Anxiety Disorders And Its Effects On Children

Childhood anxiety is quickly becoming the most challenging of all childhood problems. As the root of most problems, anxiety covers a long range of stressors that spread quickly if not treated or relieved early in life. Anxious feelings in children varies from children of all backgrounds. All people feel anxious at one point or another, and it is only when children are affected daily and unable to be calmed when people should become concerned. Many times, children are feeling overwhelmed and cannot express themselves or struggle to understand his/her feelings. Social and emotional development then plays a big part when facing concerns like anxiety in a young childhood environment. Teachers and caregivers need to take a step back and focus on what the child needs rather than what he/she can do to make children calm down. Through interventions, patience, and caring teachers, a young child does not need to be known as "The Child Who is Anxious", he/she can just be a child.

Current epidemiological data suggest anxiety disorders are the most prevalent type of childhood psychological disorders. Generalized Anxiety Disorder or GAD is described by excessive worrying about a variety of events, including those in the past, present, and future. Children with this disorder worry excessively about a number of issues, including past conversations or actions, upcoming events, school, family health, their own health, competence in sports or academics, and world events. Typically, children experiencing such excessive worry find it difficult to control the amount of time that they worry, and the worrying interferes in their daily life. Sometimes children don’t realize their anxiety is excessive considering the situation.

Adolescence is a difficult time period in a young person’s transition into their later stage of both physical and mental development. Mood disorders are often overlooked during this time for the brain becoming more developed; however among children, anxiety disorders seem to be the most common disorders to be experienced (Nelson; Israel, pg 112). Barlow (2002) defines anxiety as a future-oriented emotion that is characterized by the inability to be in control and predict future events that can be potentially dangerous to the individual. Anxiety shares commonalities with fear, but the difference between the two being that fear is the initial response made from a present threat, where anxiety is due to a unknown future event. A common

While anxiety disorders seem to be among the most common of childhood disorders, most children with a diagnosable anxiety disorder are not receiving any assistance (Stallard et al., 2014). Further, many studies indicate that anxiety disorders in children do not tend to dissipate without treatment; rather, these disorders continue to affect a child’s well-being and functioning as they grow and can have negative consequences on school performance and social functioning in later years (Saavedra, Silverman, Morgan-Lopez & Kurtines, 2010). It appears that if effective interventions are not implemented to address diagnosable childhood anxieties, the symptoms can progressively become more severe and debilitating (Girling-Butcher & Ronan, 2009).

There were two studies that examined the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED). The Hale III et al. (2014) prospective cohort study was conducted to determine if frequent administration of the SCARED further distinguished between false positives and true positives with regard to DSM-5 diagnostic symptoms of anxiety disorder. While the Simon et al. (2009) prospective study was conducted to determine if results relating to high-anxious and median-anxious on the SCARED could be used to distinguish and predict various anxiety disorders. Both authors believe that anxiety disorders can take a serious toll on the quality of life and can financially drain the society. Simon et al. goes on to say that anxiety disorders that

The concept of “pediatric anxiety” emerged as a central theme in a study of pediatric patients in the Pediatric Emergency Department in order to better care for the pediatric population, determine the source of the patient’s fears, along with providing all encompassing care to pediatric patients. Therefore, I decided to examine the concept of pediatric anxiety. Pediatric patients often attribute hospitals, nurses, and doctors with needles as most often the healthy child sees their pediatrician for well child check ups and immunizations. Some pediatric patients have been diagnosed with anxiety and deal with anxiety on a daily basis while others ' anxiety arises with emergency department visits and hospitalizations. Pediatric anxiety in the hospital can be a result of a multitude of factors and can be demonstrated in a multitude of ways. While some patients may scream and cry, others may become withdrawn. Walking into the doors of an unknown place while feeling sick or experiencing pain, can certainly produce anxiety for patients of all ages. Particularly pediatric patients, with their fear of strangers, inability to comprehend the rationale behind illness or providing care for such illnesses and diseases, and fear of "getting hurt or needles" can all be contributors to anxiety. “Hospitalization can be a threatening and stressful experience for children. Because of unfamiliar with the environment and medical procedures and unaware

Describe the norm group (Size, age, geographical area, diversity, etc.). The data collected from normative samples match the census data of U.S. and Canadian census in relation to race/ethnicity, education level, and geographic region (). The norm group for this scale are separated into three different age groups:8–11 years, 12–15 years, and 16–19 years (March, 2013).

The purpose of Compansano’s article was to increase awareness of the disorder Selective Mutism and the issues connected with the anxiety disorder. Compansano addresses the current treatments, and the need for early intervention. Compansano concludes her article by suggesting the need for more research and training for educational counselors. Compansano described Selective Mutism by using the American Psychiatric Association’s definition as “persistent failure to speak in specific social situations (e.g., school, with playmates) where speaking is expected, despite communicating in other situations” (American Psychiatric Association,

She finds herself constantly worrying about the status of her home, being late to work despite waking up an hour before departure, any possible accidents which may lead to her death, and various scenarios which lead to unfortunate events. She states that she has been married for about 10 years to her college sweetheart. She has no children due to her worries of complications during childbearing and raising children. She explains that she worries whether her children will be considered normal, pretty, or crazy. She describes her marriage as ‘hell’ because she feels like her husband does not support her. She does not mention any other family member besides her husband when asked about her family. Janine holds a job as a tax accountant. She works from 6am to 11pm, and recently she has been bringing her work home. This is due to her thoughts constantly interfering with her concentration on tasks. Recently work has been overwhelming for her since there is no method for relieving stress. She states that her husband does not help her with housework, which adds to the stress from work. In fact, she does not see her husband often which prompts her to worry if her husband is having an affair. She is not on medication at the moment; however, she used to take Xanax once every morning for 2 years. As for meals, she states that she only eats quarry, animals hunted for food, and that she does not eat vegetables.

In the realm of anxiety disorders, research on younger populations falls behind in comparison to studies on anxiety disorders in adults. (Mohr & Schneider, 2013) Anxiety is one of the most common psychiatric disorders among school age children, and yet there is still so much more to be known about its development and treatment. (Kessler et al., 2005). Anxiety in school age children can be an issue that interferes with achievement in school. The constant interference can cause disruption in a child's ability retain and process information as well as focus in the classroom. (Semple, Lee, Rosa, & Miller, 2010). Anxiety in children often manifests as a disruption in attention. In turn, the consequential lack of success in school can lead to more anxiety due to a student’s negative self-judgment (Gordon, 1977). This circle of cognitive interference in school and the following negative self-judgment by the child is one that can lead to increasing levels of anxiety. There have been multiple forms of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) that have shown some promise as treatments for childhood anxiety (Sullkowski, Joyce, & Storch, 2011). However with an increasing prevalence of childhood psychiatric disorders, there is still somewhat of lack of research in to the use of psychological interventions to treat them (Semple, Reid, & Miller, 2005).

She finds herself constantly worrying that there is no reason; such as the status of her home, being late to work despite waking up an hour before departure, any possible accidents which may lead to her death, and various scenarios which lead to unfortunate events. She states that she has been married for about 10 years to her college sweetheart. She has no children due to her worries of complications during childbearing and raising children. She worries that her children whether children will turn out to be normal, pretty, or crazy like their mother. She describes her marriage as ‘hell’ due to her husband’s lack of support. She does not mention any other family member besides her husband when asked about her family. Janine holds s a job in as a tax accountant. She works from 6am to 11pm, and she brings her work home with her. This is due to her anxiousness interfering with her concentration on tasks. Recently work has been overwhelming for her since there is no method for relieving her stress. She states that her husband does not help her with housework, which adds to the stress from work. In fact, she does not see her husband often which prompts her to worry if her husband is having an affair. She is not on medication at the moment; however, she used to take Xanax once every morning for 2 years. As for meals, she states that she only eats quarry, animals hunted for food, and that she

Selective mutism (SM) is a rare anxiety disorder that is noticeable in a child just entering kindergarten. The child refuses to speak in specific situations where the child is expected to communicate, such as school and other social situations. Furthermore, at home, the child’s speech is normal (Harwood, & Bork, 2011). The DSM-5(APA, 2013) list the following when diagnosing SM. The absence of speech must be present at least one month after entering kindergarten, excluding the first month when starting school for the first

An anxiety disorder is described as the occurrence of anxiety without an obvious external cause that affects daily functioning. It occurs in four major forms panic disorder, phobic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. In a research study by Phillip Kendall in 1994, an investigation on psychosocial treatment with forty-seven children aged nine to thirteen with anxiety disorders was done. Kendall felt this particular study was important because adults were mostly likely to seek help for the child who behaves aggressively while overlooks the child that showed inadequate social skills. Mostly due to the fact that children were normally anxious about several aspects of life and saw anxiousness as part of a regular function in their children. Though anxiety is a natural process in children it becomes a serious issue when it negatively impacts a child development and in turns causes psychological distress for the child as they progress into adulthood. In Kendall 's study, he compared a sixteen session cognitive-behavioral treatment group with a

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health illness that affect children and the amount of children affected by this mental illness has increased considerably in the past century. However, the amount of children that actually get treatment is drastically low, leaving children to deal with their fears and worries by themselves. The children who deal with anxiety are overcome with fear and worry and are constantly dismissed as acting out for attention because people are unaware of how serious anxiety can affect children. Anxiety plagues children and can affect them for their entire life if not treated. In order to make sure these suffering children get the care they need, there needs to be more emphasis on anxiety disorders. Childhood anxiety disorders affect the child and the people involved in the child’s life, yet there is not enough treatment or awareness in today’s society.

An individual that has strives to live with anxiety or an anxiety disorder faces many struggles daily because of the feelings the conditions stimulate. There are an infinite amount of symptoms, causes, and consequences, but an equal amount of treatment options and ways to handle anxiety. Anxiety disorders can be viewed as general or extremely specific, but all in all each one affects the life of a person living with one or knowing someone who struggles with it. In regards to teenagers specifically, between three and five percent children and adolescents in the United States have some sort of anxiety disorder (Foa and Andrews 2). With the many challenges teenagers already face because of pressure based on school, athletics, social