Condensed question: If you notice your child has anxiety, how do you approach it/handle it?
Back history:
As I child I suffered from trichotillomania (Trichotillomania is hair loss from repeated urges to pull or twist the hair until it breaks off. Patients are unable to stop this behavior, even as their hair becomes thinner.) but didn't realize it until I was an adult and a pschologist friend told me about it in one of her patients. I would pull hairs out individually until I had a bald spot and people started asking me why. Suprisingly, I just stopped doing it. However, I suffered from panic attacks when I was in public situations like a movie theater or shopping malls. My parents never did anything to address this and consequently, my 20's were spent learning how to cope with anxiety the healthy way.
Yesterday my girlfriend mentioned her daughter is losing her hair and always has her hands in it. She said she's an anxious person in general. So I shared with her my above life history and gently encouraged her to possible consider getting her daughter counseling now to learn how to cope and better control her anxious thoughts. Her moms eyes filled with tears because she didn't know what to do and felt responsible for her daughter potentially having the same adolescence I did.
So all of this made me wonder - what would you do? What are some good ideas from parents with anxious children?
I will say that my girlfriends husband is kind of a bully. He's insanely intelligent and consequently hard on his eldest daughter to be brilliant, which all signs show she is just as smart.
Back history:
As I child I suffered from trichotillomania (Trichotillomania is hair loss from repeated urges to pull or twist the hair until it breaks off. Patients are unable to stop this behavior, even as their hair becomes thinner.) but didn't realize it until I was an adult and a pschologist friend told me about it in one of her patients. I would pull hairs out individually until I had a bald spot and people started asking me why. Suprisingly, I just stopped doing it. However, I suffered from panic attacks when I was in public situations like a movie theater or shopping malls. My parents never did anything to address this and consequently, my 20's were spent learning how to cope with anxiety the healthy way.
Yesterday my girlfriend mentioned her daughter is losing her hair and always has her hands in it. She said she's an anxious person in general. So I shared with her my above life history and gently encouraged her to possible consider getting her daughter counseling now to learn how to cope and better control her anxious thoughts. Her moms eyes filled with tears because she didn't know what to do and felt responsible for her daughter potentially having the same adolescence I did.
So all of this made me wonder - what would you do? What are some good ideas from parents with anxious children?
I will say that my girlfriends husband is kind of a bully. He's insanely intelligent and consequently hard on his eldest daughter to be brilliant, which all signs show she is just as smart.
