Anxiety in Children

Anxiety tends to develop either right before or at the beginning of adolescence. Symptoms of anxiety include: restlessness, irritability, difficulty concentrating, uncontrollable feelings of worry. There may also be fatigue, difficulty sleeping, or aches and pains without a clear cause. An anxious child might have constant worries about a school performance, friends, sports, etc.

Repetitive thoughts or actions (obsessions) or fear of embarrassment or making mistakes may be present. There may be low self-esteem, fear of parent’s safety, refusal to go to school, extreme worry about sleeping away from home, panic, or tantrums. An anxious child may be overly clingy. They may have nightmares and trouble sleeping.

Anxiety and depression often occur together. Around 60% of people with anxiety will also develop depression and vice versa. Anxiety affects twice as many people as depression. Approximately 7% of American adults live with depression while 19% live with some form of anxiety. Anxiety is twice as common in children, too. A study showed 4% of children aged 3 to 17 were diagnosed with depression, but 9% were diagnosed with anxiety.

The cause of anxiety in children is thought to be a combination of genes and environmental factors like stress and trauma. Parents can seek help from pediatricians, school counselors, and other mental health professionals. Delayed treatment puts the child at increased risk for substance abuse and other preventable negative outcomes.

Parents need to remember that one-half of all mental illness onsets by the age of 14. Much of what has been blamed as poor parenting or bad behavior by children is really symptoms of their untreated brain illnesses.

See more information and resources here, including our bi-weekly confidential support group here at Community UMC:

Mental Health Matters - Matthews Hands

by Angela D. Vickers, JD