Your Anxious Child

In this interview, I talk with two experts on the topic of hoarding. Randy Frost, PhD published the first scientific study of hoarding in 1993 and book Compulsive Hoarding and The Meaning of Things with Gail Steketee was a popular best seller. Eric Storch has published extensively on the topic of OCD and related disorders in children. He is a Professor in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston Texas. 

Dr. Eli Lebowitz has developed a parent based program, SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Children's Emotions). This innovative program helps anxious children by working exclusively through the parent. It has been proven as effective as individual CBT for children. For more information and a list of SPACE providers go to www.spacetreatment.net

Interoception is one the hidden senses that provides us with information about how are body is doing. In this interview Kelly Mahler will explain how Interoception is critical to understanding you anxious child, how it the basis for mindfulness and much more. Kelly Mahler has written several books on Interoception such as The Interoception Curriculum  and My Interoception Workbook:A Guide for Adolescents, Teens and Adults with Chloe Rothschild and Jarvis  Alma. She has a web site with many useful resources on the topic of Interoception https://www.kelly-mahler.com

Sometimes phobias and other forms of anxiety can be the result of your child's sensory system overresponding or underresponding to sensory input. In this interview, Ruth Goldfinger Golomb, LCPC describes the way in which problems with sensory regulation can be reflected in emotions and behavior. Helping Your Child with Sensory Regulation: Skills to Manage Emotional and Behavioral Components of Your Child's Sensory Processing Challenges by Suzanne Mouton-Odum, PhD and Ruth Goldfinger Golomb, LCPC. This book compliments their earlier book Psychological Interventions for Children with Sensory Dysregulation by Ruth Goldfinger Golomb and Suzanne Mouton-Odum. Suzanne Mouton-Odum, Ph.D in Houston Texas at Psychology Houston, PC, The Center for Cognitive Behavioral Treatment. Ruth G. Golomb, LCPC is at the Behavior Therapy Center of Greater Washington. 

Dr Sharon Saline is an expert on ADHD in children and adolescents. Her recent book What Your ADHD Child Wishes you Knew: Working Together to Empower Kids For Success in School and Life  is based on her interviews of children with ADHD. It is a book with  compelling stories and practical advice. Today she talked about the experience of anxiety with children who have ADHD. 

Joan Lovett, MD has recently retired from active practice but graciously agreed to do this interview. She is a behavioral pediatrician who has written two books on using EMDR with children: Small Wonders: Healing Childhood Trauma with EMDR and Trauma-Attachment Tangle: Modifying EMDR to Help Children Resolve Trauma and Develop Loving Relationships.  Among other things she creatively uses story telling to help children resolve early traumas. Her books are useful for both parent and clinician.   

Tom Bunn is a return guest to this podcast where in an early episode he talked about the fear of flying based on his earlier book SOAR: The Breakthrough Treatment for Fearing of Flying. He recently published Panic Free: The 10-Day Program to End Panic, Anxiety and Claustrophobia which is the topic of the current interview. His creative approach to panic utilizes the latest insights from neuroscience. His approach is especially useful for panic triggered by infrequent events such as flying, thunderstorms, trips to the dentist and getting shots.

Amanda Stern recently published her memoir Little Panic: Dispatches From An Anxious Life, a compelling story of growing up as an anxious child. She is also the author of The Long Haul and eleven books for children written under the pseudonyms Fiona Rosenbloom and AJ Stern. In her memoir, she provides a very compelling description of what it is like to grow up struggling with anxiety. I found the way she describes how alone and different anxious children can feel very helpful and compelling

Somatic Experiencing Therapy is a type of therapy developed by Peter Levine to deal with trauma, but which is extremely relevant  helping all sorts of anxiety conditions in children. When children become anxious they often "shut down" or "freeze up" and this type of therapy has an important contribution to helping children with this part of the fight/flight/freeze response. Candy Smith is a licensed clinical professional counselor, somatic experiencing practitioner and registered play therapist as well as certified yoga instructor. She is a highly regarded therapist in translating somatic experiencing therapy into effective treatment for children. More information about Candy Smith can be found on web site candysmithcounseling.com where she has a blog and a series of videos explaining Somatic Experiencing Therapy. The videos are short and to the point, just want the busy parent and professional need.

In this interview we explore how some avoidant behavior may be a function of sensory dysregulation rather than what we typically think of an anxiety. Ruth Goldfinger Golomb and Suzanne Mouton-Odum have written Psychological Interventions for Children with Sensory Dysregulation  which discusses how children with sensory systems that either overregister or underregister sensory input can appear to be anxious. A child with a very sensitive auditory system may avoid fire alarms because of the intense sensory discomfort the sound creates rather than a fear of something bad happening. We explore this important topic in this interview. More information about Ruth Goldfinger Golomb can be found at www.behaviortherapycenter.com