Anxiety
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is excessive and persistent worry/fear about everyday situations.
What are coping skills? Name 3 healthy coping skills.
Coping skills are things we can do in the moment to reduce anxiety, sadness or other emotions.
Ex)
Reading
Deep breathing (4-7-8 breathing)Asking for help
journaling
Anxiety in children and teens is rare.
FALSE! 1 in 3 children/teens experience anxiety.
What do you worry about the most?
How might you feel when you become anxious?
Fast heart rate
breathing heavily
sweating
feeling tired
unable to focus
Name 2 unhealthy coping skills
Yelling/Screaming
Fighting/hurting others
Destroying property
People experience anxiety the most on Wednesdays.
FALSE!
People experience anxiety on any day.
Does your worry every stop you from doing something that you want to do?
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?
What are automatic negative thoughts (ANT)? What should you do if you have an ANT?
ANTS are a type of negative self-talk that appears immediately, without us being aware.
Ex) you forget your Chromebook at home and immediately think "I'm so stupid."
If you have these thoughts, you should challenge/fact-check them!
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.
People often have different ways of coping with their anxiety.
True
How do you currently cope with your anxiety? Is it healthy? Does it work?
What does fight, flight or freeze mean? How does it relate to anxiety?
Fight-flight-freeze is your bodies natural reaction to danger, such as an oncoming car or ball being thrown your way. In these situations you can fight (try and catch the ball) flight (run away) or freeze (stay still and get hit with the ball).
In anxiety, we experience this reaction when no real danger is present or when the danger is long gone.
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?