Category: Youth
Children & Anxiety: The Unwanted & Heartbreaking Duo
Anxiety.
This seven-letter word is one of the most unsuspecting destroyers of confidence, self-esteem, and overall self out there. As the CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, points out, there are several different types of anxiety disorders commonly found among children:
- Separation anxiety: being afraid when away from parents
- Phobias: having extreme fear about a specific thing or situation, such as dogs, insects, or going to the doctor
- Social anxiety: Being very afraid of school or other places where there are people
- General anxiety: Being worried about the future and about bad things happening
- Panic disorder: Having retreated episodes of sudden, unexpected, intense fear that come with symptoms like heart pounding, having trouble breathing, or feeling dizzy
As anyone who’s been around a youth experiencing one of the above anxiety disorders knows, and the CDC agrees, children can present their anxiety by way of fear, worry, irritability, anger, sleep difficulties, fatigue, headaches, or stomach problems. But the issue doesn’t stop there. The way someone expresses or doesn’t express their anxiety–some youth try to hide it–directly affects their relationships. From home life to school life to social life to work life,