Anxiety and children is a real deal, very serious issue and one that parents need to be aware of. It is also imperative to the one suffering that, if possible, you cease the suffering asap. The correct diagnosis can save you in more ways than you ever could imagine. Not just financially either but emotionally, mentally, and all around happiness regarding the quality of your life and family.
Any action you can take that would improve your state of mind and increase a more positive attitude is going to help you live a much happier life. There are a lot of seemingly solid things in life that, in reality, would tumble like a house of cards if only you have the right tools, information and courage to just, try.
We can all live better lives, if only we took cues from the gathered information and learned from the mistakes of our common history. True experts and therapists do their very best, by providing information to improve our lives and reduce our suffering. No one should have to suffer needlessly, least of all children. Recently, anxiety and children have been reported as growing more and more connected than ever realised before.
If you are like most people you are probably wondering, What on earth do children have to worry about? 'They have got it made. No bills, no job, no mortgage, they get food and clothing, and they are taken good care of. ' Yeah, from your standpoint, this is all true, but this is the absolute wrong way to perceive anyone or anything. Perspective can taint our understanding of our reality and the way we look at anxiety and children.
Think back to when you were a child and remember all the pressures, your friends, the schoolwork, after school activities, parental expectations; and the things that were important to you, were always like a life or death, super important thing for you, in your mind. What would make it any different for any other child?
Also, when you were young, things were a lot different. Things were much simpler and a lot more 'happy go lucky'. Of course, things are different for every individual but when were talking average family living standards, some generations had it particularly good. Children and anxiety are more a problem now, than was previously known about in the past, for two major reasons.
What we knew and understood then, as compared to what we know now, was one reason. We had less sophisticated tools and incomplete, inadequate information, especially when concerning children and anxiety. We also did not necessarily consider how to gage whether or not children and anxiety was an existing condition. At least specific to children.
However, It is more probable to be sure, that when an adult is diagnosed with general anxiety disorder they always had it. Only, the symptoms and effects are more noticeable and disruptive when coming from an adult. If the same outcome was to be established as coming from a child the confusion sets in, and our perspectives fail us. We are more prone to chalk it up to misbehavior or attention seeking behavior.
Another reason may be that children today are educated much faster and become comprehensive with expression in a considerably accelerated rate when compared to just ten years ago. Kids, can now know and explain what their bodies are going through and telling them in very easy to understand, intelligible terms. This is a freedom that children of younger generations never knew.
Now to mention, that with more freedom, comes responsibility. Children these days have a lot more to be responsible for and all the pressure that comes with it is bound to build into an anxious state from time to time. Not all children are capable of handling severe anxiety, nor some adults for that matter.
Science and research have come a long way with understanding emotional and mental disorders.Children and anxiety disorders are now a relatively common and socially acceptable condition. It has always been my contention that children are little people, deserving of respect and understanding just as any other person. They do apparently become entangled in the same webs that we adults find ourselves ensnared in too. This can bring on extra stress and pressure.
The Major types of Childhood Anxiety Disorders
G.A.D. or Generalized Anxiety Disorder- Extreme worry for extended lengths of time. Often disproportionate, excessive, and needless.
Panic Disorder- Unrealistic fear, fear of people and crowds, fear of one person, fear intense and extreme and sudden usually without an apparent cause or trigger.
Separation Anxiety Disorder- An unusually extreme need to stay with parent or relative, emotional distress caused by separation of someone they have bonded with strongly, severe anxiety occurs when even the suggestion is discussed openly to detach or remove them.
Social Phobias- Unreasonable, uncontrollable but never the less intense fears of social situations, fear of any social circumstances.
O.C.D. or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder- Obsessive behavior in a compulsive manner, ritual or redundant acts and commitments to patterns usually extreme and time consuming.
These conditions and the very brief description is in no way exhaustive or even adequate. They are just a small description of them to give the general idea. There are much more to the symptoms than I can give here. They all come with their own sets of symptoms, effects, and reactions all varying in degree and length. Some are common, some unique but these disorders are all very taxing on the one who suffers from one or more of them. Those that are afflicted have little or no control over their actions. The behavior a child may exhibit very well could be a symptom and not a misbehavior at all. Children and anxiety are often confused with misbehavior or some other problem.