Breaking Free of Child Anxiety & OCD: A Scientifically Proven Program for Parents

Eli Lebowitz’s Breaking Free of Child Anxiety and OCD is an outstanding, accessible guide for parents and caregivers. The book explains the SPACE approach in a clear, practical way, helping readers understand how family accommodation maintains anxiety and how small, supportive changes can promote resilience and independence. I appreciated how readable and compassionate the tone is while still being grounded in evidence-based principles. The step-by-step guidance, scripts, and real-life examples make the concepts feel immediately usable. This is a valuable resource for families navigating child anxiety or OCD and a helpful companion to treatment.

I am a therapist and parent and cannot praise this book enough! It is so practical and well written, easily digestible for parents with lots of sample worksheets in the back for parents to work through on their own. This is something I can use in my work with parents to guide them through making changes in their behavior to reduce accommodations. This is also a book I feel comfortable recommended to some families to read on their own. A wonderful tool and resource - thank you!

An excellent resource for parents and therapists alike! A digestible and practical read with clear information and examples to help parents and providers understand how to support children through anxious emotions.

I listened to the Audiobook and then bought the Kindle version. I may also purchase the hard copy to take notes and use the guides. This book was easy to get into and not overly repetitive. Also, the voiceover for the audible version was a great reader! ---> I decided to try this book because it centers around the influence parents can have, with or without therapy. I was drawn to the premise of this book, especially since my anxious child (commonly) is too anxious to go to a therapist and unwilling to "work" through problems. As for the meat of the book, I found it to be a great blend of supportive, compassionate parenting, with applicable techniques that are firm, consistent and progress oriented. I love parenting books that give you almost a "play-book" for what to do and say, and this book does that. I am just beginning to use the principles, but I sense that the technique is helping me form consistent "sound-bites" which are already causing my kids to take notice and think a little more before launching into full blown panic mode. Reading this book in full was very eye-opening as I didn't realize how much my accommodating could be hurting, rather than helping, my child. There are many different methods out there for working with anxious, challenging children and sometimes you have to find the one that clicks with your ideals and capabilities. I suggest everyone give this book a try as it could be a great fit, and it's definitely more simple and less expensive than other techniques. ----> To note, we are coupling this book with a complete halt in all screen time for our kids and have witnessed amazing turn arounds in just the support phase with these two changes. Thank you Dr. Lebowitz for teaching and writing about an accessible, proven plan.

Informative quick read!

I just attended the SPACE training and am really impressed with the innovative approach designed by Dr. Lebowitz. The book is a great snapshot of his treatment method and super easy to read. One of the AMFT at my practice read the entire book in one night! Highly recommend! Can't wait to start using this with clients!

Absolutely excellent book and resource if you have an anxious child or teenager! I wish I had these tools when my children were younger however as a mom of 5 young adult children (college students) these tools have increased my children’s self confidence and independence! I no longer enable their anxiety responses by changing my responses. Must read and implement the tools!

I use this book with parents and families in my therapy caseload, and it’s been a game changer! I am so grateful for how non-judgmental it is for parents that make steps manageable for them.

Me and my husband are both reading this, me in paperback, him on Kindle. We're nearly half way through, page 92 of 220ish pages. We've been doing the worksheets together and agreeing combined answers, a rarity. I like that this is about modifying our behaviour, not directly asking for changes or more workbooks or exercises by our child. I like that it recognises that one parent may have a more demanding style, one may have a protective style. I wish it mentioned more (in the first half I've read) about the fact that anxiety and OCD are often co-morbid with neurodivergence, such as ADHD or autism. But that isn't essential, as we know enough about our child after many years and much reading, so can adjust. Just going through these exercises (the part of self help books I usually skip, or half do in my mind) is helping us see things differently and both look at our own learned behaviours. A lot of the parenting strategies widely shared and promoted for children with anxiety, OCD traits and ADHD, are all very well for younger kids. I've seen so many parenting books and the blurb says, the author has learned everything through bringing up their own kids, aged 6 and 9. Hmm, ok, no thanks! Once you're dealing with teens, especially with one approaching adulthood, the game changes. They are still under your roof and may sometimes follow parental advice and house rules. But they also have a lot more autonomy, their own money, their own ideas, do their own online research, cook their own high protein meals and decide when they sleep (within reason). Reward charts are a distant memory and sanctions based on taking devices away are rare now and pretty ineffective. The negotiation skills and patience needed for parenting teens are considerable. They have your number, push your buttons and make you question yourself. It's an exciting time, lots to be proud of, but also daunting, when you see them still struggling with health anxiety, frustrations, anger management and avoidant behaviours, that can affect the family. I have high hopes for these analytic exercises and realistic coping strategies. Great book.

I really enjoyed reading this book - an excellent primer on anxiety and how to approach struggles with anxiety in the family, with kids who are experiencing a lot of it (to the point it's heavily impacting other family members, who are trying to manage it). The initial chapter offers some great education on what anxiety is, in a clear and compassionate manner. It also offers a lot of compassion to parents/caregivers, who likely want to help their anxious children to meet and master their fears, but may struggle with understanding how to do so effectively when those fears seem to be very big and persistent. Honestly, while this book is geared towards parents with young kids/adolescents, I think anyone could learn a lot from it about how to be supportive with someone who is highly anxious, while also self-respecting and maintaining appropriate boundaries. I would love to see the author's write a similar book that is more geared towards parents with teens/young adults who struggled with anxiety/OCD and difficulty launching into their adult lives.

This book was a lifesaver as a parent. I was taken aback when my son disclosed to me his compulsive impulses. They were tormenting him from sleeping and I was heartbroken for him. My way of comforting him was actually further enabling his compulsions and before we knew it we had a whole insane night routine. Reading this taught me how I could best help him and that only by changing my behaviour could I still be supportive but ultimately could empower him in order to turn things around. Things now are massively better and he is a happier and confident boy. Sleep comes much easier now. I would recommend any parent to read this book and better understand how to break to cycle by addressing your behaviour and not your child’s.

As a middle school teacher, I feel the strategies outlined in this book are extremely beneficial and clearly laid out, including troubleshooting strategies.

When our daughter developed OCD we were desperate to help her conquer it. CAMHS were unable to share strategies that we and school could follow and she became worse over the months whilst she had sessions. When we self discharged and moved to her new (private) Dr, this was recommended following a thorough assessment. OCD traps everyone in its grasp, and this programme helps parent/carers build up an understanding, recognise own behaviours to then put in place the shroud of support around the child with success. Our daughter wanted help, and this book helped us to help her. It tells you the steps, next steps, and so on. It was a real game changer for us all. She continues to have therapy to remain strong, but this was a great start. Families needing help, please also look into the amazing work of OCD-UK and OCD Action. Two fabulous charities who again provide the help to understand and support.