How to Help Your Child Cope with Anxiety Using Behavioral Therapy

Childhood anxiety can seem to spring up out of nowhere and impact children and parents equally. Sometimes, this anxiety has obvious triggers (such as struggles at school or home), while other cases seem like a mystery. For instance, children may simply be modeling behavior learned from their parents or genetically inherit anxious behaviors and thought patterns. Whatever the case, finding behavioral treatment for kids with anxiety is the best choice. 

After all, kid therapy focuses on providing help for struggling children and also includes parental support. Helping parents in this way helps minimize their anxiety and makes it easier for them to work their children through fearful moments and anxiety attacks. In fact, behavioral counseling and other types of behavioral treatment for kids with anxiety in Colorado Springs, CO, can manage a child’s anxiety by teaching them coping mechanisms.

Thankfully, our team at A Cognitive Connection can provide behavioral treatment that starts by assessing childhood anxiety and finding help for struggling children that makes sense for their needs. Whether you live in Colorado Springs or elsewhere, we’re ready to help your child recover from their anxiety. With our kid therapy helping parents like you provide help for struggling children, your little one should bounce back from anxiety in amazing ways.

A man is holding is young daughter with a worried look who is struggling with anxiety.

Childhood Anxiety Statistics: The Numbers May Shock You

Over the last decade, childhood anxiety statistics have risen at horrifying rates. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently reported some alarming facts about this pandemic of anxiety that may shock many parents. These numbers have increased similarly in adult patients, highlighting an ever-increasing issue likely only to worsen with time. They include:

  • 9.4% of all children between 3-17 were diagnosed with anxiety between 2016-19
  • 4.4% of all children between 3-17 were diagnosed with depression between 2016-19
  • Depression rates increased by over 4% from 2003 to 2019 in children between 3-17

At A Cognitive Connection, we know that childhood anxiety is a devasting problem. We’ve seen hundreds of Colorado Springs, CO, children struggling with this issue and have worked on helping parents understand behavioral treatment for kids that manage anxiety successfully. Before diagnosing help for struggling children through behavioral treatment for kids with anxiety, it’s essential to know what might trigger a little one’s anxiety.

Childhood Anxiety Symptoms, Types, and Triggers

The most effective behavioral treatment for a child’s anxiety focuses on identifying a child’s symptoms, discovering what type affects them, and minimizing their anxiety triggers. Harvard Health examined many of these subjects in-depth to make it easier for parents to find therapies that make sense for their little ones. For example, they identified symptoms like: 

  • A thumping heartbeat that won’t slow down even after talking with the child 
  • Rapid breathing that may develop into hyperventilation 
  • Sweating and nausea that appear like flu symptoms 
  • Dread and tense muscles paired with a fight or flight response 
  • “Clingy” behaviors or struggling to thrive away from parents 
  • Becoming easily startled or crying easily for no reason 
  • Regular tantrums and struggling to fall asleep 
  • Headaches, stomach aches, and other signs of discomfort

These troubling symptoms may come and go in a child’s life. For example, a child might seem okay for days and weeks but suddenly break down in a panic attack. Furthermore, symptoms may vary depending on the anxiety types a child faces. Parents need to understand these common issues to ensure they provide their little ones with the help they need. 

Common Types of Colorado Child Anxiety

Childhood anxiety falls under many different headings, including separation anxiety, phobias, and social anxiety. Separation anxiety centers on being worried when apart from parents. Some children might refuse to go to summer camps or spend time with friends. They may also worry excessively about something happening to their parents while they’re gone.

In other cases, some children suffer from irrational phobias, such as a fear of:

  • Spiders
  • Thunderstorms
  • Dogs or cats
  • Outdoor spaces

These fears can cause a lot of anxiety and depression and make a child’s life very challenging. It might even stress out parents who try to find ways to reduce a child’s exposure to these simple but upsetting triggers.

More troublingly, some children might struggle to interact with friends and peers and have difficulty maturing. Sometimes, this fear centers on learned behaviors or previous interactions. Other children are born shy and need help overcoming it. Our team at A Cognitive Connection not only understands these anxiety types but can correct the triggers that worsen them.

A young boy with anxiety is sitting on the floor holding a stuffed animal with a smiley face sign covering his face.

Triggers for Your Child’s Anxiety Attacks in Colorado Springs

Anxiety has many triggers that will vary heavily depending on a child’s personal needs. We at A Cognitive Connection like to say that every case of anxiety is unique and that every child needs personalized support based on their triggers. A few common anxiety triggers include:

  • Unstructured time that puts too much pressure on a child 
  • Changes in routine, friendship groups, and living situations 
  • Troubles at home (parents fighting or children fighting with parents/siblings)
  • Fights with friends or getting bullied by an older child
  • Irrational fears, like spiders, centipedes, or other insects 
  • Social events, like birthday parties, school meetups, and other situations
  • Trauma, such as losing a parent or friend and experiencing a flashback 
  • Temperament and coping strategies that worsen anxiety 

We Can Help

At A Cognitive Connection, we can help Colorado Springs, CO, parents by providing therapies like Cognitive Brain Training (including V.I.B.E.S. and Mind’s Eye), Behavioral Assessment help, Cognitive Evaluations, Educational Evaluations, Behavioral Counseling, Behavioral Consultation, Personal Classes, and kid therapy alongside parental support. If your little one needs help, read on to learn more about their options.

Behavioral Therapy for Child Anxiety in Colorado Springs

If your child has anxiety and you want to help them recover, behavioral treatment is essential. Often, anxiety has deep roots in reinforced behaviors that a child struggles to escape. For example, the National Institutes of Health states that cognitive behavioral therapy can improve clinical symptoms and brain functioning and help minimize a child’s symptoms. 

These therapies can also help with anxiety-triggered depression in young children. Understanding your options can make it easier to choose which makes the most sense for your little ones. If you’re worried about your child’s anxiety and want to help them recover, please read through the options below to find those that you want to try out.

Cognitive Brain Training 

Our team at A Cognitive Connection specializes in Cognitive Brain Training. This powerful behavioral treatment for kids with anxiety minimizes childhood anxiety by creating a personalized schedule of mental exercises that can reinforce positive behaviors, reduce anxiety triggers, and help children better understand their anxiety and bounce back from it. 

Alongside this therapy, we utilize the Vibrational Individualized Body Enhancement System or V.I.B.E.S. to help your child. This powerful tech uses sound, energy, vibrations, and frequency to balance the brain’s chemistry and body physiology. We also use Mind’s Eye, a light and sound machine that provides deep relaxation and calms a child during anxiety attacks.

Behavioral Assessment 

A behavioral assessment can help narrow your options for behavioral treatment for kids by identifying common triggers for adverse behaviors. For example, we can provide cognitive evaluations to determine your child’s brain and how it works. These in-depth tests also include educational evaluations that help us determine the best treatment for your child.

Behavioral Counseling and Behavioral Consultation

Behavioral counseling and behavioral consultation provide kid therapy and parental support in Colorado Springs, CO, which identifies adaptive and coping behaviors for your children. This kind of help for struggling children also focuses on helping parents by teaching them how to implement these behaviors with their children and themselves. Colorado parents deserve this kind of hands-on and practical therapy for their little ones.

A teenage boy is sitting on the floor with his hands on his head trying to cope with anxiety.

A Cognitive Connection Can Provide Behavioral Treatment for Childhood Anxiety 

If you need behavioral treatment for your child’s anxiety, contact us at A Cognitive Connection to learn more about our behavioral treatment for kids. Our team helps Colorado Springs, CO, parents by providing kid therapy, parental support, educational evaluations, and personal classes to give help for struggling children who need it the most. Our courses and events often include parent-friendly advice, making these lessons simpler to master. 
Call us at 719-358-6637 to learn more about our behavioral treatment for kids with anxiety, including Cognitive Brain Training, Behavioral Assessment processes, Cognitive Evaluations, Behavioral Counseling, Behavioral Consultation, and Personal Classes for you and your children. Working with us can make this process more effective and long-lasting for your children and ensure you both walk away from therapy feeling happier and healthier.

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