Insight & Action: Attenuating Anxiety
Anxiety is adaptive until it becomes all-consuming. What then?
Q&A with Dr. Lere
My real-life reactions to your real-world challenges.
Dr. Lere,
I’m worried about my son and don’t know what to do. He just started his second semester of university and seems to really be struggling with pretty intense anxiety. When he was recently home on break he told me he didn’t want to go back. He’s started to call and text me and my wife in what I can only describe as anxiety spirals. The things he’s worrying about run the gamut—class, grades, girls, graduating. It seems to be a different thing every day, but the messages have the same flavor. He’s a smart kid who is well-liked and has always excelled academically. It’s horrible because I feel helpless. Maybe anxiety is contagious because I’m worried about him too.
It’s heart-wrenching to watch a family member struggle with mental health concerns. As a parent, it’s torturous to see your child hurting—particularly when you feel helpless to take away their pain.
Anxiety is a complicated beast. It’s cognitive. People who struggle with anxiety often have intense, ruminative thoughts that they can’t turn the volume down on.