Proven Help for Child Anxiety
In this TV interview, Dr. McCarthy gives helpful tips for parents to try with their anxious child who has fear returning to school. This interview complements the last blog posted about dealing with school fears. Click here for the interview [...]
One of my young clients told me a story. She was at a summer camp that was located on a lake out in the woods. During the week some camp staff saw a snake in the lake. They chased the snake away but the discovery became the talk of the camp. Summer camps often feature water activities so a snake in the lake was of great interest. Nonetheless, after the initial excitement, life at camp resumed to normal. Kids were swimming, canoes crossed back and forth, and boys did cannonballs to splash the girls. Except for one young camper. She never went back in the lake. She was convinced she had a [...]
With the 2016 school year upon us, approximately 50 million American students are gearing up to enroll in elementary through high schools, according to the U.S. National Center for Education Statistics. That means, many children and teens are starting to become anxious about going back to school with questions such as, “Will I like my teachers? Will I have friends? Will my classes be too hard? Will I fit in? Will I get lost?” This sense of uncertainty and uneasiness may be particularly difficult for students who have just moved, or are first-timers to elementary, middle or high school. A [...]
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a new and powerful therapeutic approach for the treatment of child anxiety. This book explains how to use the principles of ACT in parenting, techniques that are especially helpful with anxious children. I just heard Dr. Coyne at the IOCDF conference this past weekend in Boston and she's very good. Check it out! Dr. Chris [...]
Check out this TV interview with Dr. Chris McCarthy regarding simple things you can do that fosters your child's mental development. [...]
Anxiety among young adults seems to be increasing. Research shows that there may be a correlation to increased levels of anxiety in young people and social media exposure. A 2012 study by the Psychology Department at Michigan State University found a link between social media use and symptoms of social anxiety and depression in college students. The study monitored more than 300 undergraduate students’ social media usage, including the use of instant messaging, email, and the Internet. The students who multitasked, (meaning they used a variety of social media platforms at the same time) [...]
Parents know just how important school friendships are for their children. Friendships are an important part of everyone’s lives – helping to boost self-esteem, teaching valuable lessons and skills, and providing much needed moral support through what can be some tough years, developmentally. Learning how to form friendships is a vital social skill for kids to have because it paves the way for a healthy foundation in future relationships. But some kids struggle more than others when engaging with their peers. While parents can’t make friends for their children, they can certainly help them [...]
In this TV interview, Dr. Christopher McCarthy defines the core traits of effective limit setting and then how to best apply them for each age- early childhood, mid childhood, and adolescence. Watch Interview [...]
Anxiety in school can sometimes be relatively easy to detect. A child is nervous before taking a test or before meeting new people. But every child is different, and her anxiety can take on the look of something that looks like an upset stomach, outbursts or other disruptive behaviors, ADHD, or even sometimes a learning disorder. The problem is that millions of youth who are students in the United States suffer from clinically significant anxiety without it being recognized or treated at all. Left unaddressed, these students can experience considerable disruptions in their academic, social and [...]
In this post, I am going to describe some of the “forms” or configurations of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). A bit like looking at buildings from a distance. You can clearly see they are different but if you get up close you can see lots of unique detail. The first post was looking at buildings from an airplane (so to speak) so you only see major differences. In this post it will be closer but there is just no way to cover every detail. If you want a pretty thorough checklist of most details you can take a look at the checklists found here. (You will have to go to the bottom of the page [...]
Perfectionism is a personality disposition characterized by exceptionally high standards for performance along with tendencies for over critical self-evaluations of one’s behavior. This framework makes it impossible for perfectionists to fully achieve their standards, thus, they are often dissatisfied with their achievements and, consequently, their lives. More recent research has shown that perfectionism isn’t nicely contained into a one-dimensional characteristic, but, instead, has two different dimensions – “perfectionist strivings” (PS+) and “perfectionistic concerns." [...]
In this TV interview, Turnaround co-creator Dr. Chris McCarthy discusses helpful tips to help you keep your intimate relationships fresh and alive! Watch Interview [...]
Emetophobia is the fear of vomiting, others vomiting, or the effects of vomiting. It is from the greek word "emesis" meaning vomit and "phobos" meaning fear. The reason we call it hidden is because it is so little known. Virtually everyone has heard of phobias in children like fear of needles or snakes. However, people are often surprised this is a phobia. The reason we call it an epidemic is because it is far more widespread and debilitating than one would expect. Like any phobia the fear, when triggered, can be overwhelming. When something triggers a fear response, one thing the body does [...]
The odds are extremely high that children with anxiety disorders will have a parent with similar or even identical disorders. Researchers from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center studied a number of parent-child pairs to look at the association of risk for developing an anxiety disorder if a parent struggled with one, and the findings did show a definitive link. In fact, the results (of studying the parent-child pairs) found as many as one in five kids will suffer from an anxiety disorder with it usually going unrecognized. Clearing Up Trickle-Down Confusion Social anxiety was the most prevalent [...]
Anxiety disorders are one of the most common forms of psychopathology among young people, with prevalence estimates ranging from 5% to 25% worldwide. Of these types of disorders, separation anxiety disorder (SAD) is the most frequently diagnosed early childhood disorder, roughly making up 50% of the referrals for mental health treatment of anxiety disorders. Specifically, the American Psychiatric Association characterizes SAD as having “developmentally inappropriate and excessive anxiety concerning separation from home or from those to whom the individual is attached.” Children exhibiting SAD [...]
