Your Anxious Child

Heather White is the founder of OneGreenThing.org. She has spent over 20 years as a climate activist, including serving as presidential campaign staffer for Al Gore. She has published three books on climate change: One Green Thing: Discover Your Hidden Power to Help Save the Planet, Eco-Anxiety: Saving Our Sanity, Our Kids, and Our Future and 60 Days to a Greener Life: Ease Eco-anxiety Through Joyful Daily Action Heather provides an invitation to discover how you can participate in solving the most pressing issue of our time by exploring what your service "superpower" might be. Heather infuses an energy and optimism to the topic of climate changes that we all can take inspiration from. 

Lenka Glassman, PsyD has just published What To Do When You Panic: A Kid's Guide to Transforming Panic Into Personal Power She has also written a book for middle school children How to Master Your Mood in Middle School She is a clinical psychologist practicing in Bethesda MD and can be found at drlenkaglassman.com Her workbook fills a much needed gap in helping children with intense feelings that really take over. She delightfully engages her school age audience with using "magic tricks" to tame panic such "magic breathing", and  paradoxically doing the opposite of what "panic" wants. Parents will feel more confident handling tough moments after reading this book. 

Ellen Hendriksen, PhD has just published her second book, How To Be Enough: Self-Acceptance for Self-Critics and Perfectionists. I talked previously with Dr Hendrikson on this podcast on 1/30/2023 after she published her first book, How to Be Yourself: Quiet Your Inner Critic and Rise Above Social Anxiety. In both podcasts, you will find her eloquent and deeply informative. In this podcast we talk about perfectionism and social anxiety. Her new book is fun to read and deeply informative on the topic of perfectionism. She describes the alarming increase in perfectionism and the 7 shifts that are needed to develop a more balanced life.  For more information about Dr Hendrikson https://www.ellenhendriksen.com/    

Climate change and the anxiety children may experience learning about it, is a challenging topic. Leslie Davenport is a climate psychology educator and therapist. She has just written What to Do When Climate Change Scares You: A Kid's Guide to Dealing with Climate Change Stress for ages 6-11. For tweens and up she had previously published All The Feelings Under the Sun: How To Deal Climate Change. In this podcast, Leslie Davenport explores some the complex issues around climate change, how we maintain hope in the face of some very serious facts, and how we can help children struggling with this issue.  For more information about Leslie Davenport https://lesliedavenport.com/  

Tovah P. Klein, PhD is an adjunct associate professor of psychology at Barnard College and director of the Barnard College Center for Toddler Development. She has written two books and published numerous journal articles. Her first book, How Toddlers Thrive is absolutely one of my favorite books. She helps us decode toddler behavior which can often be quite baffling and confusing.  Her most recent book Raising Resilience could not be more timely. It is about how to do help parent children so that they can deal with uncertainty and adversity. Her knowledge of young children brings fresh insights into what  children of all ages, need from us in order to thrive in a very uncertain world.  https://howtoddlersthrive.com/

Melanie McNally, PsyD has just published Helping Your Unmotivated Teen: A Parent's Guide to Unlock your Child's Potential. She was seeing a lot of parents complain about how their teens appeared lazy and what she found was it was really a problem in motivation. Dr McNally talked with me about how to think about motivation and what goes into it,  She talks about how motivation involves three skillsets: drive, grit and goals and then how to address difficulties with skillset Dr McNally is a licensed clinical psychologist  who is also the author of The Emotionally Intelligent Teen. You can learn about Dr McNally at her website https://www.destinationyou.net/

PDA or Pathological Demand Avoidance, alternatively also called Persistent Demand for Autonomy is a topic that is getting increasing attention in the United States. Ruth Fidler and Diane Gould have just published Navigating PDA in America In this interview, I talk with Diane Gould, LISCW, who founded the PDA North America in 2020, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about this condition. PDA is viewed as a type of autism in which ordinary demands of everyday life are experienced as a threat and consequently fought against. In this interview, Ms Gould explains this complex condition and how parents can respond to it. For more information about PDA https://pdanorthamerica.org/

Anna Housley Juster has just published a delightful book How to Train Your Amydgala, illustrated by Cynthia Cliff. In this interview we talk about her book and how to use it effectively with children. This children's book talks about how befriend the amydgala, our first responder to any threat or danger, and how to talk it down from any false alarm. A book which is both accessible to any child and accurate with regard to the latest neuroscience is going to be an important addition to the books I share with families. A helpful resource for all children but especially for those who struggle with anxiety Anne Housley Juster, PhD, LICSW is a licensed mental health clinician and education consultant. Among the many things Dr Juster has done, she was for many years as the director of content for Sesame Street.

Peter Vermeulen, an internationally recognized expert on autism and author of over 15 books, discusses his groundbreaking hypothesis of context blindness as a core feature of autism. He explores how understanding this concept can illuminate the unusual fears and behaviors seen in autistic individuals. Vermeulen emphasizes the importance of predictability during medical procedures and effective strategies for enhancing contextual awareness in children. He also highlights how nurturing their unique interests can link to practical skills, fostering both competence and happiness.

If you have had more than one child, it is very hard not to realize how important temperament is when it comes to children. It certainly plays a role in the development of anxiety disorders. In today's episode I talk with Drs Lengua and Gartstein about how we need to take temperament into account in raising our children. It is such an important topic that can such a difference in raising our children and helping  us really see them as the individuals they are.   Liliana J. Lengua, PhD and Maria A. Gartstein, PhD have just published Parenting with Temperament in Mind: Navigating The Challenges and Celebrating Your Child's Strengths Dr Lengua is Martiz Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington, Director of the Center for Child and Family Well-Being. She is the author of over 150 published articles on the effects of stress and adversity on children. For more information about Dr Lengua https://ccfwb.uw.edu/team/liliana-lengua/ https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/contributors/liliana-j-lengua-phd Dr Garstein is Professor of Psychology and Director of Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program at Washington State University. For more information about Dr Garstein https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/contributors/maria-gartstein-phd