Normalize Therapy for kids

Everybody, everywhere at some point in their lives needs someone to talk to, seriously, about what’s going on inside their head and heart. Look at your life: all of the things you’ve been through, the ups and downs, the wins and the losses, the grievances and the shocks. The adult things. You can’t go through your life without a confidante, a caring friend. We all need someone aware enough to notice when something’s wrong with us and brave enough to say something when they notice.

All adults need someone.

All kids need someone.

We need to normalize that because we’re all a bit ... anxious.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, upwards of 5.8 million children have anxiety. The numbers have gotten so high that in October 2022, a panel of medical experts recommended for the first time that primary care doctors screen all kids ages 8 to 18 for anxiety. The goal is to try and reduce the number of kids whose mental health conditions go undetected and untreated — and that’s a lot of kids.

Although no one can say definitively why so many kids are anxious today, experts say a big culprit is social media. Using TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram or some other preferred app has a big impact on how kids communicate — or not — today.

Jean M. Twenge, a research psychologist and author of the books iGen (Atria; 2018) and Generation Me (Atria; 2014) says it’s tough for kids to handle the sophisticated “next level” that social media delivers. Young minds are often unequipped to deal with complex situations.

“Kids are spending as much as eight hours a day on social media where there’s a lot of negativity, competition and jockeying for status,” Twenge reports. She says because of this, it’s imperative for parents to set limits on their kids’ technology use.

“It’s not only good for kids, but they appreciate it in the long run,” Twenge says.

So yes, you can do that. But what do you do now if you’ve noticed your child is anxious or closing themselves off in their room again on any given day? What action can you take at home and where do you turn if your instincts are flaring and telling you something just isn’t right for your child?

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