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As parents we don’t like or want to see our children struggling. But worries, fears and anxieties are a natural part of life, and we have to understand that children go through these processes just like adults do. But as parents and caregivers, we should also be in tune with the degree, severity, frequency, and nature of our children’s fears and worries and know when a child might need some help.

You could not be happier for your child/nibling/client. They’ve finally made it to grade 12 and have been wanting to leap into their future for ages. You thought now would be a quiet and calm few months as they wait to hear back, but instead it seems as though their anxiety is reaching new heights. Should you be concerned?

Fear is one of the six basic human emotions, with a clear evolutionary purpose: to help us respond to danger and survive. In Exposure Therapy, providers create a safe environment to intentionally “expose” their clients to objects, activities, or situations they fear.

As summer comes to a close, whether parents, caregivers, educators or therapists, we all understand that while exciting, the return to school can also be fraught with anxiety.

Panic isn’t what you think it is. It’s not an attack at all, and that’s a misleading name for it. It’s you having an internal reaction of fear – your heart rate changes, your muscles tense up, your stomach feels bad, you have scary thoughts of calamities, and so on.

The headlines and the CDC report are indeed alarming, but they should serve as a wakeup call to all of us. Yes, we should think seriously about why we are seeing a steep decline in the mental health of teenage girls, but we have to come together now as parents, family, friends, educators, clinicians, providers, and as a society to support, enhance and establish more preventive measures for our youth.

To help with back to school, this blog features 8 strategies to cope with fears of school shootings.

Wherever you and your kid fall on the continuum of "I hope you never leave" to "I can't wait until you move out," your child's sudden absence is likely to stir up some stuff. I am a parent and a psychologist. I went to school longer than I needed to and spent the last 20-plus years working with college students. Here's what I've learned about how to handle this change.

A Q&A with ADAA Member Karen Cassiday, PhD, ACT answering community questions on overcoming agoraphobia.