Anxiety in childhood is not unusual and in most cases with reassurance and time spent building the child's self esteem and self confidence this is short lived. Children can be anxious for a variety of reasons. It is normal for young children to be concerned about being separated from a parent or to be afraid of the dark, storms, animals, insects or strangers. With reassurance this can be overcome.
Some children are so anxious and uptight that this anxiety impinges on activities and they require a great deal of reassurance. Anxious children are quiet, compliant and eager to please and their anxiety may be overlooked.
Anxiety increases the heart rate and rate of breathing. This is part of our fight or flight mechanism and encourages good oxygenation of the arms and legs in case we have to run away or fight. This causes a feeling of pounding heart and breathlessness. The child may have diarrohea or be constipated. The divertion of blood from the internal organs causes a feeling of stomach churning or "butterflies". The mouth becomes dry, muscles tense, sweating increases and the child is very alert. This can lead to a feeling of lightheadedness and even fainting.
While a certain amount of anxiety is useful and even healthy when a child is exessively anxious they lead to panic. Panic attacks sometimes happen when there is no immediate threat to life. These panic attacks are one of the most common psychological problems in the Western World affecting 2-3% of the population. Young people experiencing these distressing feelings and events are often not fully aware of why they feel so frightened and they cannot always express this feeling or communicate it to their parents. This adds to their distress.
Parents often feel frustrated as they do not understand why their child is behaving in this way or what has caused this. It is important that they control and hide this frustration from the child. What then can parents do?
Be calm, relaxed and confident. Reassure the child but do not raise your voice you will only increase the child's discomfort and distress. Using positive language " I will keep you safe" "you will be all right" , distracting them by offering a focus that the child can use to think about instead of the frightening situation that they are in. Talk about normal happy things, remove the child to a quiet relaxing place and offer them a drink which does not contain caffine. Stay with the young person, ask them to concentrate on their breathing and to breathe deeply until they are calm and relaxed. People in a panic do not make good decisions as they cannot properly assess risk.
If these panic events occur more than once and are affecting school work or other activities then consult a Child Psychologist. There are effective treatments available and it is important that these events are not ignored.
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