Guest: Erin Williams, LPC, PCA Upper School Counselor, Plano campus

APA defines anxiety as “an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, and physical changes”.

Exists on a spectrum from everyday “good anxiety” to debilitating clinical anxiety

Anxiety that helps you get things done vs. anxiety that keeps you from doing things

Anxiety demands 2 things

• Certainty: “I have to know whatʼs going to happen next…and I want to control it!”

Our bodies, our brains, our emotions weren’t meant to handle all the information all the time

A world that feels scary and threatening (it has always been like this but not we have access to see school shootings, wars, violence live on social media)

Social media

• “There’s not a single exception. All screen activities are linked to less happiness, and all non-screen activities are linked to more happiness.” Jean Twenge’s article in the Atlantic

Parenting positives and negatives in handling anxiety…

• Negative
  • High expectations and pressure to “succeed”

• Simplify life

• Strong biblical foundation & limits on social media 

Books for parents of teens with anxiety

• Parenting the New Teen in the Age of Anxiety (Dr. John Huffy)

Books for parents with anxiety

• Get Out of Your Head (Jenny Allen)

Podcasts

• Flusterclux with Lynn Lyons (non-Christian, but very practical stories that are helpful, more pointed toward clinical anxiety)

2 Corinthians 10:5 “We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One” (TPT).