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It is quite natural for parents to be concerned about their child’s well-being. They constantly strive to ensure that their children get the best nutrition and upbringing to have a healthy and prosperous life. While most parents more or less manage to attend to their child’s physical well-being, it is their mental health that often gets ignored. Yet, parents cannot be blamed for it. Rather, it is the lack of awareness that seems to be the culprit. One such mental health issue, which unfortunately seems to be on the rise, is anxiety. Yes, you’ve heard that right! Earlier, anxiety was only considered to be an illness that affected adults. However, it has now been found that it can affect children too (1).
What Is Childhood Anxiety?
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Some amount of anxiety is normal in our daily lives. Anxiety disorder is characterized by excessive feelings of fear and worrying. It can affect anyone irrespective of age, including children and teens (2). However, the biggest hurdle in diagnosing anxiety is the process of differentiating between mental health disorders and behavioral disorders. This is because more or less the symptoms in both look similar. But it gets all the more difficult to identify in children because often these overlap with each other.
For instance, parents often find children stressing about performing well in a particular subject which they think they are not good at. And then, the child complains of stomach pain or headache whenever he/she has to appear for an exam in the said subject. This makes the parents believe that it is due to either stress or a learning disability. However, your child might not be suffering from an actual learning disability at all. What happens is, due to anxiety, your child might be convinced that he/she is not good at the subject. This makes him/her lose attention and focus on the subject.
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Sometimes, a child with anxiety might be preoccupied with worrying thoughts. These thoughts can arise due to certain stressful situations in the family, or even the neighborhood, which might make the child concerned about personal and family safety. However, this gives an impression to the parents that their ward lacks concentration and focus. Sometimes, children with anxiety will also internalize the fear of criticism or of being mocked at (3).
What To Look Out For In Children With Anxiety?
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One of the most common symptoms of anxiety in children are the somatic symptoms of headache and stomach pain. Other symptoms include:
- Being restless
- Agitation
- Poor focus and attention abilities
- Crying and refusal to attend school
- Difficulty going to bed
- Setting high academic and sporting expectations for themselves and fretting about it
- Meltdowns before going to school (eg: fussing with dressing up, shoes, etc)
- Meltdowns after coming back from the school (eg: homework) (4)
What Parents Can Do To Help Their Child
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Start with observing and identifying your child’s behavior. Look for abnormal or sudden changes. For instance, if your child often complains of stomach pain or headache to stay away from school, try to find out what is triggering such a reaction. Check with your kid’s school teacher or his/her peers. Most importantly, have a heart-to-heart chat with your child to figure out his/her fears or inhibitions. If need be, try to have this talk at a place away from home, like a park or an ice cream parlor, where your child is not too stressed. Never assume it to be a behavior issue that’ll go away with time. However, if your child’s behavior continues to be the same even after your efforts, don’t shy away from taking professional help. You can always consult a Psychologist who will use a Cognitive Behavioral method to address your child’s anxiety (5).
With more and more children falling victim to anxiety disorder, it becomes all the more imperative to frequently discuss this condition and spread awareness. A mental health issue can happen to anyone and is not taboo. And, your support and reassurance go a long way in helping your child in overcoming it. So, never give up on your child! Good luck!
