Reply to This isn't normal is it?

Forum Index » Elementary School-Aged Kids

Reply to "This isn't normal is it?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Someone up thread recommended SPACE therapy and that’s exactly what was recommended for our anxious child. I haven’t started it yet but I’m currently reading Breaking Free of Childhood Anxiety and OCD (a book that outlines the ideas behind SPACE) and it’s been helpful so far.[/quote]

My child is extremely anxious and I had a lot of hope that SPACE would be helpful.  We couldn't really afford the many thousands of dollars that the official program costs locally but I read the book that it's based on.  It seems to me that it's really for specific types of phobias: social anxiety, situational anxiety, etc.  My child has none of those.  She has generalized anxiety disorder.  So at night she'll feel a sense of terror but she can't describe what it's even about.   You can't really do exposure therapy for that.  Unless I'm misunderstanding the program, I don't see how it works for kids who have unspecific feelings that are very strong, but have no phobias about normal life situations.  Has anyone seen SPACE work for non-specific anxiety for a kid who participates in daily life just fine but feels fear and dread every night?[/quote]

I haven’t done SPACE but I have done a ton of therapy and reading for generalized anxiety. It’s true that the relevance of “exposure therapy” seems less clear cut for free-floating anxiety vs a specific phobia or a well-defined panic attack. But the key is exposure to the sensations and cognitions of anxiety and tolerating them, no matter what triggers them. For parents, how you respond to you child’s anxiety can make a big difference- depending on how you respond you can perpetuate the avoidance activities and the anxiety; or help the child learn to tolerate anxiety.

I know this stuff is way too expensive but a course of parenting therapy with an actual expert in pediatric anxiety could be life-changing for you and your daughter. Totally worth the money IMO. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics