Anxiety Go Away!

Childhood Anxiety is something that most of us have gone through when we were children. Do you remember how you felt on the first day of your school or your first date? Now this is something that we all go through but when it becomes severe or uncontrollable in our kids, then we all need to be cautious as parents. The age that you need to watch out for any such disorders in your child is between six and eight years. They are of different types but the most common ones seen among children are listed below.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder- The symptoms of this kind is typical wherein a child excessively worries about various events that has either occurred in his or her life or something that he or she is going to confront. You could see such a child worrying about simple things such as an upcoming event in school, one’s health or family health, performance in sports or academics, and world events.

Panic Disorder-This is another common type which can be treated. It can be defined as unexpected panic attacks at regular intervals. Now you may wonder what a panic attack is. It is nothing but a sudden phobia along with certain physical symptoms, in order to escape from a seemingly undefeatable threat. Some of the physical indications that you will see in such children are extreme fear, increasing heartbeat, dizziness, short of breath, fear of dying or losing control over one’s mind. A child often worries about this kind of disorder because he or she is not aware when they might have to face it. Repeated attacks can interfere with the normal behavior of a child.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder- This is another class of extreme anxiety in which you will observe repeated unnecessary thoughts and fears worrying your child which results in recurring behaviors. Certain repetitive habits that you will observe are hand-washing, counting, checking, or cleaning. If a child suffering from this kind does not engage in these repeated activities, then the sense of discomfort increases. All these repeated actions give temporary relief to the child.

Social Phobia- This kind of disorder is an extreme fear of being humiliated or embarrassed in a social gathering. Such children are excessively shy and have the fear of making a mistake in a crowd which they fear will put them in an embarrassing situation. They are also worried about their competence and often look worried when they have to talk to their teachers and have to appear a public speaking event. This affects their school or social relationships.

Specific Phobia- This can defined as a fear of facing a specific feared situation or things. Exposure to such a situation or things develops an uncomfortable feeling in children. Such children get worried about various objects such as animals, natural phenomena like storm, height, water, or blood, injections and others.

The knowledge of different types of anxiety helps in treating them more effectively so that it does not further interfere with your child’s normal developmental activities.