Quotes from Tamar E. Chansky

Whatever you do, know that you always have choices about what to do with thoughts—including the ones that belong to someone else. In

How much do I really believe that will happen? • What do I think is the most likely thing to happen? • What is the most unlikely thing to occur? • What could I do if that happened? Tell yourself: • Ideas can sound frightening, but that doesn't make them true.

Forgiveness is giving up hope of a better past. —UNKNOWN

anxious kids are just following the instructions that their worry brain is giving: Proceed with caution; handle with care; warning: danger ahead.

Kids don't have to stop the thoughts. They simply need to change their relationship to their thoughts. The more your child can learn to trust themselves, and not their anxiety, the more they will be able to put the worry thoughts aside.

So even if what might have started as a negative cue—pull that hair—ends with a positive result—feeling good—this feedback loop gets reinforced. The brain learns quickly what feels good and seeks to repeat it. We can interrupt that cycle with other choices of other ways to respond; this is how treatment works.

There is substantial evidence that tic disorders have a genetic component. They may be caused by an oversensitivity to the neurotransmitter dopamine, which controls movement, and they may originate in the basal ganglia, the part of the brain that controls behaviors.