Anxiety |
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1 in 5 kids and teens meet criteria for an anxiety disorder, but far too few receive the right help. Unlike behavioural difficulties which are much more obvious, anxiety is difficult to detect and many parents are unaware that their child’s symptoms are anxiety related. It’s also not uncommon for kids and teens to feel anxious – like before a big test or a classroom speech – so it can be hard to know when anxiety crosses the line from normal anxiety to problem anxiety.
Identifying anxiety in young children can be particularly challenging because kids younger than 8 usually can’t put their worries into words. They will typically show physical and behavioural symptoms of anxiety though – signs to look out for include:
Regardless of whether your child meets full criteria for an anxiety disorder, if there are indicators that suggest that your child struggles with worry or anxiety it might be worth seeking the advice of a child clinical psychologist.
Click here for more information and tips on how to help your child cope with their anxiety.
Uncontrollable worry is the main symptom of Generalised Anxiety Disorder, but other symptoms include:
Though not always, kids and teens who struggle with general anxiety and worry are also often highly perfectionistic.
Children with Separation Anxiety fear that something bad will happen if they’re separated from their parents – ‘what if mum’s in a car accident?’, ‘what if I get lost and no-one can find me?’ Other common signs of Separation Anxiety are:
Symptoms of Separation Anxiety can wax and wane though tend to be worse after extended periods without separation (e.g. school holidays), during periods of change, or during stressful times.
Social Anxiety is an anxiety disorder that makes people worry about doing something embarrassing and being negatively judged by others. While most kids feel nervous before a classroom speech or before meeting a new group of people, kids with social anxiety experience intense anxiety and fear prior and may also experience strong physical symptoms of anxiety like a racing heart beat, sweaty palms, a tight chest, or nausea.
The main feature of Social Anxiety is a fear of social situations. More specific symptoms are:
Because of their anxiety, kids and teens with social anxiety may have difficulty making friends, they might find it hard to be assertive in social situations, they may under-perform at school (because their test anxiety interferes with their ability to concentrate), and they might be at higher risk for low self-esteem.
Some children become so anxious that they’re unable to speak in specific social situations. Children who are able to speak in some situations (usually at home) but not others may have what’s called Selective Mutism (a more severe form of social anxiety).
A panic attack is a brief episode of intense anxiety that is accompanied by strong physical symptoms of anxiety:
Panic attacks can be a symptom of any anxiety disorder.
Kids who experience panic attacks don’t necessarily have Panic Disorder. Symptoms of Panic Disorder are:
Unfortunately many of the coping strategies kids develop for coping with their worry about panic attacks – like seeking reassurance – help them to feel better in the short-term, but in the longer-term they make the worry worse.
A phobia is an intense (usually irrational) fear of a specific object, situation, or person. Common phobias in kids include:
Most children are afraid of the dark, scared of thunderstorms, or fearful of needles at some point, but overtime these fears fade. Phobias only receive a formal diagnosis if they:
When kids with a Specific Phobia are exposed to a feared object or situation, they experience intense anxiety including strong physical symptoms or anxiety:
Children and adolescents with specific phobias go out of their way to avoid the object or situation they fear, or endure the feared object or situation with extreme distress. Younger children may express their anxiety through tantrums, clinginess, or tearfulness.
Obsessions are intrusive, unwanted thoughts or images usually about negative or catastrophic events. Common obsessions are:
Compulsions are performed to relieve the anxiety and worry that accompanies obsessions, or to prevent a feared outcome like illness. Compulsions are distressing, they can take up a considerable amount of time, and they can be disruptive to family routines. OCD can manifest in a variety of different ways, but some of the most common compulsions are: