Jennifer Shannon LMFT - The Anxiety Survival Guide for Teens: CBT Skills to Overcome Fear, Worry, and Panic

We know how to win over fearful worry. The skills take effort, but they are surprisingly simple. Now Jennifer Shannon places these tools directly into your hands. If you will act on her clever guidance, you can do more than survive, you can thrive.

Reid Wilson, PhD, coauthor of Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents and Playing with Anxiety: Caseys Guide for Teens and Kids

With clarity and fun, The Anxiety and Survival Guide for Teens offers effective cognitive behavioral strategies for teens to overcome their fear, worry, and panic. This book will not only help teens survive their anxiety, but will guide them out of the fear and worry that limits their lives. I highly recommend it.

Michael A. Tompkins, PhD, author of My Anxious Mind: A Teens Guide to Managing Anxiety and Panic and codirector of the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy

This is a terrific book for teens, explaining all the best that cognitive behavioral therapy, ACT, and mindfulness have to offer in terms that are engaging, fun, and easy to understand. Teens can easily recognize themselves in this book and become empowered to overcome their anxiety.

Karen Lynn Cassiday, PhD, managing director at The Anxiety Treatment Center of Greater Chicago and clinical assistant professor at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science

The Anxiety Survival Guide for Teens by Jennifer Shannon is a clear, concise, helpful guide with all the key tools to help you overcome your anxiety. Why suffer another day from anxiety when you can use these tools right now? Each chapter gives you powerful and easy-to-understand self-help tools to overcome the many difficulties that teens will face. I will recommend this to my colleagues and clients.

Robert L. Leahy, PhD, director of the American Institute for Cognitive Therapy in New York, NY, and author of The Worry Cure: Seven Steps to Stop Worry from Stopping You

All parents want to lift the burden of stress from their teens shoulders, but many teens dont want to talk about it. They do, however, desperately want to feel better. In a completely clear, accessible, and engaging way, Jennifer Shannons Anxiety Survival Guide for Teens tells teens exactly what they need to do to help themselves do just that. The simple exercises in this book teach teens how to break free from their anxiety and see themselves and their lives in a whole new lighta more realistic one. Every teen will benefit from the strategies Ms. Shannon provides. I highly recommend this wonderful book!

Tamar Chansky, PhD, author of Freeing Your Child from Anxiety and Freeing Yourself from Anxiety: 4 Simple Steps to Overcome Worry and Create the Life You Want

Relief is on the way for anxious teens. The Anxiety Survival Guide for Teens teaches proven steps to uncover the causes and learn what to do to manage anxiety. Unlike many similar books, this guide addresses all types of anxiety with drawings and helpful stories about common situations faced by teens and young adults. Whether mildly or super anxious, complete the exercises in this book to get a grip on your anxiety.

Christine A. Padesky, PhD, psychologist and coauthor of Mind Over Mood

Publishers Note

Care has been taken to confirm the accuracy of the information presented and to describe generally accepted practices. However, the authors, editors, and publisher are not responsible for errors or omissions or for any consequences from application of the information in this book and make no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the contents of the publication.

The authors, editors, and publisher have exerted every effort to ensure that any drug selection and dosage set forth in this text are in accordance with current recommendations and practice at the time of publication. However, in view of ongoing research, changes in government regulations, and the constant flow of information relating to drug therapy and drug reactions, the reader is urged to check the package insert for each drug for any change in indications and dosage and for added warnings and precautions. This is particularly important when the recommended agent is a new or infrequently employed drug.

Some drugs and medical devices presented in this publication may have Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for limited use in restricted research settings. It is the responsibility of the health care provider to ascertain the FDA status of each drug or device planned for use in their clinical practice.

Getting Extra Help: Therapy and Medication adapted from The Shyness and Social Anxiety Workbook for Teens by Jennifer Shannon. Used by permission of New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books

Copyright 2015 by Jennifer Shannon Instant Help Books An Imprint of New Harbinger Publications, Inc. 5674 Shattuck Avenue Oakland, CA 94609 www.newharbinger.com

Illustrations by Doug Shannon; Cover design by Amy Shoup; Acquired by Tesilya Hanauer; Edited by Susan LaCroix

All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Shannon, Jennifer.

The anxiety survival guide for teens : CBT skills to overcome fear, worry, and panic / Jennifer Shannon ; illustrated by Doug Shannon.

pages cm. -- (The instant help solutions series)

ISBN 978-1-62625-243-1 (paperback) -- ISBN 978-1-62625-244-8 (pdf e-book) -- ISBN 978-1-62625-245-5 (epub) 1. Anxiety--Juvenile literature. 2. Cognitive therapy for teenagers--Problems exercises, etc. I. Shannon, Doug, editor. II. Title.

BF575.A6S475 2015

155.51246--dc23

2015007029>

To my mentors: Michael Tompkins, whose brilliant guidance helped me to build my foundation in CBT; Christine Padesky, whose wisdom and clear voice has helped me to find my own; and Jacqueline Persons, who always helps me see the big picture.

Introduction

Teens who suffer from anxiety often think of themselves as weak, stupid, or any of many other negative labels. You may think you are the only one who feels things this way and that everyone else is normal.

The thing is, normal doesnt exist. Everyone feels anxiety, and in a surprising variety of situations. Some feel it in a crowded cafeteria, others in an empty hall. Many people panic giving an oral report while others feel panic at random times for no apparent reason. The star quarterback who shouts audibles loud enough to be heard above the roaring crowd may get so anxious around the girl hes attracted to that he is unable to string two words together. Depending on the situation, almost everyone can feel overwhelmed with anxiety.

There are anxious teens all around you. Studies show that anxiety is the most common mental health problem in America, affecting nearly one in five people. If you are sitting in a classroom of thirty students, chances are that at least a row of you are suffering from one of the seven most common varieties of anxiety: social anxiety, generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, specific phobias, panic, and agoraphobia. The reason you are unaware of your anxious peers is that they are just as good at hiding their anxiety as you are.