Anxiety in Children
Do children get anxious?
Anxiety is basically a state or condition where an adult or child feels intense tension or unease. Just like adults anxiety is a common mental health problem in children too. It is completely fine for children to feel anxious sometimes at different ages when they are going through a transitional phase in their life. But if your child’s anxiety lasts for a long span of time and starts preventing them from performing day to day life activities like seeing their friends or going to the school it will be considered an anxiety disorder and an anxiety disorder needs to be treated.
What makes children anxious?
Anxiety in children can be triggered due to following reasons:
- losing a loved one
- going through a tragic accident
- suffering from any kind of abuse
- frequently changing homes or schools
- living in a tense environment
- being surrounded by people suffering from anxiety disorder
- witnessing your parents fight or argue all the time
- feeling neglected
- being bullied
What are the symptoms of anxiety in children?
Following are the symptoms of anxiety in children:
- trouble falling asleep
- trouble focusing
- waking up in the middle of night almost everyday
- being clingy and upset
- fidgeting and using the washroom more often
- always feeling angry and irritable
- frequent tummy aches
If your child has any of the above mentioned symptoms and you are not fully aware on the subject of anxiety then you must consult the Best Child Specialist in rawalpindi.
How can you help your child if they are feeling anxious?
First things first, your role as a parent in helping your anxious child is about teaching them how they can manage their anxiety rather than brushing it under the carpet like it doesn’t exist.
If you start noticing anxiety symptoms, what you can do is sit with your child and ask them how they are feeling. Don’t push them if they are not ready to share their feelings with you. Once they open up about how certain things make them feel excessively worried and restless, what you can do is validate their feelings like this : it is completely normal to feel anxious when you have exams or when you are starting a new school and everybody feels the same way.
Keep reassuring them and their anxiety will settle down a few notches if not go away. Anxiety will definitely come back at different stages of life when your child goes through difficult stuff. In case your child’s anxiety doesn’t get better with the talk therapy sessions that you give them you should seek help from a professional.
When should you see a doctor about anxiety in your child?
When the anxiousness of your child starts impacting their daily life for example they refuse to go to their school because they feel restless there. It’s time you should consult Prof. Dr. Mahmood Shaukat Pediatric Surgeon and get a recommendation for a professional who treats anxiety in children. Some common treatment options for anxiety in children are:
- Cognitive behavioural therapy:
Cognitive behavioural therapy is talk therapy that helps patients change the way they behave by transforming the way they think and perceive things.
- Medication:
When talk therapy or cognitive behavioural therapy doesn’t work, the last thing that doctors retort to for treating anxiety in children is medication. Dosage should be given according to the prescription for the recommended period of time to see betterment of symptoms in the patients.
