Department of Psychology
About Child Anxiety
How Do I Know if My Child is Anxious?
About 1 in 10 children have problems coping with anxiety. Anxiety problems are the most common emotional disorders experienced by children and these problems can cause serious difficulties and interference in a child’s life and development. Anxious children are often well behaved and can sometimes be overlooked. However, most parents know if their child is excessively anxious. It will usually be obvious in the things they do or the things they won’t do. In addition, most anxious children will talk about their worries if you take the time to ask and to really listen.
What Happens if We Don't Get Help?
While some anxious children simply grow out of their fears many continue to worry right through adolescence and into their adult life. In both the short and long term anxiety in children can limit opportunities, cause poor performance at school, make friendship difficult and lead to more serious problems such as depression in adolescence and drug or alcohol problems in adults. Most of all anxious children tend not to be happy and are often very stressed by everyday life. This is reason enough to get help.
Types of Childhood Anxiety
Many children will show features of several of these problems and some may also struggle with feeling sad or depressed
Separation Fears
Kids who worry that something bad will happen when separated from mum or dad. They often refuse to separate e.g. won’t go to school, sleep over at friends’ houses, or be left at home with a sitter.
Social Fears
Kids who are shy or withdrawn, who worry about what other people think of them. They avoid social situations and often have difficulty making friends.
Specific Fears
Fears of particular objects or situations like dogs or water. The fear is so bad that they avoid situations where they might come across the feared event.
Generalised Anxiety
These kids are excessive worriers. They worry about many different areas including school work, competition, family, and anything new. They ask for reassurance and may feel sick, get headaches or have trouble sleeping.
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 check locks repeatedly because of a fear of being burgled.
What Can Be Done?
Over the past 15 years the Child Anxiety Clinic at Macquarie University has been a world leader in developing treatment programs for anxious children. These programs involve teaching children and parents skills for managing anxious feelings and helping children to face their fears. Current results indicate that children who complete these programs show marked improvement. Following treatment, there are increases in school attendance, academic achievement, confidence, number of friends and involvement in extra-curricular activities and decreases in worry, fear and family distress.