Early Childhood Anxiety Disorder

Cognitive-Behavioral therapy (CBT) is an empirically supported treatment for a variety of disorder diagnoses. Although pharmacological treatments are the most widely used method of treatment in anxiety disorders in America, research has found that even though patients respond sufficiently to medication treatment initially some are unable

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

The purpose of this paper is to examine different ways of using CBT in treating anxiety disorder. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the most used approach in treating anxiety and depression. There are different styles of CBT that are used to treat different subtypes of anxieties. However, the main focus of this paper will be about incorporating different intervention programs to CBT to treat Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).

Jordan was administered three assessment measures to help the clinician identify the severity of his anxiety-based symptoms. The Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale main purpose is to provide an overall view of Jordan’s self-perception. This scale will assist the therapist by finding problematic areas that will be addressed in treatment. Jordan’s self-reported baseline was 39. The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED) focuses on assessing the severity of anxiety symptoms. Jordan’s self- reported baseline is a 39. The CES-DC scale assess for depression and Jordan’s self-reported baseline is 17. Based off the self-reported measures Jordan does not meet the criteria for a formal diagnosis due to the time (duration)of the symptoms. Jordan has displayed the requisite symptoms for less than 6 months. He did however, meet criteria for subclinical generalized anxiety disorder. The data from the anxiety and negative affectivity questioners indicate that Jordan has moderate but not severe levels of discomfort. Additionally, Jordan’s level of self-esteem was good and his level of depression was low. Jordan’s 12-week treatment and sessions will include the following; 1-2 engagement, 3-4 psycho-education about anxiety with Jordan and his parents, 5-6 exposure element techniques, 7-8 relation techniques, 9-10 positive self-talk, and 11-12 termination.

Anxiety disorders involve fears that are uncontrollable, unreasonable to the actual danger the person might be in, and interferes with their ordinary life. Symptoms associated with anxiety involve jumpiness, nervousness, trembling, hyperactivity, and agitation. Anxiety causes distress and as a result can intensify symptoms of ASD and cause behavioral difficulties including tantrums, aggression and self-injury. Not all children with ASD will develop anxiety, therefore there are potential benefits of understanding the mechanisms whereby anxiety develops and of identifying which young people are most vulnerable (Conner, C., Maddox, B., & White, S.,

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

To start us off let's cover the general information about anxiety and the different types that people deal with on a day to day basis. Anxiety is the most common mental illness in the United States affecting forty million adults ages eighteen and older, or 18.1% of the population every year. Along with that anxiety disorders affect 25.1% of children between ages thirteen and eighteen years old, affecting one in eight children. (ADAA: Anxiety and Depression Association)

A popular method of treatment among children is Cognitive behavioral therapy. (CBT) is a type of psychotherapy that can be used with children. It has been widely studied and is an effective treatment for a number of conditions, such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and social anxiety. A person in CBT learns to change distorted thinking patterns and unhealthy behavior. Children can receive CBT with or without their parents, as well as in a group setting.

Today Cognitive behavioral Therapy has been influenced by two major therapeutic approaches: firstly, Behaviorism as developed by Skinner, Pavlov and others in the 1950s and 1960s, where the main research was related to rewards and punishments, or stimuli’ and their response. Second is Cognitive therapy which was introduced or made popular by Beck and Ellis in the 1960s. CBT by definition is a form of treatment that focuses on examining the relationships between thoughts, feelings and behaviors. By exploring the patterns of thinking that lead to negative actions and the beliefs that dictate these thoughts, families can identify and change the patterns in order to

Anxiety is a common reaction in the human body. So becoming a little scared when watching a movie, or beginning to become nervous right before a test, or maybe even a little shy talking to your crush is completely normal. It starts to become a problem when anxiety takes control and cuts out important things in our life. Children with anxiety might start to feel more often than usual fear, nervousness, shyness, and often will try to avoid social events. Anxiety is a normal part of childhood, and usually the child is just going through a phase and will grow out of it. But when it continuously keeps recurring it begins to become a problem. There are a multitude of anxiety disorder ranging from General Anxiety Disorder(G.A.D), Panic Disorder, Social

Although there are treatments that are somewhat effective, a lot of these rely on an individuals motivation to attend therapy sessions or to physically take their medication on a regular basis. However, when an individual is in such a negative state, it may be difficult for them to comply with these measures to help their mood and lifestyle improve. Thus a method will need to be created which should be effective even with little motivation. In relation to the diagnosis of anxiety in children, further research will need to be predominantly focused on the differences between anxiety and depression, as these two disorders are extremely similar. Additional research needs to be focused on discovering the specific behaviours that are classified within anxiety and being able to correctly identify these behaviours within children; knowing specifically what is a result of having anxiety, or just a result of childhood

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

The study of child and adolescent anxiety and depression has become an increasing concern over the past quarter of a century. With this increasing concern comes a need to establish psychometrically sound measures specifically geared toward a youth population. One of the most widely used self-report measures of anxiety in youth is the Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS: Reynolds & Richmond, 1979; Dadds, Perrin, & Yule, 1997). The history of the RCMAS can be traced back to 1951 to Taylor’s Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS), which was created based on items from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality