Anxiety Reduction and Superheros
By: Voski Hovsepian and Kearisten Ketterer
Target Population
Individuals 6 and older
Individual or Group
Materials
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Paper
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Pencils, pens, markers or crayons
Instructions
The client will pick his or her favorite superhero. The client will make a list of all of the things that the superhero might worry about. Then the clinician will tell the client that together they will do some activities that can help their favorite superhero not worry as much. The clinician and the client will engage in relaxation techniques such as progressive muscle relaxation, and deep breathing. After the relaxation techniques, the clinician, and the client will process together how those experiences felt. The clinician will also ask if the child thinks that these reduction techniques can help their favorite superhero, and if he or she thinks that these techniques can also help them with their own anxiety.
Ask
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Who is your favorite superhero?
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What types of things do you think he or she may worry about?
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(after engaging in the relaxation technique) Do you feel more relaxed?
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Do you think if your favorite superhero did this activity they will feel more relaxed?
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Do you think these techniques could help you not to worry as much?
Expected Results
The main objective of this activity is to lower anxiety level in children. The first way this activity will aid in lowering children’s anxiety level is through normalizing the anxiety. Normalizing anxiety can often lead to a child feeling “less different … which, in itself, decreases anxiety and increases hope; it also shifts the child’s goal of “eliminating” anxiety to managing it” (Chorpita, 2007). Children are able to normalize their anxiety by thinking of different things that may “worry” their favorite superhero! The second step to this activity is teaching anxiety reduction techniques such as deep breathing or progressive muscle relaxation. By relating the anxiety reduction techniques to their favorite superhero, children may be more willing to engage in the techniques.
Troubleshooting
One thing for the therapist to be aware of when using this activity is that though these anxiety reduction techniques may help with symptom reduction they will most likely not uncover the reason the child is anxious about certain things in his/her life. It is important to for the therapist to help the child process what makes the child anxious and why while using this activity to manage the child’s anxious symptoms.
Related Works:
Chorpita, B. (2007). Modular Cognitive-behavioral Therapy for Childhood Anxiety Disorders. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Gkika, S., & Wells, A. (2015). How to deal with negative thoughts? A preliminary comparison of detached mindfulness and thought evaluation in socially anxious individuals. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 39 (1), 23-30.
doi:http://dx.doi.org.tcsedsystem.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s10608-014-9637-5
Mayorga, M. G., De Vries, S., & Wardle, E. A. (2016). Mindfulness behavior and its effects on anxiety. I-Manager’s Journal on Educational Psychology, 9 (4), 1-7.
Thoma, N., Pilecki, B., & McKay, D. (2015). Contemporary cognitive behavior therapy: A review of theory, history, and evidence. Psychodynamic Psychiatry, 43 (3), 423-461. doi:http://dx.doi.org.tcsedsystem.idm.oclc.org/101521pdps2015433423
Veena, D., & Alvi, S. (2016). Guided imagery intervention for anxiety reduction. Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing, 7 (2), 198- 203.
Originally posted on the Geek Therapy Wiki, hosted on the now-defunct Wikispaces platform, as part of Dr. Patrick O’Connor’s course Geek Culture in Therapy.