Anxiety is one of the more common disorders seen in children and adolescents. Anxiety can have a genetic and/or environmental component. If one has family history of psychiatric illness or a child had an anxious temperament as a baby/toddler, one is at greater risk of developing an anxiety disorder. There can also be a learned component towards anxiety. For example, a baby usually is not anxious if he sees an insect for the first time. However, if there is person around him who shows an anxious reaction to the insect by screaming, yelling, running away, baby will then learn that insects are scary and dangerous. Hence, the next time baby sees an insect, there will be an increased anxious response. Never underestimate the impact of parental anxiety on a child. (Hence it is important for parents to get treatment for their own anxiety given how it can impact a child). Finally, environmental stressors can also trigger anxiety (ex family stress, bullying, school stress, medical illnesses etc).
Anxiety is a chronic disorder, but tends to wax and wane over time. This means that a person may recognize that they always tend to always be anxious, but the degree of how much the anxiety impairs them (in work, life, school etc) fluctuates.
There are also many different anxiety disorders, as anxiety is just an umbrella term encompassing many different forms of anxiety. There is selective mutism, social anxiety, general anxiety, and separation anxiety just to name a few. It is uncommon for a child to only meet criteria for one anxiety disorder, but more common for a child to have multiple anxiety disorders.
Because of the chronic nature of anxiety, it is important to be assessed, diagnosed and to receive treatment. Treatment may consist of medications and/or therapy. Medications can be short or long term, and at times, are needed because a child’s anxiety is so impairing that they can not function, and require immediate relief. There are many reasons why a physician may recommend medications, and this is just one of them.
Therapy is helpful in teaching skills to cope with anxiety. It is important to realize that the goal of therapy is not to ameliorate anxiety, as anxiety is a normal part of life. The goal of therapy is to teach coping strategies, so that when the anxiety heightens, a child will know how to cope with it and perhaps address it proactively, before it becomes a significant problem.
Finally, it is important to be aware and to diagnose anxiety, as without treatment, anxiety can progress to the development of other disorders such as depression, substance use etc.
August 16, 2017