Anxiety
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is excessive and persistent worry/fear about everyday situations.
What are coping skills?
Coping skills are things we can do in the moment to reduce anxiety, sadness or other emotions.
Anxiety in children and teens is rare.
FALSE! 1 in 3 children/teens experience anxiety.
What do you worry about the most?
What is your favorite coping skill?
How might you feel anxiety in your body?
Fast heart rate
breathing heavily
sweating
feeling tired
unable to focus
Name 2 unhealthy coping skills
Yelling/Screaming
Fighting/hurting others
Destroying property
True or False
Not getting enough sleep can cause your anxiety to increase.
TRUE
Does your worry every stop you from doing something that you want to do?
What are questions you can ask yourself when you are feeling anxious?
Is this thought true?
Is this thought helpful?
Is this thought causing my anxiety to get bigger?
What are some things that are inside vs. outside of our control? How does this relate to anxiety?
Inside: our behaviors, our thoughts/feelings, our choices
Outside: other peoples feelings/thoughts, the weather, classmates/friends.
Often times anxiety is our brain trying control things we have no control over.
Is avoiding the problem a good coping skill?
No! Avoidance is an unhealthy coping skill because it does not deal with the problem. In the future, if the problem reappears it will still elicit unwanted feelings.
Some signs of anxiety are…
Worrying a lot
Feeling hot
Shaky hands
Fast heart rate
True! All of these are signs you are experiencing anxiety. However, there are many more!
Have you ever had anxiety where your heart raced, couldn't catch your breath or felt lightheaded? When? What did you do?
It can cause us to miss out on things, feel uncomfortable and keep us "stuck."
What are examples of coping skills that can help with anxiety?
Journaling
Deep breathing
Talking about it
Using a fidget toy
Talking a walk
What are coping skills that can be done alone? In a group?
Alone: journaling, art, exercise.
Group: talk openly, listen to music, go for a walk.
TRUE or FALSE
Asking for help is a bad coping skill
FALSE
How do you currently cope with your anxiety? Is it healthy? Does it work?
Blaming others or myself
Looking for trouble
Unhappy guessing
Exaggerating
What is the difference between a true alarm and a false alarm?
A true alarm is when we experience anxiety in a situation where there may be a threat present.
A false alarm is when we experience worry and anxiety with no threat present.
Scenario:
Timmy is a 15 year old boy. When at school or in other social situations, Timmy gets hot/sweaty and feels like his heart is beating very fast. How can Timmy cope with his anxiety?
Timmy can take a step back, do some breathing exercises or other coping skills to reduce his anxiety. Once he feels better he can reenter the situation.
Most adults have experienced anxiety.
TRUE!
What would be different for you if you didn't have anxiety/worry?
How can changing our thoughts help with our anxiety?
Our thoughts effect how we feel and how we behave, if we can change our thoughts it can make us feel better.