Ep. 218: Dr. Regine Galanti — Therapy 2. How Anxious Parents Can Help Their Anxious Kids

My guest this week is Dr. Regine Galanti, a licensed psychologist and author of the amazing new book, Parenting Anxious Kids: Understanding Anxiety in Children by Age and Stage (affiliate link). It was Regine’s second time on the podcast and we had another great conversation.

Topics we discussed included:

• Regine’s fantastic new book
• Less-frequently recognized signs of anxiety in young kids
• Why anxious parents often have anxious kids
• The online information for parents that often makes kids’ anxiety worse
• The issues my guest takes with “gentle parenting”
• The negative effects on kids of missing school due to anxiety
• Parents’ concerns about how the way they respond to their child’s anxiety will hurt their relationship
• Building the relationship with a child outside of the “anxiety zone”
• The shortcomings of so-called “tough love” when it comes from anger or fear
• The challenges when a parent of an anxious child isn’t ready to face their own fears
• All-or-nothing approaches to responding to a child’s anxiety
• The opportunities that kids offer in terms of parents’ growth
• Ways that a parent-child relationship can grow by working through hard things together

Regine Galanti, PhD, is a licensed psychologist who focuses on helping kids and teens with anxiety. She specializes in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and has expertise in treating OCD, anxiety, parenting, and behavioral problems.

She’s the founder of Long Island Behavioral Psychology, where she brings warmth, sensitivity, and a problem solving approach to her practice.  Regine specializes in effective short-term treatments that work for anxiety and related disorders, including exposure therapy.

She lives in Long Island, New York with her husband and three daughters.  She’s quick to acknowledge that they all get anxious sometimes, and that’s okay.

In addition to this new book, she’s also the author of Anxiety Relief for Teens and When Harley Has Anxiety.

Find Regine online at her website and on Twitter and Instagram.