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Facing Mighty Fears About Health ISBN: 9781787759282
Huebner, Dawn and Stevens, Liza
Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2022
One in a series of books about worrying and fears, this one is about health in general, and aimed as it is at quite a young age group, it will be of great use. The approach is a fun one, with lots of good black and white appealing illustrations on every page and many little 'fun facts' in boxes about the human body, such as 'your nose can recognise close to a trillion different scents'. It begins by talking about all the ways we can become aware of what our body is doing, feeling our heartbeats, listening to the noises in our tummy, or hearing our lungs breathing in and out. This is fine, but sometimes we can become too aware of these things and begin to worry if everything is okay: 'Am I sick? What if my body stops working? Do I have a serious disease?' If one continues with these thoughts, they can develop into 'Health Anxiety'(hypochondria), and this can cause big problems. We then learn about smoke alarms and that they can often be false when the toast burns or meat is overcooked, and this is the same with the body. The amygdala in the brain can give false alarms too and often does - with grown-ups too - and we need to learn ways of coping and not getting ourselves into a really intensive need for reassurance. Some excellent and simple mindfulness techniques are given as well as the fact that it will take time to cure the problem. A really good section for parents is included too, part of which has to do with the fact that it isn't a good idea to constantly commiserate with one's child over his or her worries and give into needs for staying with them at bedtime or making special food for them if they develop fears about eating. There is also a fine selection of books and web sites and resources that will be useful for parents too. An excellent book for both parent and child that will provide much needed help. Available from Amazon, Hive, good book shops and the publisher: www.jkp.com.
Age: 6+