Name and Tame Your Anxiety: A Kid's Guide

by Summer Batte

Overview

Help kids understand and manage anxiety to boost their mental health and well-being.

Anxiety in kids is on the rise: 4.4 million children between the ages of 3 and 17 have diagnosed anxiety disorders, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And even more kids experience some level of anxiety in their daily lives. In kid-friendly language, award-winning Name and Tame Your Anxiety explains what anxiety is, how it works, and how to manage it.

Written by a parent whose child has anxiety and vetted by Myles L. Cooley, Ph.D., author of A Practical Guide to Mental Health & Learning Disorders for Every Educator and an expert in the field with more than forty years of experience, Name and Tame Your Anxiety provides practical strategies to help kids manage anxiety, including:

• Write down your schedule
• Make anxiety into something funny
• Make a calming toolkit
• Deep breathing
• Name the things around you

This book helps kids understand what is happening in their brains and shows how learning to manage anxiety can help them do the things in life they need and want to do—by practicing anxiety-taming strategies, going to therapy, a(more...)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631986208
Publisher:	Free Spirit Publishing
Publication date:	03/30/2021
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.38(d)
Lexile:	920L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 13 Years

About the Author

Summer Batte has worked as a writer and editor for more than 16 years.

For the past four years, much of her work has been focused on research-based advice stories. She came to appreciate her undergraduate studies in psychology at Stanford University more than ever when she experienced peripartum depression and anxiety, and a few years later, learned she was parenting a child with anxiety.

For nearly 10 years, she has researched anxiety and learning disorders to ensure her daughter got the education and life she deserved, and also to help explain anxiety, therapy, and medication in a way that respected and trusted her very bright child’s ability to understand complex concepts. She homeschooled her daughter for three years, which led to even more research into learning styles, teaching methods, and the American education system. It also meant she had to relearn a lot of math.

When she has downtime, Summer likes being with her family, reading, watching great TV, trying to perfect chocolate chip banana bread, and knitting (which her daughter made her learn).

She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Table of Contents

A Note to Kids 1

Part 1 Understanding Anxiety

Chapter 1 What Is Anxiety? 6

How Anxiety Feels 7

Can Other People Tell That You Are Feeling Anxiety? 10

Words That Mean Anxiety 12

When Anxiety Starts to Get in the Way 13

What Anxiety Is and Is Not 16

Chapter 2 What Causes Anxiety 18

When People Feel Anxiety 21

Heredity 22

When Anxiety Is Good 24

When Anxiety Is a Problem 24

What's Happening in Your Brain 26

How the Parts of the Brain Work Together 28

Chapter 3 Types of Anxiety 33

Common Types of Anxiety 34

Part 2 Taming Anxiety

Chapter 4 How to Stop Anxiety from Being in Charge 42

How a Little Healthy Fear Can Turn into a Big Anxiety 43

Times Anxiety Likes to Take Control 45

Benefits of Learning to Manage Anxiety 47

Keeping Your Brain and Body Healthy 48

What You Can Do When You Feel Anxiety 60

How to Plan for Anxiety 66

Chapter 5 Therapy 70

Who Are Therapists? 71

What Happens in the Therapist's Office? 73

What Happens in Therapy? 77

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) 79

How Long Will I Go to Therapy? 80

Chapter 6 How Anxiety Works in Your Brain (and How Medication Can Help) 82

How Brain Messages Get Delivered 83

How to Make Serotonin 84

Medication for Anxiety 86

How SSRIs Work 87

What Happens When You Take an SSRI 89

What Does NOT Happen When You Take an SSRI 90

What It Feels Like to Take Anxiety Medication 91

Side Effects of Anxiety Medications 92

How Long to Take Anxiety Medication 92

Part 3 Talking About Anxiety

Chapter 7 Self-Advocacy 96

When to Self-Advocate 98

How to Self-Advocate 100

Who (and How Much) to Tell About Your Anxiety 106

Translating Things Grown-Ups Say 108

When to Listen to Your Gut (Even If You've Been Told Your Gut Overreacts) 112

Chapter 8 Before You Go 116

Conditions That Often Coexist with Anxiety 116

What It Feels Like to Be Less Worried 118

Describing Yourself 119

The End 120

A Note to Adults 121

Glossary 123

Resources 126

Bibliography 130

Index 134

About the Author 137

Editorial Reviews

With Name and Tame Your Anxiety, young readers will benefit from practical tips in straightforward language that doesn’t talk down to them. Its catchy title creates a friendly opening into a guide through the murkiness of anxiety to come out enlightened and empowered with sensible suggestions right away. As an educational therapist who works with students facing varying levels of anxiety, this is a resource I will keep handy to share with parents and students alike. With its grounding in user-friendly neuroscience, this book gave me language and explanations that I use in my practice as well to help demystify the anxiety beast.

Cynthia Miner Kapelke

Clear, warm, and respectful, Name and Tame Your Anxiety cuts through the jargon to deliver practical information to middle grade readers. Features such as ‘real questions from real kids’ and ‘translating things adults say’ add to the appeal, giving kids actionable steps to better manage their anxiety. A welcome addition to the literature.

Dawn Huebner

Summer Batte has written an incredibly valuable book. Every parent of a child who struggles with anxiety, phobias, and/or OCD—even in a mild form—can benefit from this book, as can children over the age of nine. I have a young child who is challenged by anxiety, and I am implementing the valuable lessons from this book already. I know that as he grows older, I will be reading through the book with him to help him understand what causes his anxiety, how his brain works, and what he can do to control his most intense and invasive fears. I am so grateful to have this book in my parenting toolkit!

MeiMei Fox

Especially and unreservedly recommended.

Children’s Bookwatch

This book is a true gem, fun and enlightening to read! I am thinking of all the little people I see in my office who have anxiety, and how most of them feel like they are all alone in it, feeling embarrassed, and they can't see their way out of it. This book shows the bigger landscape of what happens in their brain and how that's connected to their feelings and behaviors. It tells them that anxiety is a common human state and that there are ways of taking charge. I really liked that the book gives kids so much more knowledge and helps them be empowered to deal. I will be sure to recommend it to parents and my colleagues!

Carina Grandison

• 2022 Moonbeam Children’s Book Award, Nonfiction – Chapter Book
• 2022 National Parenting Product Awards Winner
• 2021 Foreword INDIES Finalist, Juvenile Nonfiction (Children's)

From the Publisher

In my career as a clinical psychologist, I have never come across a clearer and more useful book to help kids (and their caring grown-ups!) dealing with anxiety. It is filled with straightforward, easily understood information about anxiety and its symptoms, functions of the brain, and what to expect in seeking professional treatment. Summer Batte has achieved a just-right balance of affirmative and instructional, gently inviting readers to navigate what may be an uncertain topic. This is not just for kids; this is a wonderful resource for anyone wanting to learn about anxiety. The best part of this book is that it will give your kid confidence to explore anxiety management so that they are free to engage in the kind of life they want for themselves.

Feliza Guidero

Especially and unreservedly recommended.

Children’s Bookwatch