How Children Form Anxieties

It may help to understand why children form anxieties in the first place. Perhaps you can change certain aspects of their care that will make it less likely for them to develop anxieties in the future.

Children can become anxious and fearful in situations where they’re taught to feel that way. They’re also very intuitive and can pick up on the emotions of others. If you’re acting fearful and afraid in a certain situation, they may learn to have the same behavior without even realizing it.

Children can also learn anxiety from media sources such as television, movies, or video games. For example, TV shows and video games that are meant for older children or adults often contain scenes of suspense, horror or violence that can severely frighten a young child. As a result, they can develop many anxieties from it.

How To Overcome Anxieties

Once a child has anxieties, there are many avenues to consider for treatment. What works for one child may not work for another. Just keep searching for a solution that works for you and your family.

Here are some strategies you can use to help your child overcome their anxieties:

1. Help your child relax. A child will feel anxiety when they’re stressed. Explore different options for helping your child relax, then allow them to enjoy these relaxing games or hobbies. The activity you choose may be different for every child, or different depending on the day.

2. Find a distraction. When your child feels anxious all of a sudden, do something to distract them from the situation at hand. If you’re out in public and they start to panic, perhaps you can engage them in a conversation about something they like or distract them with a toy or something of interest in your surroundings. If you’re at home, try a fun game.

3. Avoid pushing your children. You might find that you’re pushing your child to behave a certain way without ever realizing it. It’s more common than you think! Be positive around your child and free them from unnecessary pressure.

• If you need to make a change, do it gradually so it isn’t shocking to the child.

4. Schedule “worry time.” This activity works well for adult anxieties too. Schedule a time during the day that is designated “worry time,” where your child can worry and vent. Your job is to listen to your child and help them sort out their feelings.

• This technique is also helpful because, when a child is worrying, you can tell them that they’re allowed to worry but they just need to wait for the designated time. They may not even feel worried anymore when the time comes.

5. Build confidence. Help your child build their confidence. When you’re feeling confident, it’s difficult to feel anxious or scared. If your child begins to feel confident instead of anxious, they’ll begin to have a positive attitude about themselves. This will also help them when they’re faced with fearful situations again in the future.

When you help your child learn how to overcome anxieties while they’re young, you also teach them an important skill that will be of great benefit for the rest of their life. Not only will they have a happier childhood, but they’ll also be a stronger, more confident, and happier adult.

Since anxiety attack is a type of anxiety disorder, it is important to know what happens to a child who is suffering from such disorder. To be able to identify it, here are the following symptoms:

• Frequent feeling of fear and panic
• Bed wetting
• Tantrums and excessive crying
• Fear of making mistakes
• Fear of getting embarrassed
• Avoidance of certain activities such as school event and summer camps
• Nightmares and night terrors
• Compulsive behaviors
• Resistance to any change
• Low self-esteem, lack of confidence
• Overly shy and difficulty making friends
• Chronic physical symptoms such as stomach aches or headaches without any apparent reason

A child is under an anxiety attack if he shows the following symptoms:

• Gush of overwhelming panic
• Hot flashes or chills
• Trouble breathing or choking sensation
• Feeling of loosing control or going crazy
• Feeling and fear of dying
• Feeling unreal or detach
• Nausea or stomach cramps
• Hyperventilation
• Shaking or trembling
• Feeling like passing out
• Chest pain or heart palpitation

Different children of different ages or even of the same age may manifest different symptoms. Moreover, some of the symptoms given may be considered as a normal behavior of a child. Thus it is a bit tricky to determine if he or she is really having an attack or not. What should be done is to recognize these symptoms and consider them as a reason of concern, then help your child deal with these symptoms through the following:

Seek help from health professional – Effectively stopping anxiety attacks begins with recognition and followed by a compete diagnosis from your medical doctor. A full medical examination should be administered in order to rule out any other physical causes unrelated to anxiety.

Doctors usually give prescription medications to help relieve anxiety. If applicable, SSRI antidepressants may be needed for a long term solution. For a more severe case, doctors may refer the child to a psychologist.

Self-help techniques – Parents may seek the help of books available for treating child anxiety. This is also very effective in teaching parents strategies for responsible parenting, which improve parent-child relationship and help build child self-confidence and self-esteem.

Play therapy – is the child version of exposure therapy. As an effective child anxiety treatment, play therapy uses the power of play to simulate each fearful situation in a controlled environment, which then helps the child face the problem and come up with a solution.

Herbal medicines – is proven and effective means of treating anxiety attacks and other types of anxiety disorder. Some of the commonly recommended remedies include passionflower, valerian, scuttelaria laterifolia (scullcap), California poppy, Melissa officinalis, hypericum perforatum (St. John’s Wort), hops and lavender.

The point of telling you this is so when you talk to the school counselor or teacher, you want to do a lot of investigating. Anxiety has causes even if they may be complicated. Your child’s anxiety may be due to a problem with another student and he or she doesn’t want to tell anyone. Or it could be they’re having emotional problems about school or home. It’s too easy to label a child with ADD today. When that happens the real problem is not solved when it could be anxiety.