Childhood Anxiety: Understanding Childhood Anxiety
We all come into the world small, helpless, and unable to
communicate with those great big people on whom we depend to
meet our survival needs.
So is it any wonder that for the first few years of our lives we
can easily feel overwhelmed by trying to find our places in the
world? And for some children, those feelings can develop into
childhood anxiety.
Anxiety has been shown to be the most common mental health
disorder in American teens and adults. But childhood anxiety is
often misdiagnosed as ADHD--attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder--and the American Psychiatric Society estimates that as
many as four percent of children suffer from separation anxiety.
Childhood anxiety misdiagnosed and left untreated can often
result in adult anxiety disorders, including panic attacks and
phobias. So it is important for both parents and school
personnel to be educated in the signs of childhood anxiety and
provide proper care.
Childhood anxiety which occurs in children who have difficulty
being separated from their parents can often mimic the signs of
attention deficit disorder. These symptoms include being unable
to focus and behaving impulsively or hyperactively.
Childhood anxiety will surface as a child's not focusing on
schoolwork, not because of ADHD, but because he or she is
obsessing on being away from home and parents. The child may be
also exceptionally tense and nervous, and suffer from lack of
sleep.
When the child experiences physical difficulties, like
stomachaches or headaches brought on by childhood anxiety,
parents and teachers often interpret the physical complaints as
manipulative.
If a child diagnosed with ADHD does not respond to medication
with improved school performance, the parents should consider
the probability that childhood anxiety underlies the
dysfunctional behavior, and have their child tested.
The favored approach to treating a child diagnosed with
childhood anxiety is psychotherapy, first in a one-on-one
setting with the psychotherapist, to assist the child in gaining
self-confidence. This may be followed by therapy done in a
group, to lessen the child's feelings of isolation and being
"different".
Parents of children suffering from childhood anxiety can benefit
from counseling on the best approach to handling their child's
home behavior. They can learn to observe the situations most
likely to trigger attacks of childhood anxiety in their child,
and prepare their child with extra attention and encouragement
when one of those situations approaches. They will need to
remain calm themselves, no matter how agitated their child
becomes, because the child will be subconsciously taking cues
from them as to how dangerous a situation may be.
For those children whose childhood anxiety is centered on
school, the parents should ask the teachers to make allowances
for the child's difficulties in completing work.
For some children, antidepressant drugs are essential while they
learn behaviors for coping with their childhood anxiety. Both
parents and teachers of such children should be vigilant about
side effects, and allow time for the drugs and therapy to let
the child overcome his or her child anxiety disorder.
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