How Can Movement Therapy Help Kids Treat Anxiety?

Nowadays, kids have more things to feel anxious about than ever. They often make discoveries through physical activities, such as walking, running, playing, and drawing. Their inner thoughts are visible through these physical experiences. When a kid is short-tempered, depressed, or struggling emotionally, their symptoms often appear physically, such as crying tantrums, physical aggression, tension, throwing things, and many more.

Sooner or later, many kids learn to regulate their feelings and express themselves in other ways. Emotional regulation refers to the ability to control feelings, assess motional and physical responses, and change emotional reactions to achieve a goal.

But some kids struggle with the process of emotional dysregulation, which is an inability to control, assess, and modify physical and emotional responses. If your child also struggles with this issue, then it is the right time to take anxiety treatment in New York.

What does emotional dysregulation look like?

Emotional dysregulation looks in two major forms;

Ø  Under-regulation

Ø  Over-regulation

Under-regulation may occur when:

Ø  Kids cannot sense their emotional experiences.

Ø  Kids cannot sense environmental causes.

Ø  Kids have no mechanism to calm themselves. This can be seen in some kids who

have experienced traumatic events.

Ø  This can result in behaviours such as physical acting out, impulsive actions, poor

concentration, and irritability. 

If we talk about movement therapy, therapy has been found to be helpful for many kids.

This method offers body-based, clinical mediation for kids who have symptoms of

emotional dysregulation, struggle with emotional experience, and find it tough to self-

control emotionally.

Movement therapy can help children with emotional regulation by:

Ø  Providing a physical outlet for emotional energy

Ø  Increasing body awareness

Ø  Offering a new way to cope

Ø  Alternative to talk-based processing

Conclusion:

Through movement and physical engagement, kids interact and experience the world.

They tend to show their fears, irritations, challenges, and happiness through their

bodies. Some kids struggle to control their emotional experiences. On the other hand,

others may overpower their feelings and withdraw. Anxiety treatment in New York

can be of benefit in both situations.