During an anxiety-fueled situation with my daughter, she has often yelled at me that I just don’t get it. I understand her point. I do have a general idea of her thoughts and feelings but I am not in her shoes per se to feel the extreme discomfort and hear her mind speaking to her. That is why I like this article by Karen Young of Hey Sigmund. She illustrates how our brain functions and how anxiety skews our thoughts.
The following is a snippet of how she details the possible inner thought scenarios of a child with school anxiety.
“The Thinking Part: Oh, we have school today. Cool. Let’s do it.
The ‘Fight or Flight’ Part (the Amygdala): Yeah, no. That’s not going to happen. You’re going to be away from home and you don’t really know what’s happening today. It could be dangerous, so ‘Thinking Part’, you need to sit out while I check it out. “
I highly recommend her piece here.
It will give you and your child a great insight into how their anxiety functions and can be managed.
