Pediatric Anxiety
Select a Concept 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 While some patients may scream and cry, others may become withdrawn.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
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.
The “Age of Anxiety” is a brief description of what life was like in the years 1450-1750, an age of overflowing anxieties that lead to a violent release through widespread witch hunts. As a result of the anxiety in Europe, the persecution and torture of men and women accused of witchcraft occurred over this 300-year span. It all started with building anxieties in Europe over events such as the 1525 Peasants War and the 1618 Thirty Years War over religion, which caused unease and worry. This anxiety also appeared in the form of religious change between protestant and catholic along with the emergence of the inquisition which created the fear and paranoia of the devil who preyed on the weak and wanton, who were often seen to be the women in society.
What is an anxiety disorder?- Anxiety is “a mental health disorder characterized by feelings of worry or fear that are strong enough to interfere with one's daily activities...” Anxiety disorders involve more than temporary fear or worry. There are numerous disorders involving anxiety, which includes: social phobia, panic disorder, separation anxiety disorder, etc.
The major stressors of hospitalized children include fear of the unknown and unfamiliar people. Lying to children about upsetting realities, such as their diagnosis or a procedure that is occurring, is ineffective and does not help children deal with stress. Educating children on their treatment better prepares them for stressful situations while hospitalized. While nurses identify crying as a sign of stress, child life specialist recognize crying as an effective coping mechanism for stress (Kaddoura). While both nurses and child life specialists are helpful to treating a child, child life specialists focus on children’s emotions while nurses focus on medical care. The issue here is that not all hospitals have child life specialists, so the emotions of children are disregarded. Although medical care is obviously a priority while a child is hospitalized, a child’s emotion and stress are very important to their recovery and health. Research shows that focusing on children’s emotions with the use of child life specialists makes a difference for children and families. Child life programs have been shown to reduce children’s pain, decrease the emotional distress children feel while in the hospital, and lower parents’ anxiety about their children’s hospital stays
It has been documented that children undergoing surgery and their families experience high levels of distress and perioperative anxiety. Stress and perioperative anxiety have the potential to cause more harm on post-surgical healing, in consideration of both physical and mental health, if not addressed promptly and properly. Child Life Specialists are pediatric healthcare professionals who are able to provide interventions to help reduce anxiety and increase developmental growth within pediatric patients, provide family centered care, and facilitating therapeutic play interventions for pediatric patients, all the while in the hospital environment (Child Life Council, 2014). Child life specialists are able to meet these values and missions to create a standard of practice that the American Pediatric Association recommends in all pediatric healthcare settings (Child Life Council, 2014). Typically, when child life specialists are working with pediatric patients undergoing anesthesia for surgical procedures they are able to participate as a part of the multidisciplinary health team to provide family centered care and increase a patient and their families understanding on the medical procedure at hand. A common intervention for pediatric patients undergoing anesthesia for surgical procedures include medical play and medical preparation sessions.
Hospitals for me as a young child were quite terrifying. I attribute this fear to witnessing young and old alike being on life supporting machines, while their loved ones’ countenance showed fear and trepidation. Regardless of this fear, I spent majority of my childhood in and out of the doctor’s office and emergency rooms because of routine visits and unforeseen injuries due to an active life. My pediatric physician, Dr. James Mitchell, became a permanent fixture in my life. Dr. Mitchell genuinely cared about me and what was going on with the numerous conditions and injuries that I frequented his office with; such as: asthma and chronic bronchitis, the influenza virus and streptococcal pharyngitis – which I contracted within days of each other, cases of gastroenteritis, a busted tongue and knee, dislocated joints, fractured bones, and a torn cartilage.
Thesis Statement: Early Anxiety is stemmed from many factors, however the main cause of anxiety in adolescents is directly related to parenting and/or family influences.
Anxiety Disorder is a sudden feeling of qualms, uneasiness, nervousness, and anxiousness. Symptoms vary for each person. In the adolescent years anxiety shines the most. With school work, and social interaction. In our society, many people diagnose themselves with anxiety, because they are nervous, they believe they have an anxiety disorder. In the adolescent years anxiety is there, but usually mild, in today’s society, because studies show that anxiety has increased over the years. The denotation of anxiety is a sudden feeling of sickness, apprehension, paranoia. Eager and anxious are often used incorrectly, using the opposing one as the other. Anxiety means anticipation of an impending event. However, eager implies that the person looks
This paper is going to be about anxiety disorders. I am going to explain what anxiety is and the different types of anxiety disorders. The types of anxiety I am going to talk about are Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Post-Traumatic Stress, Panic Disorder and Social Phobia.
Hanna was referred by her GP, because she has been experiencing some anxiety difficulties. Client reports that she began to have anxiety five or six years ago. Reportedly, she recently moved out of her parents’ home and this may have caused the anxiety to escalate. This is the first time client has moved away from her parents.
What is Anxiety? As defined by Understanding Psychology by Glencoe, Anxiety is a general state of dread or uneasiness that a person feels in response to a real or imagined danger. Anxiety affects 19 million Americans annually and anxiety disorder happens to be the most common mental illness in America. There are many different types of anxiety disorder such as: Panic Disorder, Obsessive – Compulsion Disorder, Phobias, and a few more. Although there is no cure for anxiety disorders, there are treatments to reduce symptoms.
One of the most obvious classifications of hospital patients is the worriers. The worry patients express fear and have a tendency to cry during their appointment. These patients have fearful hearts and worrisome eyes. These features allow the patients’ caretakers to see the obvious fright in the patients’ souls. The ages of scared patients generally range from young children to middle-aged adults. Elderly patients rarely reveal their emotions because they commonly expect ailment, considering their old age. Uneasy patients regularly ask questions about their surgeries, scans, or simple procedures. These patients always have “what if?” questions. Worriers often try to delay their appointments to avoid their medical condition completely. Many patients diagnosed with a type of cancer or other serious injury depict as worriers. Similarly, patients involved in a car accident or other
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
According to American Psychological Association to overcome social anxiety is important for children t overcome because it can help them became achive with other. But, this can also help with research so that others who are in the same situation can use he tips from someone else to help that child. We want to be a useful as we can because we are making a impact on these childrens lives. Being smart can be important to a person working early childhood because it can give them a idea of were and when a child struggles and what things work to help that child with those stuggles and how to make those struggles the childs strengths. In the article nature verse nurture it talks about that we have to be able to work with the things of this world and that is important because we want to encourage children to use the things around them to make their lives easier and safer.
This paper examines the various symptoms of Separation Anxiety Disorder among children and adolescents, the refusal of children diagnosed with Separation Anxiety Disorder to go to school, and the treatments that are used to treat this disorder. Studies have shown that Separation Anxiety Disorder is the third most common anxiety disorder among children. Symptoms are fairly easy to recognize, but must be addressed quickly. Refusal to go to school is one of the most significant consequences of this disorder. Treatments are being made available to children who suffer from this disorder and advances in research are being made.