“Certainty is a feeling, not a fact” is a well-known phrase among OCD and anxiety therapists, but it bears spending some time unpacking. Anyone who reads my stuff regularly knows that worry and anxiety feed off of uncertainty and discomfort. Here’s the nuance I want to explore: uncertainty and discomfort are feelings just like happy,...
How to best respond to our children’s worries and anxiety is one of the questions I’m asked most often. In this month’s Northeast Ohio Parent’s article, I dive into the topic of reassurance. To recap quickly, there are two types of reassurance: productive reassurance and unproductive reassurance. Productive reassurance is when you give your child...