Freeing Your Child from Anxiety Quotes

“What is worry telling you about this? What do you think is true? Does that sound right to you? Do you think that is really going to happen, or is it just scary to hear that idea?” When parents pose questions this way, it is a great relief for children. They get to see their worry at a distance, and have their opportunity to “tell on worry” rather than feeling responsible or blamed for what worry is telling them.”
― Tamar E. Chansky, Freeing Your Child from Anxiety: Practical Strategies to Overcome Fears, Worries, and Phobias and Be Prepared for Life--from Toddlers to Teens

“Kids don’t have to stop the thoughts. They simply need to change their relationship to their thoughts. The more your child can learn to trust themselves, and not their anxiety, the more they will be able to put the worry thoughts aside.”
― Tamar E. Chansky, Freeing Your Child from Anxiety: Practical Strategies to Overcome Fears, Worries, and Phobias and Be Prepared for Life--from Toddlers to Teens

“The angry-anxious child: Walking on eggshells, prickly to the touch, the angry anxious child is as much in need of your help as he is insistent that he isn’t. He doesn’t want to be in the situation he’s in—the vulnerability he feels is unacceptable to him. When you try to help, he may feel at first as if you are shining a light on his worst attribute. Your job as a parent of an angry-anxious child is to help him understand that even very successful people have anxiety. You’ll learn to reassure him that anxiety is not his fault, and that there are straightforward ways to take charge of it so it doesn’t interfere with his life or define him. The”
― Tamar E. Chansky, Freeing Your Child from Anxiety: Practical Strategies to Overcome Fears, Worries, and Phobias and Be Prepared for Life--from Toddlers to Teens

“There is substantial evidence that tic disorders have a genetic component. They may be caused by an oversensitivity to the neurotransmitter dopamine, which controls movement, and they may originate in the basal ganglia, the part of the brain that controls behaviors.”
― Tamar E. Chansky, Freeing Your Child from Anxiety: Practical Strategies to Overcome Fears, Worries, and Phobias and Be Prepared for Life--from Toddlers to Teens

“So even if what might have started as a negative cue—pull that hair—ends with a positive result—feeling good—this feedback loop gets reinforced. The brain learns quickly what feels good and seeks to repeat it. We can interrupt that cycle with other choices of other ways to respond; this is how treatment works.”
― Tamar E. Chansky, Freeing Your Child from Anxiety: Practical Strategies to Overcome Fears, Worries, and Phobias and Be Prepared for Life--from Toddlers to Teens

“anxious kids are just following the instructions that their worry brain is giving: Proceed with caution; handle with care; warning: danger ahead.”
― Tamar E. Chansky, Freeing Your Child from Anxiety: Practical Strategies to Overcome Fears, Worries, and Phobias and Be Prepared for Life--from Toddlers to Teens