According to Dr. Saline, anxiety is a physiological response to worry. The primitive part of the brain gets frightened – as if there’s a tiger at the door of the cave. Once triggered, the amygdala takes over the brain with a basic response: fight or flight. In modern day, when kids worry about ideas, like tests or what’s going to happen at school the next day, the physiological response is the same as if there is actual physical danger. A test, or a friend being unkind, becomes a tiger at the entrance to the cave – and our kids ‘freak out.’

Listen to Fostering Resilience for Kids with Anxiety (March 2017)