Raising Worry-Free Girls

1-Types of worriers

• Exploders-need for control, worries come out, they feel better, but we feel worse

• Imploders-need for control too, but inward suppression of anxiety, often somatic symptoms

2-15-20% of children are born with a temperament that predisposes them to anxiety-most at risk are gifted and those prone to negativity.

3-Tell your girls. “Your pain is important, but you don’t have to make it bigger than it is for me to hear you.”

4-Cognitive Behavior Therapy-the way we think influences our feelings and therefore our behaviors, so we can work to change the way we think.

5-Suffering produces perseverance-character-hope.  It’s both biblical and scientific.  

6-Flexibility quiets down an overactive amygdala-which is prone to false alarms.  Brains that worry chronically, become wired to worry even more.

7-Exposure therapy is helpful to overcome her worry monster with your help and support

8-Accomodations strengthen her anxious symptoms and diminishes her ability to work through the worry.

9-Name the “worry monster” in order to take away its power.

10-Anxiety causes your daughter to become disconnected from the present, but mindfulness and grounded recenter and refocus.  Memorizing and reciting scripture is a gold mine, especially when paired with deep breathing.   (Breath As Prayer is an excellent resource for that, too!)

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