Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is a form of talk therapy that can help alleviate anxiety symptoms without the need for medications  reshape your child’s thinking patterns, naturally.

Cognitive behavior therapy, or CBT, is the most common and effective treatment for anxiety in children and teens.

It is the go-to treatment for any family looking to treat anxiety naturally and helps your child alleviate strong emotions by changing thinking patterns and altering unhelpful behaviors.

Learn how CBT works, how you can use basic CBT skills to help your child and how to find a therapist who specializes in CBT.

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1. What is CBT?

Cognitive Behavior Therapy, or CBT, is a form of talk therapy based on the principle that changing thoughts and behaviors can change feelings.

It’s a skills based approach that provides both fast results and lasting impact.

CBT is the treatment most experts recommend for children with mild or moderate anxiety and they usually take 8 to 12 sessions.

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2. How CBT is used to treat anxiety

CBT treatments for anxiety involve teaching the child how to challenge negative thinking and break free from unhelpful behaviors.  

The child and therapist then use these coping skills in a process called exposure therapy, to expose the child (safely and gradually) to anxiety-triggering situations. This

As the child (or adolescent) successfully copes with the situation, their confidence in their coping abilities increases and the treatment moves on to more challenging situations.

This type of exposure therapy is effective on many different kinds of anxiety, including separation anxiety, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and social anxiety. [ link to

Children and teens with severe anxiety could benefit from combining CBT and medication. In any case, medication alone is not typically recommended as an effective treatment for anxiety as it does not give children the tools to manage anxiety themselves, now and in the future.

3. How can a parent or caregiver use CBT to help an anxious child?

While you are not a therapist, there are proven and practical CBT-based skills you can use to help your anxious child or teen. These skills include:

1. Body scanning: Help your child focus on how anxiety feels in the body. Starting from the top of their scalp move all the way to the toes, checking in with how each part of the body feels in the moment. Teach them to experience their emotions in a physical way, without judgment. They can even write down or draw ways the physical signs change.
   
2. Positive self-talk: Help your child choose mantras they can repeat to themselves when faced with anxious situations. Mantras can sound like “I can do this,” “I faced something like this before, I can do it again,” or “I know I am strong enough to overcome this.” Help your child choose their mantra(s) for themselves so they have a sense of ownership.
   
3. Name it to tame it: Sometimes it helps to create distance between the feeling and the child. For younger children, it’s helpful to give anxiety a name like “Mr. Bossy” or “the brain bully.” Encourage your child to give their anxiety a name and use it to challenge their fears. Say things like “it looks like Mr. Bossy is being bossy again, let’s boss him right back”. Older children and teens use metaphors, like “it looks like the anxiety volume button is turned all the way up, let’s turn it back down so we can get to sleep”.

The three skills above are commonly used by both therapists and parents. You can find multiple examples of body scanning videos, mantras and names for anxiety online. There is no one right answer. Experiment and find the skills that work best for your child and family. The key is to use these skills with consistency and confidence.

LEARN PROVEN SKILLS TO HELP YOUR CHILD COPE WITH THEIR ANXIETY IN A COURSE THAT COMBINES 1:1 COACHING WITH ON-DEMAND LESSONS.

4. How do I choose the right therapist for CBT?

When choosing a therapist, start with basic questions about availability, pricing and insurance, length and frequency of sessions, and how they plan on keeping you involved.

Then you can establish a positive working relationship and build confidence in the therapist’s abilities by asking questions like:

• What is your approach to therapy?
• How many years have you been in the field?
• Have you ever treated families with concerns like ours?
• What does a typical session look like?
• How will we know we’re making progress?

As with any other relationship in our lives, not everyone’s personality or values fit with ours. Have an open conversation about your cultural, educational or religious values to build trust and rapport.

Book a free consultation to learn how a Fort Health therapist can use CBT to help support your child.

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