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 Ou r  Future and 60 Days to a Greener Life: Ease Eco-anxiety Through...

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 Ou r  Future and 60 Days to a Greener Life: Ease Eco-anxiety Through...

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...

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 ta...

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...

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...

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 skill...

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 th...

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...

In this interview, I talk with Peter Vermeulen about his hypothesis that context blindness is the primary feature of autism. This is a perspective that I think beautifully explains some of the unusual fears and phobias that autistic individuals and thus significantly enlarges our understanding of autism and anxiety. His most recent book with Kobe Vanroy is What Really Works for Children with Autis...

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 child...

Paul DePompo, PsyD, ABPP and Cassandra Moore, LMFT have written Tic'd: a child's guide to defeating tics.  Dr DePompo is the founder of the Cogntive Behavioral Therapy Institute of Southern California. Cassandra Moore, LMFT is in private practice specializing in Tourette Disorder, ADHD, mood disorder and and anxiety disorders.  They have written a very practical and helpful book for children deali...

Danielle Dick, PhD is the distinguished Commonwealth Professor of Psychology and Human and Molecular Genetics at Virgina Commonwealth University. She is an internationally recognized expert on genetic and environmental  influences on human behavior.  In this interview, we talk about her book The Child Code. In this book, she provides a interesting review on how genes influence behavior, spoiler al...

Dr Sherryse Corrow is a professor of psychology at Bethel University in St Paul University, Minnesota. She is talking  with me today about her research into face-blindness or Prosopagnosia. Developmental Prosopagnosia is a condition that has been estimated to effect 1 in 50 with very profound implications for those with this condition. Quite simply, the world is going to be a much more anxious pla...

Dr Sherryse Corrow is a professor of psychology at Bethel University in St Paul University, Minnesota. She is talking  with me today about her research into face-blindness or Prosopagnosia. Developmental Prosopagnosia is a condition that has been estimated to effect 1 in 50 with very profound implications for those with this condition. Quite simply, the world is going to be a much more anxious pla...

Kiley Hanish, OTD, PMH-C is a neurodivergent occupational therapist specializing in mental health during the perinatal period which includes pregnancy, postpartum and perinatal loss. She has coauthored "Descriptive Study of the Sensory Experiences of Autistic Mothers as Occupational Beings". Recognizing that the majority of autistic individuals experience sensory processing challenges, this study...

Jonathan Dalton, PhD is a licensed psychologist who is the founder and director of the Center for Anxiety and Behavioral Change in Rockville, MD. He specializes in the treatment of anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. He is a sought after speaker and passionate advocate of public education concerning mental health issues. In this podcast, Dr Dalton explains anxiety may present differentl...

Yshai Boussi, LPC is a licensed professional counselor who works with teens and families. Polyvagal theory developed by Steven Porges is a perspective that many clinicians have found very useful. Yshai Boussi has presented this theory in very practical terms that can help parents become more attuned to their teenager and remain more connected to them. To learn more about Yshai Boussi and view his...

Lenore Skenazy is the author of Free-Range Kids: How Parents and Teachers Can Let Go and Let Grow  and is President of Let Grow , a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting play and independence in children and adolesecence. Ms Skenazy created quite a sensation after her article "Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone" and got labeled "America's Worst Mom". This lead her to start Let G...

Linda K. Murphy is a speech language pathologist who has written two books, Declarative Language Handbook and Co-Regulation Handbook.  I found her books wonderful in clarifying how language can either turn the volume up or down on anxiety. Imperative language, those questions or comments that demand a response can create stress or anxiety. In contrast, declarative or descriptive language can help...

Regine Galanti, PhD has just published Parenting Anxious Kids: Understanding Anxiety in Children by Age and Stage.  She is the author of several other books aimed at helping children with anxiety such as Anxiety Relief for Teens.   She is the founder of Long Island Behavioral Psychology and can be found at https://www.longislandbehavioral.com/team In this interview we have a chance to explore her...

Dr Jame Gregory is a clinical psychologist and researcher based at the University of Oxford. She has written with Adeel Ahmod a very helpful book on Misophonia that clinicians, those with misophonia and significant others will truly benefit by. She helps clarify why misophonia often gets attached to a significant person and details a program of therapy that can lessen the severity of this conditio...

It was a pleasure to have Natasha Daniels as a return guest on this podcast to talk about her new book Crushing OCD: Workbook Kids.   This book is going to be an excellent resource for families and therapists trying to help children with OCD. One of strengths of this book is that it lays out in very digestible units the sequence of steps needed in order to "crush OCD". It is also no small feat the...

Stephen P. H. Whiteside, PhD is a clinical psychologist, Professor of Psychology in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, and Director of the Pediatric Anxiety Disorders Prgram at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.  His new book will be out in April in which he  outlines parent-coached exposure therapy. Unlike other therapy experiences, where children meet alone with a therapist, Dr Whit...

I had the opportunity to talk with Aimee Kotrba, PhD on the occasion of the release of the second edition of Selective Mutism: An Assessment and Intervention Guide for Therapists, Educators and Parents co-authored with Katelyn Reed, M.S . She is an international expert on the topic of selective mutism and I have used her material frequently with children struggling with selective mutism. Listen to...