With anxiety on the rise, some kids are trying 'exposure therapy'

CRANSTON, R.I. — Audrey Pirri, 16, had been terrified of throwing up since she was a toddler. She worried every time she shared a meal with family or friends, limiting herself to "safe" foods like pretzels and salad that wouldn't upset her stomach, if she ate at all. She was afraid to get in the car with her brother, who often had car sickness. She worried for hours about an upcoming visit to a carnival or a stadium - anywhere with lots of people and their germs.
But a Tuesday evening in August, in her first intensive session of a treatment called exposure therapy, Audrey was determined to confront one of her most powerful fear triggers: a set of rainbow polka dot sheets. .
For eight years, she had avoided touching the sheets, since the morning she woke up with a stomach bug and threw up on it. Now, surrounded by her parents, a psychologist and a coach in her pale pink bedroom, she pulled the stiff sheets from her chest of drawers, gently slipped them onto the mattress and sat on them.

"You ready to repeat after me? said Father Garcia, the psychologist.
"I guess," Audrey answered softly.
" I'm gonna sleep on these sheets tonight,” Dr. Garcia began. Audrey repeated the line.
“And I might vomit,” Dr. Garcia said. .
Audrey paused for several long seconds, her feet shaking and her eyes filled with tears, as she imagined herself throwing up. She took a deep breath. and hurriedly said the words, "And I might vomit."
ImageAbbe Garcia, Psychologist clinician at Braver, has used exposure therapy to treat children for over 25 years.
ImageChildren assesses their anxiety during exposure therapy sessions using an app n, allowing Braver coaches and therapists to track their progress.
One in 11 American children has an anxiety disorder, and that number has been growing steadily over the over the past two decades. Social isolation, family stress, and relentless news of tragedy during the pandemic have only exacerbated the problem.
But Audrey is one of relatively few children to have tried exposure therapy. The decades-old treatment, which is considered a gold standard approach to dealing with anxiety, phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorders, encourages patients to intentionally confront the objects or situations that cause them the most distress. A type of cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure often works in

Health Nov 29, 2022 0 62 Add to Reading List

With anxiety on the rise, some kids are trying 'exposure therapy'

CRANSTON, R.I. — Audrey Pirri, 16, had been terrified of throwing up since she was a toddler. She worried every time she shared a meal with family or friends, limiting herself to "safe" foods like pretzels and salad that wouldn't upset her stomach, if she ate at all. She was afraid to get in the car with her brother, who often had car sickness. She worried for hours about an upcoming visit to a carnival or a stadium - anywhere with lots of people and their germs.

But a Tuesday evening in August, in her first intensive session of a treatment called exposure therapy, Audrey was determined to confront one of her most powerful fear triggers: a set of rainbow polka dot sheets. .

For eight years, she had avoided touching the sheets, since the morning she woke up with a stomach bug and threw up on it. Now, surrounded by her parents, a psychologist and a coach in her pale pink bedroom, she pulled the stiff sheets from her chest of drawers, gently slipped them onto the mattress and sat on them.

"You ready to repeat after me? said Father Garcia, the psychologist.

"I guess," Audrey answered softly.

" I'm gonna sleep on these sheets tonight,” Dr. Garcia began. Audrey repeated the line.

“And I might vomit,” Dr. Garcia said. .

Audrey paused for several long seconds, her feet shaking and her eyes filled with tears, as she imagined herself throwing up. She took a deep breath. and hurriedly said the words, "And I might vomit."

ImageAbbe Garcia, Psychologist clinician at Braver, has used exposure therapy to treat children for over 25 years.

ImageChildren assesses their anxiety during exposure therapy sessions using an app n, allowing Braver coaches and therapists to track their progress.

One in 11 American children has an anxiety disorder, and that number has been growing steadily over the over the past two decades. Social isolation, family stress, and relentless news of tragedy during the pandemic have only exacerbated the problem.

But Audrey is one of relatively few children to have tried exposure therapy. The decades-old treatment, which is considered a gold standard approach to dealing with anxiety, phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorders, encourages patients to intentionally confront the objects or situations that cause them the most distress. A type of cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure often works in