Anxiety Disorders in Children & Adolescents: Recognizing and Treating the Emerging Epidemic

CPD

Handouts

Speaker

Paul Foxman, PhD Related seminars and products

Vermont Center for Anxiety Care

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Paul Foxman, PhD, has led hundreds of workshops throughout the US and Canada, and he has appeared on television and radio as an expert on the topic anxiety. His books include The Clinician’s Guide to Anxiety Disorders in Kids & Teens (PESI, 2016), Dancing with Fear (Hunter House, 2007) and award-winning The Worried Child (Hunter House, 2004). He also co-authored a casebook, Conquering Panic and Anxiety Disorders (with Glatzer) (Hunter House, 2002). Dr. Foxman’s most recent book, Traumas and Triumphs, was published in 2022. Dr. Foxman is known for his knowledge and clarity, sense of humor, compassion, and engaging speaking style.

Dr. Foxman is a clinical psychologist, as well as founder and director of the Vermont Center for Anxiety Care. In 1985, he co-founded the Lake Champlain Waldorf School in Shelburne, VT, now flourishing from kindergarten through high school. Dr. Foxman has over 40 years of clinical experience in a variety of settings including hospitals, community mental health centers, schools, and private practice.

Dr. Foxman’s education includes Yale University (BA in Psychology), Peabody College of Vanderbilt University (PhD in Clinical Psychology), and training at the Department of Psychiatry of Mt. Zion Hospital in San Francisco, the Kennedy Child Study Center in Nashville, and the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Paul Foxman is the founder and director of the Vermont Center for Anxiety Care. He is a published author and receives royalties. Dr. Foxman receives a speaking honorarium, book royalties, and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Paul Foxman is a member of the Vermont Psychological Association and the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology.

Alternate Options

Objectives

1. Design effective strategies to decrease the stress response in kids with learning disabilities to improve information processing, listening skills, and comprehension.             
2. Implement calming techniques to reduce overall anxiety, such as mindfulness and yoga, to reduce fight or flight response and simultaneously engage the relaxation response.
3. Evaluate the impact deep breathing exercises have on anxiety to enable task completion in children with ADHD.
4. Utilize specific anxiety techniques to minimize the ruminative nature of obsessive thoughts that often precede dysfunctional compulsive behaviors.  
5. Teach clients to engage the parasympathetic nervous system to create new neuropathways to reduce hyper arousal and decrease maladaptive behaviors.
6. Implement clinical strategies to decrease symptoms of pervasive separation anxiety in children and adolescents. 

Outline

• How anxiety develops in children
• Three ingredients in all anxiety disorders
• The “anxiety personality” -- assets and liabilities

• Separation anxiety disorder
• Panic disorder
• Overanxious disorder
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Social anxiety disorder
• Phobias
• Post-traumatic stress disorder

• Depression
• ADHD
• Learning disabilities
• Selective mutism

• Cognitive-behavioral
• Biological
• Mindfulness
• Expressive Arts
• Family Systems Approaches

• The Floating Technique for panic anxiety
• Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) for OCD
• Mindfulness for worry
• Solution Focused Intervention for worry
• Group Therapy guidelines for social anxiety
• Visualization Desensitization for separation anxiety
• Three Question Technique for parents struggling with child separation anxiety
• Three Step Technique for managing children’s stress
• Yoga games and breathing techniques for relaxation training
• LifeSkills Program for generalized anxiety
• Virtual Reality approach for phobias
• Baby Buddhas meditations for anxious preschoolers

• Consider scope of practice
• Empirical and anecdotal evidence
• No “one size fits all” for any modality of anxiety treatment

Target Audience

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