Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children

TPP 316: Dr. Tamar Chansky on How to Free Our Children from Negative Thinking

Dec 20, 2022

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In this episode, we’re talking about negative thinking and how to help kids who are more “glass half empty” thinkers shift their mindset. My guest is the woman who literally wrote the book on the subject, psychologist Dr. Tamar Chansky, author of Freeing Your Child from Negative Thinking.

Tamar and I talked about what negative thinking is, whether it is possible to change, how to respond when our child is venting their unhappiness or negative thoughts to us, and Tamar’s four steps to combating negative thinking. There’s a good chance that we as the parents and caregivers and adults in the room have our own work to do when it comes to hyperfocusing or dwelling on negative thoughts, so we explore that as well. Honestly, I’ve listened to this episode 3 times already – once recording it, and two more times before releasing it because it’s packed with so many nuggets that I personally need to hear right now. I hope it lands for you the same way.

Dr. Tamar Chansky, is a psychologist and a writer on a mission to teach kids, adults, and couples how to make the mind a safer place to live by changing their relationship to anxiety one thought at a time. In 1999. Tamar founded Children’s and Adult Center for OCD and Anxiety in Plymouth Meeting, PA. In addition to the book we’re talking about today, Tamar is the author of Freeing Your Child from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Freeing Your Child from Anxiety, and Freeing Yourself from Anxiety.

Things you'll learn from this episode

Whether or not neurodivergent kids are more prone to negative thinking than neurotypical kids
What the definition of negative thinking is
Whether it’s possible for a child whose default mode is “glass half-empty” thinking to become more optimistic
What the negative patterns are that we are trying to disrupt when working on negative thinking with our kids
Whether venting is something that encourages negative thinking or not
The four steps to combat negative thinking
How to navigate the balance of protecting children from adversity and exposing them to the nature of the world around us