Treatment for Anxiety in Children

Kids Can Overcome the Limitations of Anxiety

What is Anxiety?

Does your child appear constantly fearful or worried?  Do they have difficulty relaxing or calming down?  Is your child unduly distressed when you leave them alone or with another adult? 

Just like fear, anger, disgust, or sadness, anxiety is an emotional state.  Feelings of anxiety arise when we anticipate a threat or uncertainty to prepare us to respond.  Fear is very similar to anxiety, with a few important distinctions (DSM-5; Getz, 2014):

Definitions

• Fear:  Emotional response to an actual and present threat (e.g. a bear is attacking you right now)

• Anxiety:  Emotional response to an anticipated threat (e.g. you think a bear is going to attack soon)

When It Happens

• Fear: Typically occurs when the threat is present

• Anxiety: Occurs when one believes a threat is oncoming or possible

How the Body Responds

• Fear: Brief “Fight or Flight” response:

1. Threat is detected

2. Stress hormones (e.g. adrenaline and cortisol) flood the bloodstream

3. Blood vessels constrict, pupils dilate, heartrate increases

4. Body is prepared to address the threat by attacking (fight) or running away (flight)

5. After the threat is addressed, body returns to baseline and relaxes

• Anxiety: Long-term “Fight or Flight” response:

1. Threat or uncertainty is anticipated

2. Stress hormones are released into bloodstream

3. Body become alert (hypervigilant) and prepared for threat

4. Body maintains state of alertness, but threat may not occur

5. Brain begins to associate alertness with safety, thereby making anxiety the default

Why It Happens

• Fear: To survive immediate danger

• Anxiety: To prepare for future danger

Anxiety is divided into: bodily symptoms (somatic) and mental symptoms (cognitive).  Some examples of bodily symptoms include shakiness, edginess, irritability, and difficulty sleeping.  Some examples of mental symptoms include worry, difficulty concentrating, and fixation on certain fears or thoughts. 

Anxiety is one of the most common mental health issues in the United States, particularly amongst children and teens (DSM-5; Baxter, Scott, Vos, & Whiteford, 2012; Steel et al, 2014).   This is partially because the symptoms of anxiety are present in many different diagnoses.