Child Anxiety

Anxiety encompasses feelings of worry, nervousness, or dread. Although unpleasant, occasional bouts of anxiety are natural and sometimes even productive: By signaling that something isn’t quite right, anxiety can help people both avoid danger and make important and meaningful changes.

But persistent, pervasive anxiety that disrupts one’s daily life, whether at school, work, or with friends, can be the mark of an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders manifest in different ways and are often diagnostically distinct. Generalized anxiety disorder is a chronic state of severe worry and tension, often without provocation. Panic disorder refers to sudden and repeated panic attacks—episodes of intense fear and discomfort that peak within a few minutes. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is marked by intrusive thoughts or compulsions to carry out specific behaviors, such as handwashing. Post-traumatic stress disorder may develop after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event.

Anxiety is often accompanied by depression, and the two share an underlying genetic architecture

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Beyond genetics, childhood experiences such as early trauma or parental overprotection can play a role in forming an anxious disposition. In people with anxiety disorders, the brain circuitry that controls the threat response seems to go awry: The amygdala, a structure that detects danger, can become overactive, triggering a threat where none really exists.

Anxiety is often treated successfully using therapy, medication or both. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is one of the most effective options, in which patients learn to identify problematic thought patterns and change how they respond. Mindfulness meditation is another effective technique for some.

Individuals suffering from anxiety may feel restless, on edge, and irritable. They may have difficulty concentrating or controlling their emotions. Physical symptoms can also include fatigue, trembling, trouble sleeping, stomachaches, headaches, and muscle tension.

Anxiety often involves worrying to an intense, excessive degree. Those worries can apply to any aspect of life, from social situations and family dynamics to physical health and professional concerns.

A person’s angst or dread can be drastically out of proportion to the actual challenges he or she is facing. People may also irrationally believe that the worst-case scenario is inevitable.

Anxiety disorders can often be addressed successfully with psychotherapy and/or medication.

People may engage in talk therapy tailored to their specific anxieties. Cognitive behavioral therapy is one of the most effective options for anxiety disorders. The practice teaches patients to challenge distorted thought patterns to change how they respond. Social anxiety can be mitigated by exposure therapy, in which patients are safely and gradually exposed to their fears so they no longer avoid them.

Medication can help patients control their anxiety, but they cannot cure the underlying condition. Clinicians may prescribe fast-acting benzodiazepines for limited periods of time. Beta-blockers offer another short-term solution, as they can curb troubling symptoms such as racing heartbeat or trembling hands for a specific event. Antidepressants, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)or less frequently tricyclics, are used as a longer-term treatment and can take a few weeks or months to work.

As with all medications, patients should consult a doctor to understand the side effects of a particular drug and to safely transition on and off of the medication.

Lifestyle changes can help people who experience feelings of anxiety but who don’t meet the clinical threshold for a diagnosis. Habits such as exercising, sleeping well, and limiting the amount of caffeine and alcohol consumed are all be helpful.

Increasingly, researchers argue that mindfulness meditation is a successful technique as well. Taking deep breaths, observing one’s thoughts without judgment, and acknowledging the limits of one’s control can reduce feelings of tension.

Identifying the circumstances that trigger one’s anxiety, and then pushing back against anxious or irrational thoughts, can help to feel better prepared for the future

(Content Courtesy: Psychologytoday)

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Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (previously known as attention deficit disorder or ADD) is a neurobehavioral disorder characterized by core symptoms of inattentiveness, distractibility, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. ADHD is thought to be the most common childhood mental health disorder, with estimates of its prevalence in children ranging from 5 to 11 percent. ADHD in adulthood is thought to be less common, with approximately 2 to 5 percent of adults diagnosed.

ADHD symptoms can interfere with work, school, household tasks, and relationships, and managing the disorder can be a challenge for both children and adults. Fortunately, there are treatments that have been shown to be effective, and anyone affected by ADHD can learn coping skills to work around struggles and harness their talents—as many successful individuals with ADHD have already done.

Some children and adults with ADHD find it difficult to concentrate on tasks at school or work and may daydream frequently. Children with ADHD may become disruptive, defiant, or have trouble getting along with parents, peers, or teachers. Children who struggle with hyperactivity and impulsivity, in particular, often have behavioral challenges that can be difficult for adults to manage.

Adults, on the other hand, maybe more likely to report feeling restless or fidgety; if they struggle with impulsivity, they may make rash decisions that adversely affect their life. For both children and adults, executive functioning (planning, emotional regulation, and decision-making) is often affected as well. Many children and adults display either hyperactive or inattentive symptoms of ADHD, but it’s also possible for both sets of symptoms to exist together, in what is typically called combined type ADHD.

Like many other mental health disorders, the causes of ADHD remain under investigation. Genes are theorized to play a key role, as are environmental influences such as exposure to toxins in the womb and early traumatic experiences. Since ADHD is a behavioral disorder, expectations of appropriate behavior, particularly in children, likely influence diagnoses in some cases.

Experts have debated whether treatment for ADHD should be primarily behavioral (therapy, attention training, increased play, greater structure) or pharmacological. Several large studies have concluded that a combination of both may be most effective.

Autism is a developmental disorder that affects information processing in multiple ways. People with autism have difficulties with social and communication skills. They have restricted interests and engage in repetitive behaviors. They also tend to experience sensitivity or discomfort from sensory stimulation such as certain sights or sounds.

Because autism’s symptoms vary greatly, the condition is said to exist on a spectrum, referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorder. Asperger’s syndrome refers to “high functioning” autism but is no longer a formal diagnostic term.

Autism usually manifests by age two. The condition is diagnosed four times more frequently in males than in females, according to the CDC, although women are often overlooked and misdiagnosed. The frequency of diagnosis has surged over the past 20 years; it is not clear whether the incidence is truly increasing, whether experts are more alert to it, or whether the diagnosis has shifted to include lesser degrees of impairment.

There is no cure for autism, nor is one universally sought: Many people argue that autism should not be framed as a medical condition in need of amelioration. For those on the lower-functioning end of the autism spectrum, targeted practices and therapies can help alleviate symptoms. Symptoms may also ease over the years.

The condition manifests before age three and can be particularly confusing because some affected children appear to develop normally until the onset of the disorder. While the severity of symptoms varies greatly, there are invariably impairments to social and communication skills. (Some children with autism do not talk at all and remain mute throughout life), Children with autism also show restricted interests and repetitive behaviors.

Parents may notice that their infant avoids eye contact or doesn’t respond, and it may be difficult for them to form emotional bonds and parental attachment. Children with autism have unusual responses to sensory experiences and may be highly sensitive to certain sounds, textures, tastes, or smells. They may have deficits in motor coordination and poor muscle tone.

Autistic children exhibit many kinds of repetitive behaviors early in life, such as hand flapping, body rocking, and making sounds. They may arrange or stack objects over and over again. Some children inflict injury to themselves by repeated actions such as hand biting and headbanging. They show an early preference for unvarying routines of everyday life.

There are many approaches to managing or treating autism that have demonstrable results. Early intervention with highly structured behavioral, cognitive, and communication therapies can sometimes dramatically help children with autism learn skills, but some children with autism are unable to live independently as adults. School-based educational programs designed for children with autism can be effective in improving intellectual functioning.

Programs that make use of applied behavior analysis (ABA) have become widely accepted as the standard of treatment. In most effective programs, parents are encouraged to be highly involved in their children’s care.

While no medication can correct the impairments common to autism, psychoactive drugs including antidepressants, antipsychotics, and anticonvulsants are often prescribed to help control specific symptoms. Anticonvulsant medication may reduce the number of seizures but not eliminate them entirely.

There are also many alternative treatments promoted to parents of children with autism, such as facilitated communication and auditory integration training, to name a few; many have been shown to be ineffective. It is important for parents of children with autism to look into prospective treatments as thoroughly as possible.

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Taking into account the biological and neurological differences between male and female brains and minds, British psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen proposed the theory that autism represents an extreme version of a typically “male” brain. Men are overall more efficient at systemizing while women are more capable of empathizing.

Although there are exceptions, both men and women on the autism spectrum display a strong inclination towards systemizing. They are excellent at visual-spatial manipulation and rule-bound thinking but not as capable of empathy and mind-reading. For this reason, Baron-Cohen has labeled autism “mind-blindness.”

Baron-Cohen’s work may help explain why approximately four times as many males as females are diagnosed on the autism spectrum. Those statistics may not be reliable, however, as females with autism are often misdiagnosed as having other conditions.