What does therapy look like for an anxious 7yo?

[Anonymous]

My first grader has always been a somewhat anxious kid, but recently it's seeming to get in the way of normal functioning in a way it hadn't before. We're now looking into therapy and I'm curious what to expect. I'm also anxious (kid probably gets it from me!) and have found CBT quite helpful in the past, but I don't know if that's appropriate for this age.

[Anonymous]

Its usually play therapy at that age. They play games (like go fish or battleship), or play with fidget toys, talk about the day, what went well, what didn't. Talk about things they like, things they don't. In the games, some challenges may come up. All of these lead to prompts (challenge in the game, something upsetting happened at school, something that kept them up last night) allow the therapist to help them talk through it and learn skills to address (e.g. breathing techniques). It feels seamless in the session, so the child doesn't feel like the therapist is going on and on about it. These books may help you learn some techniques that would help your child, we found it helpful with ours:

https://www.amazon.com/When-Worries-Get-Too-Big/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1591473144

[Anonymous]

We have been in therapy for almost two months and the progress I've seen is so amazing. My daughter has generalized anxiety as do I. I have done a lot of therapy over the years and I'll say I'm humbled by how much I'm leaning from the lens of a parent.

We are doing ERP - exposure and response prevention. It's evidence based and has very good outcomes.

The therapist also has us reading a booked called "Helping your anxious child" and we do worksheets and homework weekly. We are very invested.

I cried to the therapist in the parent intake meeting out of fear I was making it a thing by taking her to therapy or she was started a 40 year relationship with therapy. I couldn't feel more different now and am so glad we made the decision to go.

She also agrees and says how much it's helped her. Good luck - just wanted to share a positive outcome!

[Anonymous]

I really don't think it's very productive at that age. You're better off getting therapy yourself and then talking things through with your child. You need the therapy for your anxiety, and you can apply the therapy methods to your child and have a better result, because a big hurdle with external therapists working with very young children (unless it's cases of parental abuse), is gaining their trust. You already have that.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I’m definitely dealing with my own anxiety! We had a little talk last night about tricks that you can use when you’re worrying, and I will try some of those books. It just breaks my heart because I know what it’s like and I don’t want that for my kid.

[Anonymous]

OP again. It looks like SPACE is the gold standard for parent training? I got the books from the library and will try to implement.

[Anonymous]

My sweet 8 year needed therapy after having a panic attack at sleepaway camp.

Her therapy was art based so they would do art together and come up with methods of recognizing her anxiety symptoms and have ways to counteract it.

I found it so valuable and worthwhile. I tried techniques with her by myself before therapy, and I would end up feeling frustrated and helpless because after trying a bunch of techniques, she’d be like, I feel the same and at that point (it was always bedtime) I’d be ready to snap, “Just go to sleep!”

I called around to probably 10 practices before I found someone with an opening and they also took insurance. I feel super lucky to have found them. After 5 months of therapy DD was able to fall asleep on her own (which was HUGE) and after 9 months we went from 2x a month to 1x/month and then stopped. I really feel it helped her immensely. And me too!

It helped that our doctor gave us a huge list of mental health practices for all of NOVA. It gave me a place to start. If you are in NOVA I’d be happy to pass the list on.

[Anonymous]

We have been in therapy for almost two months and the progress I've seen is so amazing. My daughter has generalized anxiety as do I. I have done a lot of therapy over the years and I'll say I'm humbled by how much I'm leaning from the lens of a parent.

Can you share the name of your therapist?

[Anonymous]

My DC started therapy at age 7 - combination of CBT and ERP because while DC has GAD there were also very specific triggers that needed to be worked on.

Hugely helpful and impactful. Look for a therapist who focuses on anxiety in young children - they are out there.

FWIW, my DC made a ton of progress with therapy alone but was still getting (very) occasional panic attacks. One of the triggers would happen and CBT couldn’t kick in before the panic attacks did. So ended up adding in some meds and now combined with therapy DC doing very, very well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have been in therapy for almost two months and the progress I've seen is so amazing. My daughter has generalized anxiety as do I. I have done a lot of therapy over the years and I'll say I'm humbled by how much I'm leaning from the lens of a parent.

We are doing ERP - exposure and response prevention. It's evidence based and has very good outcomes.

The therapist also has us reading a booked called "Helping your anxious child" and we do worksheets and homework weekly. We are very invested.

I cried to the therapist in the parent intake meeting out of fear I was making it a thing by taking her to therapy or she was started a 40 year relationship with therapy. I couldn't feel more different now and am so glad we made the decision to go.

She also agrees and says how much it's helped her. Good luck - just wanted to share a positive outcome!

+1 for ERP - 6/7 year old daughter with OCD/anxiety made dramatic progress in 3 months with this approach

Also check out SPACE program which is focused on what parents can do

[Anonymous]

Therapy did nothing for my 7 year old until she was medicated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really don't think it's very productive at that age. You're better off getting therapy yourself and then talking things through with your child. You need the therapy for your anxiety, and you can apply the therapy methods to your child and have a better result, because a big hurdle with external therapists working with very young children (unless it's cases of parental abuse), is gaining their trust. You already have that.

Could not disagree more!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I’m definitely dealing with my own anxiety! We had a little talk last night about tricks that you can use when you’re worrying, and I will try some of those books. It just breaks my heart because I know what it’s like and I don’t want that for my kid.

I can totally relate to this. I think though, if I had learned the tools to deal with anxiety when I was a kid as opposed to in my 20s, I would have had such a head start!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

We have been in therapy for almost two months and the progress I've seen is so amazing. My daughter has generalized anxiety as do I. I have done a lot of therapy over the years and I'll say I'm humbled by how much I'm leaning from the lens of a parent.

Can you share the name of your therapist?

We are not local I'm sorry. I would research ERP and therapists who do them. Also therapists who are evidenced based and believe therapy should ideally be means to an end. I have always done just talk therapy where we didn't talk about desired outcomes. I like the focus on goals, symptom relief and measured progress.