Navigating Childhood Anxiety: Insights from Eli Lebowitz

The Self-Driven Child

In today’s episode of The Self-Driven Child, I interview Eli Lebowitz, the creator of the concept SPACE, or Supportive Parenting of Anxious Childhood Emotions. He is helping parents and kids break the cycle of chronic stress. We discuss how to help our kids cope with uncertainty or a lack of control over situations. I’m so excited to share this conversation with you – Bill and I are huge fans of Eli’s work, and we feel so fortunate to spread the word about the SPACE concept. I hope you enjoy it!
Timestamps:
[2:48] Why he wrote Breaking Free of Child Anxiety and OCD
[4:35] The pandemic’s effect on childhood anxiety
[6:10] Is it regular anxiety or an anxiety disorder?
[10:50] The value of coping mechanisms
[11:15] The heart of anxiety disorders
[13:37] Helping with anxiety comes from a place of love
[17:24] Empathy helps parents with this process
[21:22] How anxiety can present in families
[23:44] The NUTS and bolts of anxiety
[25:27] Addressing anxiety widens a child’s world
[27:58] The traps parents fall into
[35:38] Accommodations for anxious kids
[38:56] Moving toward letting kids feel anxiety sometimes
[42:47] Teaching kids to be the hero of their anxiety story
[44:05] The problems of always accommodating kids’ anxieties
[47:51] Preventing learned helplessness
[50:23] The value of a plan & where to start
[58:00] Final thoughts
Resources:
Breaking Free from Child Anxiety and OCD: https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Free-Child-Anxiety-Scientifically/dp/0190883529
More about the guest:
Professor Lebowitz is the Director of the Program for Anxiety Disorders at the Yale Child Study Center, where she researches and treats anxiety in children and adolescents. His work investigates the genetic and hereditary factors that have a role in the onset and maintenance of anxiety and associated diseases. Dr. Lebowitz has written extensively on child and adolescent anxiety and is the primary researcher on several grant-supported studies.
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