Tips & Tools to Help with Anxiety

Tips for Parents to help your child's anxiety

1. Pay attention to your child’s feelings

2. Stay calm when your child becomes anxious about a situation or event

3. Recognize and praise small accomplishments

4. Don’t punish mistakes or lack of progress

5. Be flexible and try to maintain a normal routine.

6. Modify expectations during stressful periods

7. Plan for transition (ex: allow extra time in the morning if getting to school is difficult)

Tips for everyone to help manage your anxiety

1. Getting a checkup (this ensures that something else is not causing the symptoms)

2. Get regular exercise, nutrition, and good sleep: your body will not function properly if you don’t help maintain it

3. Avoid stimulants like caffeine and energy drinks

4. Learn and identify your triggers - situations or things that you know make you anxious

5. Identify and state the emotions your are feeling

Little things to keep in mind

1. Everyone gets anxious from time to time, it’s okay

2. Practicing meditation, breathing, yoga, visualizations - all can help build mindfulness and reduce anxiety

3. If you feel your thoughts becoming clustered or the beginning stages of anxiety increasing, get up and move for 5-10 minutes (take your thoughts and body somewhere new, even briefly to distract your thoughts)

Symptoms of Anxiety

1. Feeling Restless

2. Intrusive Thoughts

3. Anticipating the Worst Outcomes

4. Difficulty Concentration

5. Irritability

6. Muscle Pain

7. Difficulty Sleeping

8. Excessive concerns & Worries about Usual Situations

statistics

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting over 40 million adults a year or 18.1%.

Its prevalence in children has risen greatly due to COVID-19 with 20% of youth experiencing anxiety symptoms - doubling since the pandemic started.

According to the CDC, 7.1% of children aged 3-17 (approximately 1.9 million) in the U.S. have diagnosed anxiety.

---

Additional Resources

1. Angst Movie Resources

2. Anxiety Disorders, National Alliance on Mental Illness:

3. Anxiety and Depression Association of America

4. What is Social Anxiety, Child Mind Institute

5. How to use Meditation to Reduce Anxiety, Cleveland Clinic

6. What to Do (and Not Do) When Children are Anxious, Child Mind Institute

 Information from: Mental Health America, Center for Disease Control, National Institute of Mental Health, National Alliance on Mental Illness, & Child Mind Institude.