Childhood Anxiety - What Are the Signs and How You Can Help
Anxiety has been documented throughout history as nerves or hysteria
, today the labels have changed; panic attacks, OCD, agoraphobia and others, but the distressing symptoms of rushing heart, clammy skin, light-headedness and jelly legs are the same regardless. Anxiety is something we nearly always attribute to adults, but there has been a steady increase in our children since the 1950's.Children with severe anxiety can show all the same behaviours as an adult, OCD - excessive repetitive behaviours, such as hand washing, panic attacks often mistaken as tantrums, agoraphobia - a fear of open spaces. Such 'bizarre' behaviours seem to happen overnight but the truth is anxiety has been building for quite some time and is usually attributed to the child being shy, clingy, a Mummy's boy or just a worrywart.
So what are the early signs of anxiety in children?
Feel unsafe staying in a room by themselves
Clingy behaviour
Excessive worry and fear about parents or about harm to themselves
Shadow the mother or father around the house
Difficulty going to sleep and nightmares when they do
Fear of being alone in the dark
Studies over the past ten years have shown that it's not just the obvious such as the increase in divorce rates and fractured families that increase anxiety in children but that they pick up parental stress over everyday environmental dangers such as crime rate, nuclear war and Aids.
If not addressed early on anxiety can be carried over into adulthood and can to physical and mental health problems later in life such as depression, heart disease, asthma and gastric upsets such as IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)
If your child is showing early signs of anxiety what can you do to help? Nadine Kaslow, PhD, professor and chief psychologist at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, stated that "parents and other adults really need to attend to kids' anxieties" - take time to nurture your kids, make sure they can talk openly about their fears and make their lives as stable and as predictable as possible. Maintain a routine, especially during stressful times - keep mealtimes regular and use them as an opportunity to talk positively about any changes that may be happening. Ensure you listen to your children and about how they feel, most importantly don't burden your children with your emotions. If you need someone to talk to chose a friend, family member or professional for help.
Childhood Anxiety - What Are the Signs and How You Can Help
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