Child Anxiety Treatment at Home: What the Experts Say

If your child is struggling with anxiety, they aren’t alone—although it can certainly feel isolating at times. In fact, anxiety is one of the most commonly diagnosed mental health disorders in children, affecting an estimated 9.4% of children aged 3 to 17 years old. 

Parents often feel helpless when trying to help their children manage anxiety, but there are natural options available that can be beneficial for the whole family. And with the right strategies and support, you can help ease your child's anxiety in a safe and healthy way.

To get insight into expert-approved options for child anxiety treatment at home, we spoke with Michelle Rigg, LCSW, RPT, the Director of Community at Hopscotch. Read on for her top tips for natural anxiety relief for kids, as well as when it may be time to seek professional help from a therapist.

Expert tips for natural anxiety relief for kids 

When addressing your child’s anxiety at home, the first step is to create an environment of understanding and empathy. It’s important that you make sure they know they are not being judged or criticized.

Once your child feels comfortable and secure, you can begin to focus on building effective coping skills to help manage the anxiety. Rigg recommends starting with a biological assessment to ensure your child is getting enough sleep, staying hydrated, consuming a healthy diet, and staying physically active.

Aside from the basics, Rigg suggests a few specific tips for managing anxiety in children. These include:

1. Manage social media, television, and game usage. Pay attention to how much and what type of screen time your child is engaging in. Research suggests that excessive screen time could be associated with an increased risk for anxiety.
2. Externalize the worry. Help your child understand and express their anxious feelings by giving the emotion a physical presence, like a balloon or monster. By externalizing it, they can talk about it in third-person and take away some of the power of the feeling.
3. Avoid reassurance. While it’s natural to want to offer reassurance, this can actually reinforce the anxious thoughts and make them worse. Instead, encourage your child to problem-solve or come up with alternative solutions that don’t involve reassurance. 
4. Avoid getting caught up in the "content" of the worry. In other words, don't try to address the worry itself. Instead, focus on helping your child learn how to process and manage worries when they come.
5. Practice mindfulness. Make time for mindfulness activities, such as yoga or meditation. There are plenty of kid-friendly apps and online resources available to help get started.
6. Take deep breaths. Deep breathing is one of the most effective tools to help manage anxiety. Taking slow, deep breaths helps to signal the body that everything is okay and can help reduce feelings of stress or anxiety.

Rigg adds that anxious children often have anxious parents. So although it's common for parents to focus on their child, it can be helpful to remember that your child will take cues from you. Showing your child how to self-regulate through deep breathing and mindfulness will help them learn more effective coping strategies.

When to talk to a therapist

While focusing on learning healthy relief and coping techniques will go a long way in helping to manage your child’s anxiety, there are times when seeking professional help is necessary.

Rigg says it may be time to talk to a therapist if you and your child are experience any of the following:

• Lack of improvement, despite putting forth the effort 
• Negative effects on multiple areas of life (eating, sleep, school, social) or one in a really big way
• Lack of enjoyment in activities once found pleasurable, such as sleepovers or sports
• Child tells you they need help
• Extreme clinginess 
• Suicidal thoughts
• Panic attacks
• Negative impact on child-parent relationship
• Refusal or meltdowns at bedtime or school
• Over-reactions to transitions or last-minute changes
• Interference with a parent's ability to work, provide attention to the rest of the family, etc…

While therapy may feel a little intimidating at first, it can be a beneficial addition to your child's anxiety treatment. An experienced therapist can work with your child to develop effective techniques and coping skills they can use at home. They will also provide insight into the root causes of their anxiety and help them learn to manage it in a healthy way. 

The bottom line

Anxiety can be difficult to manage, especially for children who are likely still learning how to express their regular day-to-day emotions. Fortunately, there are steps that you can take to help put your child at ease.

If you feel like your child needs more help than what you are able to give, don't hesitate to seek out a professional therapist who can provide additional support. In many cases, at-home coping mechanisms and therapy can work alongside each other to provide an effective way to calm your child's anxiety. 

And no matter how difficult it may be, remember that with the right strategies and support, you can help your child learn techniques for managing their anxiety that they can carry with them throughout their entire life.

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