- General information about child anxiety
- Personal stories
- About the Child & Adolescent Anxiety Clinic
- Information for Referrers & Teachers
- How to get help
General Information about Child and Adolescent Anxiety
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is a normal emotion that is needed to survive. It is most commonly experienced as fear or worry. Anxiety is useful as it can help us to perform to our best ability. Like most things in life, too much anxiety is not a useful thing.
Whether anxiety is a problem or not is determined by
- the degree of anxiety (how severe it is)
- the age appropriateness of the fear and
- the amount of interference that is caused by the fear and worry.
Anxiety that is severe can impact on a person's health and happiness, and on their ability to complete everyday activities and achieve life goals.
Do Young People Get Anxious?
Anxiety is a problem that can affect people at all ages. Problems related to anxiety are the most common emotional disorders in children and adolescents and affect around 1 in 10 children. When anxiety occurs, it can produce serious difficulties and interference in a child's life and development.
Types of Child and Adolescent Anxiety
There are several different forms that anxiety can take in young people.
Separation fears
Children with this problem worry that something bad will happen to themselves or to Mum or Dad whenever they are apart. As a result, these children often refuse to separate from parents - e.g. they won't go to school, they won't sleep over at friends' houses, and they won't be left at home with a sitter.
Social fears
These children are extremely shy and withdrawn and worry a great deal about what others think of them. They avoid many social situations including, parties, sporting events, buying things at shops, or answering the telephone. They often have difficulty making friends.
Generalised anxiety
These children are excessive worriers. They worry about many different areas of their life including school work, competition, family, and anything new. They often ask repeatedly for reassurance and may experience physical symptoms such as headaches, nausea, or diarrhoea.
Obsessive-Compulsive disorder
These children tend to repeat actions or thoughts over and over, usually related to some type of fear. For example, they may wash their hands repeatedly because of the fear of getting sick from hidden germs or they may check locks repeatedly because of a fear of being burgled.
Post-Traumatic Stress
Usually following a severe, life-threatening trauma, many children experience nightmares, fears, and signs of distress. When these difficulties persist for several weeks to months, help may be required.
Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia
A young person who has regular panic attacks that happen for no apparent reason and who also worries that attacks will happen again. Consequently they begin to avoid places or activities for fear of having a panic attack while there.
Depression
A closely related problem is depression. Depressed children may be sad, low in energy, unmotivated, and down on themselves. They may feel they have nothing to look forward to.
Many children will show features of several of these problems and may have several related problems such as difficulties with relationships or schoolwork.
How do I know if my child is anxious?
Anxious children are usually very well behaved and don't bother anyone. Consequently, they can sometimes be overlooked because they don't make much fuss and do everything they can to not stand out in a crowd.
Their fears will usually be obvious in the things they do or the things they avoid doing and most anxious children will talk about their worries if you take the time to ask and to really listen.
Although anxious children can be difficult to identify there are some common behaviours which parents may be aware of. An anxious child may:
- be exceptionally well behaved eg never in trouble at school or when in the company of others (but not necessarily at home)
- often ask many unnecessary questions and require constant reassurance
- get upset when a mistake is made or if there is a change of routine eg sports day, substitute teacher, unexpected visitors or trip to an unfamiliar place
- be a loner or restrict themselves to a small group of safe people (who may be younger or older)
- often hesitate to answer questions and rarely volunteer comments or information
- become sick when performances are necessary (may even be absent from school)
- have poor social skills or refuse to participate in social activities, including other children's birthday parties
- have difficulty separating from parents
- be clingy with a parent or loved one in situations outside home
- express worries about "bad things" happening
- have worries about school at the beginning of each term or perhaps each Monday
- avoid unfamiliar situations, become sick, not turn up or endure situations with significant distress
- may become distressed if a particular friend is not at school
- often ask question which begin with "what if ... ?"
- may be perfectionistic, taking excessive time to complete homework because they try to get it absolutely correct
- may have difficulty sleeping, taking a long time to get to sleep or waking during the night and needing comfort from parents (it is not uncommon for them to sleep in their parents' bedroom)
- may experience regular headaches or stomach aches that have no medical cause
- be argumentative (but rarely aggressive), especially if trying to avoid a feared situation
- be pessimistic and easily able to identify what may go wrong in any given situation
Young people (especially young children) are not always aware that they worry, may not see their fear as excessive or may not be able to describe their worries. This is quite normal, parents need to trust their instincts in deciding whether their child's anxiety is more severe or restricting than other children of a similar age.
What happens if they don't get help?
Possibly nothing. Some anxious children simply grow out of their fears as they mature. Others will have positive experiences in life that can help them to overcome their difficulties.
However, it is also very possible that an anxious child will continue to have limited opportunities, caused by anxiety, right throughout his or her life.
In addition, anxious children often perform below their best at school and in sport because of their worries, and they often have fewer friends than other children.
In the long term, anxious children are more likely to develop depression and may have other problems in transitions to employment and independent living.
Should we seek help?
If reading the descriptions of other children who have difficulties with anxiety reminds you of your child or if you suspect that the amount they worry is more than other children then it is worthwhile discussing the problem with someone else.
There are several options for seeking advice on whether you should be concerned and seeking further help including:
- discussion with your child's school counsellor
- discussion with your child's GP or Paediatrician
- contact with your local children's health or community health centre or
- contact our staff who can discuss your concerns and recommend whether it is worth doing a full assessment
