Child Anxiety Attacks

It is quite normal for children to feel overly excited, worrisome and emotional. Unlike adults, they have a rather fresh and clean mindset, and they are not yet clouded by the various issues of reality. However, there are children who get to experience anxiety attacks at their early age, and once these become frequent, they may suffer from more serious psychological issues which they may carry as they grow up.

Anxiety attacks usually arise when the child is exposed to an overly emotional situation, such as traumatic experiences, upcoming events like parties or field trips, or when he or she is subject to punishment for a wrongdoing. But these attacks subside after the child has relaxed or calmed down, and soon after he gets over these actions after learning from such situations. There are children however, who continue to suffer from panic and anxiety issues even when there are no situations that suit to such actions, and these are the conditions which have to be properly addressed. Anxiety in children can have a serious impact on the child's quality of life.

Symptoms

Children who suffer from anxiety attacks usually exhibit the following symptoms:

• Having an imaginary friend. There are children who are found to talk to themselves in such a manner that they seem to be talking to another person. When asked about this, they would introduce an imaginary friend. Having an imaginary friend is one way to express anxiety; the child attempts to set himself away from reality by creating a friend to be there and comfort him at times of need.
• Insomnia. It is not normal for a child to lack adequate hours of sleep, much worse, suffer from insomnia. Not being able to sleep is an indicator of being anxious over something, such as fearing a person or object. They fear that once they sleep, they will have nightmares involving these people or things.
• Fainting. Some children tend to lose consciousness in the midst of an activity. This may be because they are intensely worried or excited about an upcoming event, to the point that they could no longer handle the emotions and in turn faint. Others meanwhile pee in their pants without even noticing it.
• Restlessness. There also children who express anxiety attacks by being restless. They run around the area repeatedly without being able to sit down and stay put, and talk gibberish for more than 10 minutes until they feel tired, just to get rid of the stress they feel.

Addressing Anxiety Attacks in Children

Addressing anxiety attacks may begin with giving the child the time off to relax and unleash his or her own emotions. This can be followed by consistent family bonding in which the child will learn that he is not alone, that his parents are there for total support. Family members can be there in times when the child has to do something special in school, such as in recitals or contests, as feeling the presence of the family would reduce the fears he feels and in turn overcome the challenges his has to face.

Most of all, anxiety attacks can be reduced by means of eliminating pressure and increasing positive reinforcement. Children who are able to see the good in their efforts without the need to fulfill somebody else’s expectations also get rid of their anxieties, as they become secure of their abilities and finally learn to brush off they usual fears.

Some symptoms of anxiety in children

Parents who suspect that their child suffers from child anxiety often interpret shyness, aggression and avoidant behavior as symptoms of anxiety. And that is true enough, as anxious children will often behave in ways that seem ununsual.

Anxiety in children can appear suddenly, and they can function normally in many situations. The most common symptoms of childhood anxiety are

• Excessive shyness around other kids or adults, sometimes being so strong as to resemble reclusion.
• A strong reluctance about certain activities, such as going school or even leaving the house.
• Strong separation anxiety
• Strong and returning worry and anxious questions about things that kids usually don't need to care much about
• Unusually quiet behavior.
• Strong reactions to even mild criticism or words that the child interprets as criticism.
• Inexplicable tantrums
• Trouble sleeping
• Complains of vague aches and pains, often to get out of situations that cause anxiety

All these symptoms can be combined, and all anxious kids have their own way of displaying their anxieties. Social avoidance and strong shyness are probably the most common signs of childhood anxiety, and if untreated, can develop into social anxiety disorder. This can severly hamper the child's social development and may be a problem all their lives.

Some parents are reluctant to do anything about the child's anxiety, thinking that he or she will grow out of it. And some do grow out of their anxieties on their own, but that is not the rule. A prudent parent will make sure to investigate if it is possible to set the child free from their fears and help them regain their joy of life.

There are many ways to help a child conquer anxieties, but most of them use the same principles.

Click here to see how I set my own kids free from child anxiety.

Why some children become anxious

Child anxiety is a very unpleasant affliction that can seem to suck the joy of life out of a child. They may seem happy and carefree enough in many situations, but some everyday things seem to set off the anxiety.

It is painful and frustrating for a child to feel strong anxiety in certain situations, and activities that should and could be enjoyable turn into negative experiences. If it goes on, it can have a real and negative impact on the child's whole life. And if it goes untreated for years, it can follow the kid into adulthood, making their life much less enjoyable than it could otherwise be.

There can often be a hereditary element to child anxiety. Anxiety and anxiety disorders can run in the family, and one or both parents could have been anxious children or adults. In these cases, the anxiety often shows itself at an early age, sometimes as early as three or four years of age. There doesn't need to be anything specific that suddenly triggers the child anxiety, it can just be there, suddenly or gradually. The goal for any treatment of anxiety in children in these cases is to reduce the impact of the anxiety and teach the child to cope with it. The results can be excellent, and the child may learn techniques that will be helpful against the anxious feelings for the rest of their lives.

In other cases, the anxiety is triggered by an event that the child interprets as threatening. There can often be a hereditary factor in this situation as well, but the anxiety will not necessarily arise. In these cases, the child anxiety typically arises between the ages six and seventeen. The anxiety can sometimes disappear by itself, but will mostly require treatment to go away. The results of treatment are often very good and the treatment can go quickly. Often, the anxiety will not return.

Regardless of the underlying cause for the anxiety, it is important to treat it as soon as possible. There are today programs available that give excellent results against anxiety in children, without the need to visit a psychiatrist and incurring the associated cost.

Anxiety In Children can be conquered

Anxiety in children is a common problem for many families. Often, it's hard to determine where the anxiety comes from and what can be done to get rid of it.

It can also be difficult to decide if the child is in fact abnormally anxious. After all, childhood is a time when children feel all the emotions that make us human - from joy and happiness to fear, sadness and anxiety. All kids go through different phases, and a phase that seems to be dominated by anxiety can be over again as soon as it started. But it shouldn't last too long - say, more than a few weeks at the most. If the anxiety seems to go on for longer than that, and it seems severe, it can be a good idea to think of doing something about it.

Often, a kids parents can easily tell if their child is so anxious that it is a problem. There can be many symptoms of anxiety in children, and when the parents start to suspect that the anxiety is not just a short phase, or that it is too strong, they are usually right.

The good news is that anxiety in children can be conquered.

Even if the child has inherited his or her anxiety from one or both parents, it doesn't mean that the kid has to live with that painful and destructive affliction all their lives. The anxiety can be conquered completely and never return, or the child can learn to handle it and not let the anxious feelings rule their lives - or even matter much at all.

In many cases, it is possible to completely remove the anxiety disorder at an early age. This is often the case when the child develops anxiety at a relatively late age, say after they have turned seven and after they have started going to school.

Because there's sometimes a strong hereditary factor in anxiety (it can run in the family), it is not always possible to completely eradicate the anxious thoughts in the kid. this is often the case when the anxiety in children shows itself at an early age, before the child starts going to school. But any child can learn to cope with the child anxiety and not let it overwhelm them.

It is often the same approach that is used regardless of how strong the hereditary factor is. The same method against childhood anxiety will be effective to either conquer the anxious feelings completely or reduce them to where they are not even much of a nuisance.