Child Anxiety Related News and Articles

Panic Disorder in Adolescents

What is Panic Disorder? Panic disorder is a common and treatable condition. In fact, more than 3 million Americans will experience panic disorder in their lifetime. Panic disorder often begins during adolescence or childhood, and it can run in families. Children and adolescents with panic disorder have unexpected and repeated periods of extreme fear that accelerates to a high intensity in seconds. The fear is typically accompanied by other physical symptoms such as a racing heartbeat, sweating, shaking and feeling short of breath. These panic attacks can last for a few minutes or hours, and [...]

Separation Anxiety in Children vs Teenagers

Most parents recognize separation anxiety in their young children. When a little child is clinging to a parent or crying when a parent has to leave, everyone easily recognizes the problem. Yet many are not aware that teenagers and older children can also suffer from separation anxiety, though it manifests in a different way. As many as 4 percent of youth will suffer from separation anxiety that is bad enough to consider it a disorder during the school year. It affects boys and girls equally no matter the age. Recognizing the condition in all ages is essential to helping children overcome this [...]

When Does Fear Become a Phobia?

Almost everyone has a fear of something, and that’s a good thing. Fear keeps us safe. But what about fears that actually stop us from enjoying life and moving ahead? As a parent, it can be difficult to discern if fear is protecting your child or holding him or her back. What is Fear? Fear is a normal human reaction. In fact, it’s an important survival instinct that can protect us from danger and prepare us to deal with it. Even babies are equipped with the instincts necessary to sense and respond to danger. Fear is an acute mental and physical reaction brought on suddenly by a dangerous [...]

Parenting Everybody: Anxious Kids and Their Siblings

"We need to get in the car. It is time for school." "Mom, I don’t feel good. I don't want to go." "Jordan, You can’t miss another day of school. Go." "Please no, I think I am sick. Just take Alex." "You are fine. You don’t have a fever. You are making yourself sick." "Mom, make Jordan come, I don’t want to be late." "Get in the car now, you heard Alex, it's not fair." Jordan drops to the ground and starts to cry. "Mom, I knew it, this is ridiculous, why do I have to be punished because of Jordan?" Ever have a morning like this? If you have a child with an anxiety [...]

Physical Manifestations of Child Anxiety

Anxiety is, of course, a natural part of life. Everyone experiences anxiety at times, and anxiety is often healthy - being anxious tells you to leave a dangerous situation. But sometimes children (and adults) can develop anxiety that doesn’t go away after a short period of time and may be generalized or specific. Anxiety has many non-physical symptoms, such as excessive worry, but did you know that your child’s anxiety may also be causing physical symptoms? Some of the physical symptoms of child anxiety are: Stomach aches Nausea Headaches Muscle tension Tiredness and [...]

Can Therapy Dogs Help My Anxious Child?

The benefits of therapy dogs for children with anxiety: Let’s put the studies aside for a moment and look at some anecdotal evidence for why therapy dogs are important for children with social anxieties or disabilities. One example, from Rachel McPherson’s Every Dog Has a Gift, is of children reading to dogs. Whether your child is struggling with trust issues, self-esteem, or lagging literacy skills due to social anxiety, reading to their dog is a wonderful way to improve their confidence, literacy, and social skills. Other anecdotal evidence suggests that children with severe social [...]

Top Common Childhood Fears

Fear and anxiety are usually a normal, healthy response to a new or threatening environment. Children especially express fear and anxiety as they grow and become more aware of explicit and implicit dangers in their everyday lives. Sometimes, however, fears and anxieties can become phobias or evolve into generalized anxiety disorder. Knowing what fears are common triggers for children can help you address them as they arise and understand why your baby is suddenly afraid of the dark or waking up from nightmares screaming about fire. Most fears and phobias are very treatable, but if the fear [...]

Skin Picking Disorder: Making Sense of this Poorly Understood Problem

Skin Picking (Excoriation) Disorder (SPD), otherwise known medically as dermatillomania, can often be a serious problem. But, interestingly enough, there’s not much awareness about the condition, and those who suffer from it often feel ashamed or embarrassed to bring it up. Characteristics of Dermatillomania (Skin Picking) Those dealing with dermatillomania or SPD can be dealing with symptoms that include repetitive touching, rubbing, scratching, picking at, and digging into their skin. While some people do this to remove irregularities or perceived imperfections on their skin, others do it [...]

Can Anxiety Cause Hives, Rashes or Itchiness?

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, by now you’ve gathered that anxiety is more than just a psychological issue and can manifest itself in a myriad of different ways. One unusual physical symptom sometimes attached to anxiety is the way fear can cause you to itch or break out with a rash or hives. Anxiety can cause or make skin problems worse The itchiness can be related to skin problems that anxiety makes worse, or caused by anxiety directly. People can even experience stress urticaria, or stress hives, that develop due to chronic stress, anxiety or tension, and appear as red, raised [...]

Parenting and Technology: Managing Media and Kids

Kids now more than ever are being exposed to sexual images at a younger and younger age. Parenting is complicated by technology, but it can be managed and should be managed in an effort to protect kids. Dr. Chris McCarthy focuses on this issue in this TV interview. [...]

Is it My Fault My Child is Anxious?

Yes. Okay, I am kidding! Mostly. First of all, the question I used as the title is wrong. It is way too simple. It implies there is a single cause and the truth is that there are multiple factors at play. A better question would be, “Am I one of many reasons my child is anxious?” The answer to that is, “Probably, but it might not be what you expect.” Apples fall next to the tree Let’s start with a general overview of what the research says so far about us parents. First of all, anxiety runs in families. That means DNA is a factor. If there are anxious parent(s) and grandparent(s) then [...]

Research on Child Anxiety Program Published

Okay, I know this is blowing our own trumpet but mostly we are just really happy. Creating Turnaround to benefit kids suffering with child anxiety was a labor of love (really) but because we are biased we really wanted to know objectively that Turnaround is effective. In 2010 when we published it, we wanted someone to put it to the test. We immediately started to get good feedback and we knew it was built on solid science. We also knew we were trying something completely new. We wanted objective evidence it was effective. The internet is full of promises. Because we were selling it, we knew [...]

How to Get Your Anxious Child Back to School Step-by-Step

School is often the setting where anxiety becomes a crisis. Going to school, staying at school or functioning in school can become huge problems. Getting a child back in school and functioning becomes THE family focus. In this post I am going to try to detail the process I would usually recommend and provide a case study to illustrate it. I hope this post will be general enough to fit most situations but specific enough to offer concrete practical direction. To keep this "relatively" brief and applicable, I am going to make some assumptions. Your child is in primary school, approx. ages [...]

Hey Boys, I’m Baaaack.* What To Do When Child Anxiety Returns

When your child becomes symptom free from anxiety it feels like a miracle. You sure don't want it to come back. This post is about why it might come back and what to do if it does. I remember bracing myself at any hint of anxiety in my daughter hoping it wasn't coming back. Sometimes, unfortunately, it can reawaken. This may feel even worse than the first time. Could be because you were exhausted and the thought of going through it again is overwhelming. Might have to do with the loss of hope. When your child gets better your hope soars. There is a proverb that goes, “Hope deferred makes the [...]

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