Helping Your Anxious Teen: Positive Parenting Strategies to Help Your Teen Beat Anxiety, Stress, and Worry

by Sheila Achar Josephs

"... thoughtful tools for helping young people help themselves." —Library Journal Parenting a teen isn't easy, but parenting an anxious teen is especially challenging. Written by a psychologist and expert on adolescent anxiety, this essential book will show you what really works to overcome all types of teen anxiety and how to apply specific skills to support your teen.    Most parents find it frustrating when common sense and logical methods such as reassurance don’t seem to work to allay their teen’s anxiety.  They want to   Why is anxiety so hard to get rid of once it takes hold?  Why aren’t my efforts to help working?  And how can I best help my teen break free from anxiety to become happy and resilient?    This powerful book, based on cutting-edge research and cognitive behavioral strategies, will help you develop the know-how to effectively manage teen anxiety.  You’ll learn the best ways to support your teen in overcoming problematic thinking and fears, discover what behaviors and coping strategies unwittingly make anxiety worse, and understand how anxiety is best defeated with surprisingly counterintuitive methods.  Step-by-step guidance, along with numerous real-life examples and exercises, will help you redirect your teen’s worries when they intensifyReduce social anxiety, perfectionism, and panic attacksProactively address common triggers of stress and anxietyImplement a proven approach for decreasing avoidance and facing fearsFrom overcoming minor angst to defeating paralyzing fear, you and your teen will feel empowered by radically new ways of responding to anxiety. With Helping Your Anxious Teen, you’ll have a wealth of research-backed strategies to lead you in being an effective anxiety coach for your teen.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Self Help, Psychology

235 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 2, 2017

Reviews

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was really looking forward to reading this one. My child with anxiety isn't actually a teen yet and won't be for several years, but I think the strategies presented in this book will work for both him and for my husband, who is also anxious. We live in a culture where anxiety is becoming more and more of a problem. This would be an excellent book for just about any parent of a teenager or soon-to-be teen!

[Chris Boutté · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son just entered his sophomore year of high school, and while he’s always been a great student, he’s finally reached a point where the workload is overwhelming him. I’m a big mental health guy, but it’s been a while since I’ve read a book about improving mental health for young people, so I bought some books and this is the first one I read, and it’s fantastic.

I’m not 100% sure if my son’s problem is anxiety, but I thought this would be a good starting point. This book has an insane amount of practical advice from a woman that’s been helping teens for years. Each chapter is short and discusses different reasons teens get anxious. There were some chapters that weren’t really applicable, but I can honestly say the advice from this book has been super helpful regardless of whether or not my teen is struggling with that specific issue.

I saw some negative reviews of this book that said, “I already knew all of this” and rated it low. Well, I knew all of this as well, but it was a good refresher and reminded me of some tools I could use with my teen that I’d forgot about, and they’ve definitely helped. I just wanted to point that out because that’s a strange way to rate a book. In my opinion, you need to ask who the target audience is and ask if it’d be useful to them. This one definitely is and it was even helpful for someone like me who has read hundreds of mental health books.

[Way-Way Pee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does any parent ever read a parent book and think, “nah, I don’t need this; I’m nailing this parenting then!”  Yeah, me either.  Being a teen is hard – way harder than when we were kids growing up in the 80’s and 90’s – and it is estimated that 1 in 3 teens are dealing with anxiety or an anxiety disorder.  It is a helpless feeling for parents to know how to best support them when it is estimated that over 30% of adults are managing their own anxiety as well. 

This straightforward book gives practical tools on how to help your teen with their challenges related to anxiety and anxiety disorders.  My only wish is that there were a book like this for the teens themselves.

Please, if you suspect your child is suffering from anxiety, depression, or an anxiety disorder, get them someone to talk to that they and you trust.  Get someone to talk to yourself, and remind them that the world is a better place with them here. 

If they, or you, need someone to talk to or don’t know where to go, dial 988 for the Suicide Prevention and Crisis Lifeline.  Manned 24/7, there is someone there for you.

[Aud · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had some helpful suggestions and helped me understand my 3 sons' anxieties more. It seemed a bit repetitive, but I wish I had know earlier some signs to look for and how bad anxieties could get. We did get professional help with my oldest when he was 12 and are still getting him help, but he did end up with a pretty sever anxiety disorder that he is still struggling with at age 21.

[Danica Martinez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat helpful. It ends up that I was already implementing a lot of the strategies the author mentions, to no avail. What if your teen is also very stubborn? Or the anxiety causes behavior problems? I thought the book was pretty dry and repetitive. The real-life life examples seemed a little too squeaky clean to resonate with me.

[Elizabeth Swift · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very helpful with strategies that sound very do-able. A lot of the ways to deal would work for anyone with a passing anxiety, not just people close to or having clinical anxiety. I enjoyed reading it.

[Natalie Kleiber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful!

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information, but a bit dry and repetitive.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was well organized and informative.

[Suzanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Like most advice I've read or received,...

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pointed out good things to be aware of but I didn't find it as useful as I had hoped for.

[Michelle Olms · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Borrowed this from the library. Ended up buying a copy for our family. This a great resource. Will be using the resources in this book for years to come.