Good Morning America: Lynn Lyons (SSW’90) Shares Anxiety Advice from New Book
In her new book “The Anxiety Audit,” BU School of Social Work alum Lynn Lyons (SSW’90) helps families work through anxiety together. ABC’s Good Morning America interviewed Lyons for a segment addressing how parents can better manage their own anxiety, as well as help prevent anxiety in children and help them cope when they do experience it.
Excerpt from “How Families Can Deal with & Break Patterns of Anxiety,” originally aired on ABC on Oct 24, 2022:
Host: According to the CDC, more than 15% of adults experienced symptoms of anxiety in the past two weeks and kids are suffering with anxiety now more than ever. Lyon’s book explores the ways anxiety can grip us from repetitive negative thoughts to the culture of comparison to catastrophic thinking.
Lyons: If you’re a catastrophic parent, which means that you talk to your children a lot about how dangerous the world is, that’s a risk factor for anxiety.
Host: The United States Preventive Services Task Force recommends that children as young as eight start getting regular screenings for anxiety and pediatrician visits. And Lyons says for some children, dealing with anxiety may start with the parents and recommends to ease their own anxiety, adults focus on self care.
Lyons: When you are taking care of yourself, when you are experiencing joy, when you are having even moments of fun: that has a ripple effect. So self care as a parent is really family care.”