Emma Stone opens up about dealing with this mental health issue

Emma Stone opens up about dealing with this mental health issue

You may have never guessed that Emma Stone, the leading lady who starred in hits like La La Land, The Help and Crazy, Stupid, Love, suffered from childhood anxiety. But according to a Rolling Stone feature, Stone has been dealing with childhood anxiety since the age of 7.

Fortunately for the star, her parents noticed how much the mental health condition was taking a toll on her and brought her to see a therapist.

My anxiety was constant,” she told Rolling Stone. “I would ask my mom a hundred times how the day was gonna lay out.”

Stone, who said seeking professional support “helped so much,” eventually discovered that performing also helped her with her anxiety.

“Unfortunately, children whose anxiety goes unaddressed tend to experience anxiety throughout their lives,” says Brent Sylvester, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist at Advocate Medical Group in Bloomington, Ill. “With therapy, children can learn to deal effectively with anxiety. More importantly, parents can learn how to help support their child effectively.”

According to Sylvester, there are two common mistakes that parents make. “One is to have children avoid stressful situations. The other is to think that tough love is the answer by making a child face their worst fear. Instead, encourage children to face the right amount of fear and then get help thinking through the experience so they can begin to understand how to manage anxiety on their own.”

“Anxiety disorders in children are responsive to therapy,” adds Rhoda Gottfried, M.D., a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Advocate Medical Group in Bloomington, Ill. “Therapy and medication such as antidepressant medication are a combination that is helpful when therapy alone is not successful. Emma Stone clearly articulates the fundamental principle: the best way to beat anxiety is to fight it.”

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Comments

4 Comments

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  2. Eleanor Mallor-Gaddis February 8, 2017 at 2:26 pm · Reply

    Good article and glad I have Rhoda for my therapist!!!

  3. Martina McKeough March 16, 2017 at 7:49 am · Reply

    Anxiety can be significantly helped with a number of forms of therapy. We use hypnotherapy with children aged 7 and above and it works really well providing the child is willing to see a therapist. We also see a number of adults whose anxiety was never addressed when they were a child creating years worth of problems. Nipping it in the bud is really important as it can have a huge impact on someones life.

  4. Martina McKeough March 16, 2017 at 7:51 am · Reply

    Getting help for anxiety when you are a child is so important. As a hypnotherapist I see hundreds of people each year whose anxiety was never treated leading to all kinds of problems well into adulthood.

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health enews Staff
health enews Staff

health enews staff is a group of experienced writers from our Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care sites, which also includes freelance or intern writers.