Steve O’Brien – 2-Day Growing Up Anxious: Treating Anxiety Disorders in a Generation Hyper-focused on Achievement, Technology & Safety

Outline

GROWING UP ANXIOUS – 3 KEY INGREDIENTS
EARLY EMPHASIS ON HIGH ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE

• Emotional costs of a hyper-academic mindset and over-evaluation
• Performance philosophy pitfalls: perfectionism and procrastination
• Consequences of strong individualism: anti-collaborative attitudes

TECHNOLOGY IMMERSION: PLUGGED IN BUT TUNED OUT

• Tech-savvy, socially naive
• Fearless online, fearful offline
• Gratification-dependent, grit-deficient

PREOCCUPATION WITH SAFETY AND POTENTIAL THREAT

• Overprotected but underdeveloped….socially and emotionally
• How dysregulated adults promote anxiety-ridden kids
• Failure to launch: Why “adulting” is difficult and frightening

INTEGRATING EVIDENCED-BASED TREATMENT APPROACHES

• Behavior therapy/modification
• Cognitive-behavior therapy
• Family-focused/systemic therapy
• Interpersonal therapy
• Play/art/creative therapies
• Mindfulness-based therapies

GUIDELINES FOR RAPPORT-BUILDING AND CLINICAL INTERVIEWING

• Semi-structured parent interviews: Combining engagement with efficiency
• Developmentally-sensitive child interviews: Integrating observation, play and dialogue
• Parent consultation: Constructing a framework for parental involvement

PSYCHOEDUCATION FOR PARENTS AND KIDS: THE FIRST INTERVENTION

• Teaching parents about their child’s overactive brain
• Giving a child-friendly “tour of the brain”
• Highlighting the mind-body connection
• Social Anxiety Disorder
  • Evaluating cognitive versus physiological features
  • Cognitive-behavioral methods for getting teens out of their heads and into the world
  • Role-playing and free association games for promoting real-time interaction
  • Desensitization strategies for combating social avoidance

BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL TREATMENT: THE SECOND INTERVENTION

• “LOWERING THE TEMPERATURE, SLOWING THE PACE”
• Reducing Emotional Intensity and Conflict for a Calmer Environment
• Healthy habits and daily transition rituals
• Self-expression and support-seeking skills
• 3 R’s of anxiety management: Recognize, Relax, Redirect

TARGETED TREATMENT FOR MAJOR (DSM-5™) ANXIETY DISORDERS: THE THIRD INTERVENTION

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder
  • Identifying manifestations of chronic worry
  • Cognitive strategies for discrediting the “what-if? person”
  • Self-talk for empowering the “helpful coach”
  • Cognitive-behavioral redirection for worries
  • Paradoxical relaxation for overachievers
  • Separation Anxiety Disorder
  • Assessing psychological and somatic components
  • Pre-treatment preparation: It’s all about the plan
  • Developing a treatment-support team
  • Action plans for high-distress episodes
  • Strategies for distressed/enmeshed parents
• Phobias and Panic Disorder
  • Cognitive and physical/physiological symptoms
  • Essential ingredients for desensitization
  • “Challenge ladders” for gradual exposure
  • Planning-for-panic strategies
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
  • Variations in obsessive-compulsive symptomatology
  • “Brain challenges” for rigid perfectionists
  • Mindfulness strategies: “Balloon breathing and wet noodles” for high-threat perceivers
• Controlled withdrawal and replacement for tech-addicts

CO-OCCURRING DISORDERS: TREATMENT IMPLICATIONS, RISKS, AND LIMITATIONS

• Depressive Disorders
• Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
• Autism Spectrum Disorders

ANXIETY-RIDDEN AT SCHOOL: CONSIDERATIONS AND CLASSROOM APPLICATIONS

• Relationship-building with distressed/disruptive kids
• Dealing with the (dreaded) 3 D’s:
• Defiance, Disrespect, Disruption
• Creating a calm, responsive classroom
• Reducing task avoidance and test anxiety
• Managing compulsive technology usage
• Identifying, intervening, and preventing bullying
• Tips for (post) pandemic adjustment

MEASURING TREATMENT PROGRESS

• Evaluating symptomatology and functional level
• School consultation and recommendations
• Medication: Guidelines for discussion and referral