Anxiety Disorders In Children

Symptoms

The main symptom is persistent, pronounced anxiety. Patients feel emotionally tense, cannot distract themselves from negative experiences and relax. Due to anxiety, they have difficulty concentrating, adolescents report feeling "empty in the head." Increased nervousness is manifested by irritability, tearfulness, fearfulness. Starting at unexpected sharp sounds, changes in illumination, sudden touches is characteristic. 

Behaviour becomes avoidant (restrictive): children refuse communication, walks, active games, travel, and the use of certain products.

Among the physical symptoms of anxiety disorders, causeless fatigue and rapid exhaustion predominate. Patients complain of dizziness, weakness, headache and muscle pain, discomfort in the abdomen and chest. There may be increased sweating, especially in stressful situations, palpitations, shortness of breath, tremors and tremors, feeling of a lump in the throat, hot flashes, chills. Appetite is often reduced, but sometimes gluttony develops, followed by nausea and vomiting. Sleep disturbances include difficulty falling asleep, waking up in the middle of the night, and nightmares .

The symptoms of phobic disorders are persistent fears. A fear of situations is formed that does not actually pose a threat or can be dangerous only under certain conditions. Young children are afraid of the dark, heights, separation from their mother. 

Pre-schoolers are actively developing their imagination, fears are associated with fabulous or fictional monsters - dragons, dinosaurs, animated skeletons, zombies, werewolves. 

In schoolchildren, social phobias come to the fore - the fear of communication, acquaintance, public speaking. 

Adolescents experience fear of loss of control, death, insanity, shame. 

Anxiety after experiencing a psychotrauma is characterized by "flashbacks" - uncontrollable frightening influxes of memories, nightmares at night.

In obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety is accompanied by the formation of obsessive ideas of a frightening nature. Children mentally play out negative scenarios, while experiencing fear. To cope with emotional stress, they are partly helped by ritual actions - compulsions. The most common are frequent washing of hands, sorting out the edges of clothes, biting nails, walking around the perimeter of the room. 

In panic attacks, anxiety occurs for no apparent reason and instantly increases, manifesting as autonomic symptoms. The state of health worsens - there is dizziness, darkening in the eyes, a feeling of alienation of one's own personality, the unreality of objects and events. The fear of another panic attack, avoidant behaviour, is formed for the second time.

Causes

Anxiety is a natural reaction that increases concentration and activates the mechanisms of fight or flight in a situation of threat. With its strengthening, the adaptation process is disrupted, constant psychophysiological tension leads to exhaustion. In such cases, they speak of an anxiety disorder. It can be induced in children by:

•    Congenital factors. The results of twin studies prove that the tendency to intense anxiety is inherited. It may be due to the peculiarities of humoral regulation and functioning of the nervous system. Also at risk are children with prenatal and natal lesions of the central nervous system.

•    Parenting style. Anxiety symptoms are formed as a result of a certain attitude of parents towards a child. The development of disorders is facilitated by the psychasthenic features of the mother (less often, the father), hyper-custody , and directive methods of education.

•    Psychological event. Anxiety in a child can be triggered by the experience of illness, separation from a loved one, a sharp deterioration in the material capabilities of the family, disasters, natural and military-political disasters. A single impact of psychotrauma is more easily tolerated by children, repeated episodes form neurotic disorders.