Move past anxiety and discover what really matters to you. Written by three experts in teen mental health, this powerful workbook offers evidence-based activities grounded in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help you cope with anxiety, build resilience, stop avoiding the things you fear, and lead a fuller, happier life.
Anxiety is what we feel when we’re scared about some future event that may or may not happen. When you’re struggling with anxiety your mind is trying to protect you from danger, so it’s busy telling you about all the things you can’t do. Along with these thoughts come a host of feelings and bodily sensations—such as sweaty palms, restlessness, lightheadedness, and stomach aches. But it’s not the anxious thoughts that make anxiety a problem. It’s the actions we take, or don’t take, as a result of these thoughts.
In The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Teen Anxiety, you’ll find helpful alternatives to the ineffective strategies and habits you’re currently using to deal with anxiety, such as avoidance. You’ll find basic information about anxiety to help you recognize what it looks and feels like, mindfulness tips to help you stay in the moment when you feel worried about the future, and tips to help you connect with your own values so you can start putting the important things in life first.
For parents: Check out the companion video series produced by authors Sheri Turrell and Mary Bell.
These videos summarize the content of The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Teen Anxiety and give parents ideas of experiential exercises they can use to deal with their own emotions and their teens’ emotions. Exposure to the ACT concepts in this book will help you understand and reinforce what your teen is learning and learn how to avoid encouraging the control strategies your teen is beginning to give up.
You can find the video series here.