Category Archives: Anxiety Disorders

The five kids I’m most concerned about this fall

Based upon my observations from thirty years as a child psychiatrist, here are five groups of kids I’m most concerned about this school year. Continue reading

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What the Babylon Bee can teach the church about mental health ministry

He regularly provides a lighthearted, first-person perspective as a prominent individual in Christian culture whose ministry has been shaped by his mental health condition.  The Bee shines a spotlight on the challenges many people with anxiety experience in trying to be part of church. Continue reading

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A letter to #MyYoungerSelf

The Child Mind Institute has launched the #MyYoungerSelf campaign during Mental Health Month to counter the stigma for the 1 in 5 children struggling with these disorders. This May actors, athletes, social influencers, business people and others are sending a message of hope about their experiences growing up with a mental health or learning disorder. Here’s a letter from the leader of our ministry team to an eleventh grade boy who was going through a difficult time.  Continue reading

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Five reasons limiting electronics is harder for kids with mental health conditions

I am suggesting that parents consider why their child’s reactions to being parented in their use of technology are so extreme and to consider how they might address the “why” that fuels their child’s apparent addiction to their electronic toys. Continue reading

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Making church irresistible for kids with the most common disabilities…

I all too often meet families who lack meaningful involvement with a local church because the environments in which we “do church” present unique challenges to kids with common mental health conditions. Continue reading

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Is the drive for success in Christian families making our kids sick?

As Christians, we’re increasingly called to lead countercultural lives in embracing values very different than those embraced in the society in which we live. Shouldn’t our kids be “different” in their prevalence of anxiety-related illness and disability compared to their peers? Continue reading

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Christmas time challenges for kids with common mental health conditions

three practical strategies will help many kids with common mental health conditions and their families to better experience the peace and joy associated with the Christmas season! Continue reading

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Mitzi VanCleve…Help My Unbelief: “Religious OCD”

John Bunyan in describing how this form of OCD impacted him said: “Of all the temptations that ever I met with in my life, to question the being of God, and the truth of His gospel, is the worst, and the worst to be borne; when this temptation comes, it takes away my girdle from me, and removeth the foundation from under me.” Continue reading

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The barriers to getting newcomers with mental illness connected at church…

Is there a way of making available an alternative path…an accommodation available to those who need it? Continue reading

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Are antidepressants safe for kids?

Patients with depression were eleven times more likely to experience significant benefit from antidepressant medication than to experience medication-related suicidal thinking or behavior, patients with OCD were thirty-four times more likely to experience benefit and patients with non-OCD anxiety were thirty-six times more likely to experience benefit. Continue reading

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