel terrible about something I did, I will open this book and I know I will soon feel better.”—Myrna Shure, Ph.D., author of Raising a Thinking Child and Thinking Parent, Thinking Child

“Tamar Chansky has distilled cutting-edge research on optimism, pessimism, depression, and resilience into an incredibly thoughtful guide for parents. Her book is full of suggestions about what to look for and what to do (and what not to do) that parents should find engaging and accessible. Reading this book should ease the worries of both parents and their children.”—Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice and Professor of Psychology, Swarthmore College

“In a clearly readable fashion, Dr. Tamar Chansky combines clever phrasing (for adults) along with “kid speak” to communicate with youth. From her having worked with anxious youth who struggle with all of the possibilities (too many), Dr. Chansky shifts to the negative youth who see no future—the youth who mistake one thing for everything. She walks the reader through discussions that focus on how negative experiences happen to everyone, and that they are ‘manageable’ and ‘temporary’. This book is not a review of the scientific literature, but it is a readable set of guidelines and understandings that are informed by it.” —Philip C. Kendall, Ph.D., ABPP, Professor of Psychology and Director, Child and Adolescent Anxiety Disorders Clinic, Temple University

“For every parent who wants their child not to feel bad, here is an excellent book to feel great about. In Freeing Your Child from Negative Thinking, Dr. Chansky abundantly gives parents powerful, easy to apply tools to ensure the emotional health and success of any child. I hope no parent trying to help their child to get ahead misses out on reading this wonderful book packed with valuable advice.”— Jeffrey Bernstein, Ph.D., author of 10 Days to a Less Defiant Child

From the Publisher