Tag: anxiety disorders

Anxiety Disorders In Children And Young Adults

Anxiety disorders in children are very treatable. Unknown to most Americans, anxiety disorders are extremely high on the list of health problems in children. Unfortunately, most people do not know what to look for, so the symptoms go untreated. It has even been suggested that many adults problems had their root in childhood, though left undiagnosed. These roots then grew, took hold, and often later showed up in their adult counterparts.

Anxiety is usually described as being a sense of worry mixed with fear, apprehension, and even distress. These feelings are perfectly normal in our lives, however, one must be able to judge when these feelings head toward being too frequent and overwhelming. Physical symptoms tend to include sweating, jitteriness, nausea, and headache; whereas the emotional counterparts are nervousness and fear. In anxiety disorders, these feelings and physical symptoms are much more severe. This can cause a childs rational thinking and decision making to become skewed, for them to view their own environments differently, as well as making sitting in school and trying to learn very difficult. Children with severe symptoms often complain of stomach aches, dizziness, diarrhea, not being able to breathe, feeling weak.

There are many types of anxiety disorders that can surface in children. General anxiety disorders are characterized by excessive feelings of apprehension, worry, and fear happening almost every day for longer than 6 months. The child cannot control these feelings and is often restless, hyper, irritable, and cannot fall asleep or stay asleep so is also easily tired out. Children with this type of general anxiety disorder have problems functioning in their daily lives and this causes them more feelings of distress and anxiousness.

Panic disorders are not the same as panic attacks. Panic disorders are actually repeated panic attacks with the addition of worrying about having other attacks and how it is affecting their behavior. Many people with this disorder find it difficult to function normally as they are constantly on edge worrying about when another panic attack will happen.

Obsessive-compulsive disorders are characterized by recurring unwanted thoughts and/or repeated behaviors. It is an obsession that has to be done no matter how hard the child wants to stop doing it. Obsessive-compulsives often wind up living alone as they cannot stand to have someone else soil their home, arrange their possessions, or not lock a door or window.

Posttraumatic stress disorder and acute stress disorder can be similar as these disorders are usually the result of witnessing, experiencing, or confronting a traumatic event. The only difference is that posttraumatic stress disorders persist longer than one month whereas acute stress disorder occurs and dissipates in less than a month. Both disorders cause extreme amounts of distress, sleeplessness, worry, and fear.

Phobias can also cause extreme amounts of stress in children. The main concern is for parents to be able to distinguish between a normal fear, such as monsters under the bed, and an irrational fear, such as being out in public. Once these are distinguished, then the parents can help the child seek out the appropriate treatment.

Anxiety Attack Treatments

Anxiety attacks are frightening but the good thing is, episodes are generally harmless. In most cases, attacks rarely last for more than 30 minutes, with peak of intensity within the first 10 minutes. What make such attacks dangerous is if it becomes chronic and if it already affects the well-being of a person and already disrupts his normal way of life.

Several treatments are proven very effective in stopping anxiety attacks. Let us look at some of the more popular ones:

Breathing technique is one of the most effective ways in controlling anxiety attacks. Proper breathing helps slow down heartbeat and helps calm the tensed muscles as a result of the attack. Breathing also diverts the mind’s attention from the “trigger” and calms the self, thus, stopping the attack even faster. Proper breathing techniques are easy to learn and master.

Self-hypnosis is a great tool to alter your thought process as well as your body’s reaction to those fearful thoughts. During an anxiety attack, lay down on your back or in any comfortable position and try to process your thoughts. Identify the origin of such fearful thoughts. Know if it is real. If you concentrate enough in finding the origins of your thoughts, you will soon realize that they are really not a valid reason for excessive fear. It may sound simple, and it is. Psychiatrists now recommend self-hypnosis as a treatment for anxiety attacks and other anxiety disorders. (Hypnosis and cognitive-behavioral therapy can be used together by your therapist to stop symptoms of anxiety attacks.)

Meditation has long been credited to relieve stress and anxiety as it promotes the release of negative energy from the body, relaxes tensed muscles, and calms the mind, which in turn, effectively reduces irrational fear and apprehension. Meditation may not be for all because of the time required to master the technique, however, with proper guidance of an expert or a little bit of patience and dedication, you can reap its benefits.

Herbs (such as chamomile, passion flower, lavender, and ginkgo biloba) are very effective long-term treatment for anxiety attacks. Since they are all-natural, they posses no side effects. They may not be as aggressive as prescription drugs but they work just as effective.

Prescription medicines are a major help in stopping the symptoms of anxiety and episodes of anxiety attacks. Antidepressants are the most common anxiety treatment. They must be taken continuously, which may take as long as six weeks before noticing the effects. Beta-blockers are a type of drugs that prevent symptoms from recurring. SSRIs or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors boost the level of serotonin in the brain which regulates and normalizes emotions.

Therapies are a very important anxiety treatment. These target the psychological aspect of anxiety. CBT or the cognitive-behavioral therapy is used to alter the way of thinking converting negative thoughts into positive ones. Techniques used in CBT include role-playing and relaxation technique. Exposure therapy exposes the person to the physical sensations of panic in a safe and controlled environment. Through repeated exposure, patients gain greater self control and more confidence in facing fearful situation.

Prescription medicines and therapies, when combined and used at treatment, are very effective. Medical studies show that the response rate of patients is much higher if both methods are used compared to those that are treated using either method.

Understanding Anxiety and Anxiety Attacks

Anxiety is a normal, healthy feeling that is experienced by everyone. It is the body’s way of reacting to stimulus that pushes us to either “fight” or “flight” over a situation. However, when anxiety attacks are chronic, severe, and irrational, and begin to affect the health of a person (physically, psychologically and emotionally), it already becomes a problem that must be addressed immediately. There is a thick line between healthy and unhealthy anxiety attacks. Unfortunately, the demarcation line is almost ignored that normal anxiety crosses into the territory of anxiety disorders.

Types of Anxiety Disorder

There are six different types of anxiety disorder, each has its own characteristics: generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, social anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a chronic worry or fear over almost everything without even knowing why. They feel anxious from day to day activities and are troubled that bad things will happen. People with GAD show symptoms such as stomach upset, fatigue, restlessness, and insomnia.

Panic disorder is repeated, unexpected panic attacks, and fears that panic episodes will likely to happen. People with panic disorder are likely to have agoraphobia, or fear of being in places where help or escape will be difficult in case of another panic attack. People with agoraphobia are also afraid of being trapped in confined places such as an airplane or crowded areas such as a shopping mall.

Phobia is excessive, irrational, and exaggerated fear over simple things that generally present little or no danger. Common phobias are heights, snakes, spiders, dark, and flying. People with phobias tend to avoid the things they are afraid of in order to escape anxiety attacks. However, avoidance only strengthens the phobia.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder that happens after a life-threatening or a traumatic event. People with PTSD show symptoms such as hyper-vigilance, avoiding situations or places that remind them about the event, nightmares and flashbacks about the things that happened, startling easily, and isolation.

Social anxiety disorder or social phobia is fear of being seen negatively by others or fear of getting humiliated in public by other people. Social anxiety is often mistaken as an ordinary extreme shyness. People with this kind of disorder usually isolate themselves from others or event and places where crowd usually gathers. Stage fright is the most common type of social anxiety.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD is a condition where a person has unwanted behavior or thoughts which appear to be impossible to control. People with OCD can have certain obsession such as worries that they might hurt someone or that they have forgotten to turn the lights off. They can also have uncontrollable compulsion. The most common is washing of hands repeatedly.

Do you experience anxiety attacks?

Are you always worried, tense, and on the edge?

Do you feel like you are in danger whenever you are in confined places?

Are you afraid of mingling with strangers, meeting new friends or even meeting relatives?

Do you feel that something bad or catastrophic will happen if certain things are not done according to plan?

Do you experience worry, fear and anxiousness that affect your relationship, work, healthy, and other responsibilities?

Do you feel irrational fear but couldn’t shake it?

Does your anxiety force you to avoid everyday situations and activities?

Symptoms Child Anxiety Attacks

Children anxiety disorders are common, but the exact number of sufferers is unknown, most likely because the condition is often under-diagnosed, undiagnosed or unreported. While it is very treatable with good, persistent medical care, medical experts agree that anxiety problems during childhood (when misjudged and overlooked) will likely to persist as an adult psychiatric disorder. In other words, early manifestations of anxiety through anxiety attacks during childhood must be addressed as early as possible hence, reducing the chances of developing into an adult version.

Through the following symptoms, you can detect that a child is a possible candidate of a specific type of anxiety disorder or if the child is undergoing another episode of anxiety attack.

Separation anxiety is very common among children when they reach school age. They exhibit unreasoned fear and panic at being separated from their parents or their home during parents. Symptoms include crying and begging not to go to school. It is also possible that a child complains stomach aches, headaches, toothaches, and other maladies that would keep him from going to school. Alternately, a child will show a demeanor when at home or during the company of parents.

Social phobia is almost the opposite of separation anxiety. A child may choose stay home alone or keep separated from parents. Social phobia can push children to stay away from peers as they feel that they are different from other kids or that they have clothes or hair style that are apart from the interest of other kids. A child with social phobia may choose to read a book than to go to summer camp or any activity that involves mingling with others.

Performance anxiety can be closely linked to social anxiety. A child who does not play good sports may show signs of fear during physical education class. A child with poor reading skills or cannot perform simple mathematical equation may panic and become ill when called to recite for the class or solve a problem on the board.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is characterized by chronic worry or fear over almost everything without any apparent reason. Symptoms of GAD are very similar to what adults would experience. Patients with GAD may complain about stomach upset, fatigue, restlessness, and difficulty sleeping. In addition, a child may throw tantrums, may cry, have nightmares, may be keyed up and even begin to show problems in school that were not present before.

What causes anxiety to children?

There are many studies supporting that child anxiety is genetically acquired. Parents, for example, who manifest anxiety, will likely have anxious and nervous children. This condition can be learned as well. It is possible that a child develops anxiety disorder after a bad experience ridiculed by classmates, victim of bullies in school, or making a mistake in front of the class. Separation of parents, abuse, death of a loved one or any traumatic experiences can lead to anxiety disorder as well. Fear of being alone, is afraid of the dark or afraid of certain animals may be reflections of events with bad memories.

Behaviors during anxiety attacks and symptoms of anxiety disorders are similar to other psychological, physical and behavioral condition. It is important, therefore, to seek professional help to be able to rule out other reasons and provide the right treatment to the patient.