Parenting a Child Who Has Intense Emotions

Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills to Help Your Child Regulate Emotional Outbursts and Aggressive Behaviors

By: Jeanine A. Penzo LICSW, Pat Harvey LCSW-C

Narrated by: Pam Ward

Temper tantrums in the supermarket. Tears that seem to come out of nowhere. Battles over homework that are more like wars. When your child has problems regulating his or her emotions, there's no hiding it. Children with intense emotions go from zero to 100 in seconds and are prone to frequent emotional and behavioral outbursts that leave parents feeling bewildered and helpless. Other parents may have told you that it's just a phase or that your child needs discipline. In reality your child may have emotion dysregulation, a tendency to react intensely to situations other children take in stride.

Parenting a Child Who Has Intense Emotions is an effective guide to de-escalating your child's emotions and helping your child express feelings in productive ways. You'll learn strategies drawn from dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), including mindfulness and validation skills, and practice them when your child's emotions spin out of control. This well-researched method for managing emotions can help your child make dramatic emotional and behavioral changes that both of you will be proud of.

©2009 Pat Harvey and Jeanine A. Penzo (P)2015 Tantor

Hope and tools are just what we needed

After my adult daughter was diagnosed with BPD and although I am not one to take ownership of a ‘diagnosis’, knowing what we were dealing with and subsequent therapy are changing her life. Her son, at 4 years old is showing signs of the same issues. I found hope and many tools to help him them both through this journey. We are trying to prevent some of the heartache she experienced as a child and I believe that we have found just what we needed in this book. This resource will be referred to and listened to over and over in our lives

I really liked it and will recommend!

I’m a register mental health counselor intern in Florida working with children in foster care system. This is incredible informative and so helpful for parents or any caregiver involved in raising children.

Great for bio and adoptive parents

Makes you at least understand it’s not abnormal to have a child with intense emotions.

Good information, annoying voice.

The information was very informative. There are a lot of helpful techniques and points to remember. My only complaint is the grating voice. Her voice is “sharp” and it makes it sound like she is talking down to the listener.

must read

★★★★★ A Must-Read for Parents of Children with Intense Emotions

Parenting Children Who Have Intense Emotions is absolutely amazing. I cried while reading it because I felt so heard and validated—knowing that others are experiencing the same challenges. The author provides practical, easy-to-follow tools that I can actually use with my child, making a real difference in our daily lives. This book is a game-changer, and I will definitely read it again. Highly recommend for any parent navigating big emotions with their child!