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Anxiety

Anxiety. In Children and Adolescents. About anxiety. Key risk phase for symptoms or development of a disorder in childhood or adolescence. A fight/flight response. A “normal” response to stress or stressful situations. We all feel worried, nervous, or anxious at times. Definition.

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Anxiety

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  1. Anxiety In Children and Adolescents

  2. About anxiety... • Key risk phase for symptoms or development of a disorder in childhood or adolescence. • A fight/flight response. • A “normal” response to stress or stressful situations. We all feel worried, nervous, or anxious at times.

  3. Definition • The brain’s response to danger. • A brain response developed in infancy • An attempt to avoid perceived danger/threat. • Can be adaptive (need to have this response to survive). • Becomes maladaptive when it interferes with regular functioning. • Developmental issues need to be considered when viewing it as “normal” or pathological. Ex. A child’s fear of thunder and lightning

  4. Assessing Anxiety • Need to consider developmental differences in children and adults – child/adolescents cognitive abilities, emotional understandings and language development. • Most frequent of the mental disorders in children. Seen 8-10 % of childhood disorders. • Most common: Generalized Anxiety also called “overly anxious”, Separation Anxiety, and Phobias. • Can co-exist with other disorders or depression.

  5. More about specific anxieties Separation Anxiety: • One of the most common of the anxiety disorders. • Characteristics: an inappropriate, unrealistic, and excessive distress reaction to separation from major attachment figure (parent) or home. • Refusal to go to school a common feature. • Fear for safety of caregivers. • May be “clingy” or throw tantrums when separation imminent. • Characterized by stomach aches, sleep troubles.

  6. Panic Disorders • Characterized by unexpected and recurring panic attacks (an intense fear accompanied by physical and cognitive symptoms). • Physical Symptoms: rapid/shallow breathing, rapid heart beat, sweating, feeling faint, fear of dying.)

  7. Generalized Anxieties • An excessive and persistent fear or worry about a number of activities and/or events in child’s life. Ex. Marks in school, family, friends. • Symptoms: fatigue, irritability, stomach/intestinal problems, sleep problems, muscle tension. • Treatment: CBT, Relaxation Techniques

  8. A few more... • Social Anxieties • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder • Specific Phobias • Test Anxiety (?)

  9. Resources • www.acnp.org • www.nimb.nih.gov • Anxiety and Depression Association of America • American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

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