Anxiety follow-up
Children and adolescents will experience concerns and worries at various points in their growing years. A good number of these kids will outgrow the fears. The anxiety will fade. However, when the apprehensions become a roadblock to fully living life, professional assistance should be considered.
A thorough assessment of the child and information regarding the family’s lifestyle and interaction patterns helps to begin to understand the dynamics of the child’s life. Since anxiety is an inner-brain problem or an invisible hindrance; an in-depth analysis of the child’s perception of their world is essential.
Some anxiety is normal and expected. We know that anxiety rises and falls depending on everyone’s daily circumstances. A slight rise in anxiety can help students to score better on exams because it focuses their mental powers to a higher degree.
Athletes perform better when they have some inner feelings of apprehension before a competition. At times, we see reports in newspapers about people who have done something incredible when under stress or high levels of anxiety.
We know from experience that most cases of generalized anxiety disorder are treatable. In some situations, children will outgrow these problems.
In most cases, a combined treatment approach is used including one or more of such treatments as desensitization, medication, individual and group counseling, direct therapy and consultations with school and family.
If a parent wishes to start helping their child with mild anxiety, some ideas from Dr. Jeffery Bernstein, author of ìLiking the Child You Loveî, might be helpful:
ï Breathing with them. One way to help your child control anxiety is to encourage slow, deep breathing.You can help your child practise this by getting her to imagine the air going in through her nose, down the windpipe, and into the belly.
ï Helping children get rid of ANTS (automatic negative thoughts). I have children draw ants (the insect version) to make this exercise fun. Then I help them talk about, write, or draw ants with negative thoughts next to them.Typical ANTS may be: ìNothing ever goes my way,î ìI’m a loser because everyone else thinks I am,î or ìI’m a failure.î By changing the unhelpful thoughts to more helpful and positive thoughts, for example, saying or thinking, ìIf I keep practising, I’ll get better,î or, ìEven if I make a mistake, I can learn and do better the next time,î the child’s anxiety levels will be reduced.
ï Guiding the child with calming visualizations. Help your child to imagine a relaxing place and to notice the calm feelings in his body. Or, have him imagine a container (such as a big box or a safe) to put his worries in so they are not running wild in his mind and bothering him when he needs or wants to be doing other things.
ï Encouraging the child to make a “things that went right today” list at the end of the school day. This helps children prone to anxiety to develop an optimistic cognitive style.This can be made into a Success Journal.
Someone once commented that worry grows lushly in the soil of indecision. Children with anxiety issues often never reach their full potential in life because they are constantly dealing with their fears, worries and concerns, thereby deflecting their energies into less productive outcomes.
Further assistance for children with anxiety should be through qualified professionals such as clinical psychologists and counsellors.
Dr. Steve Lydiatt is a practising educational psychologist. He has been a teacher, consultant in autism, university professor and director of a disabilities centre. His specialties include learning disabilities and children’s behaviour issues. He can be reached by email: drsteve.educistics@gmail.com.