Does this sound familiar?

Do you feel like your family is on a roller-coaster?

Does your child find it difficult to be away from you?

Get upset when you are going to be late for school or a party or worry excessively about school work generally?

Do you have a child that constantly asks you “What if….” and tends to focuses on negative world events such as natural disasters or wars, tsunamis or dinosaurs?

Is your child overly concerned about what others think of him or her and avoid social situations whenever possible?

If you have answered yes to any of these questions and your family and child’s everyday life is being affected by these behaviours it is possible that your child may be experiencing high levels of anxiety.

“Anxiety” is a term used to describe the physical and psychological response to fear and in low levels it is a very natural and necessary reaction to danger.

To illustrate a healthy level of anxiety imagine a child crossing a road at a zebra crossing. She sees a car coming towards her, the car is not slowing down as it should be, so the child senses potential danger and has a fleeting thought about being hit and seriously hurt. In reaction to this fearful thought, her heart starts racing, her palms begin to sweat and cortisol (a stress hormone) is released into her central nervous system which allows her to get out of harm’s way, quickly.

When children experience high levels of anxiety they do not just have a natural fear response to cars hurtling towards them but they also genuinely fear situations that most other children would not be afraid of.  Such as being separated from their parents, spending time with other kids or going to bed alone!

Because anxiety usually represents an underlying fear of loss or death, anxious children react to perceived danger in the same way as the girl in the earlier example, both psychologically and physically. They are genuinely scared.

For this reason children experiencing anxiety usually attempt to avoid feared situations at any cost. This in turn leads them to behave in disruptive ways that often leave parents and siblings perplexed and frustrated.

So where does anxiety come from?

It is generally accepted that roughly 50% of anxiety is passed down genetically (so we can’t do much about that!) and the other half is due to children learning anxious responses from those closest to them (that is where parents come in).

Solutions

The good news is that generally childhood anxiety can be successfully managed with therapies such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT). When kids learn different ways of thinking and reacting to their fears they can also learn to overcome them.

Get involved

Not surprisingly, clinical research suggests that children do much better when parents are also involved in the treatment process. If you think your child may be experiencing anxiety visit your GP. The sooner you and your child start working together to overcome anxiety, the sooner you can all hop off the rollercoaster.

Nikki Johnson is a director of the Cornershop Clinic which delivers Fearless Freddy’s Family Workshops, a 9 week anxiety treatment programs for 9-12 year olds and their parents.

www.cornershopclinic.com.au