Childhood anxiety and mood disorders are on the rise, as reported by the CDC. COVID-19 is hitting children and adolescents hard (Singh et al., 2020), highlighting the critical importance of a secure family, modeling of positive coping, and cultivating constructive ways to bolster resilience in youth1 When children are anxious, the way the people closest to them respond is critical.
While sub-optimal parental responses are not consider maltreatment per se (i.e. Adverse Childhood Experiences or "ACEs"), they contribute to developmental difficulties rather than mitigating against them.Yet parents face their own challenges, and pressure to be better parents especially when adults are under great strain can lead to a downward spiral, harming.
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