Question

List the different anxiety disorders that can affect children. Identify one of the disorders and discuss the diagnostic criteria as well as one psychological treatment used to treat the disorder.

Answer 1

• If the child has generalized anxiety disorder, or GAD, he or she will worry excessively about a variety of things such as grades, family issues, relationships with peers, and performance in sports.Children with GAD tend to be very hard on themselves and strive for perfection. They may also seek constant approval or reassurance from others.
• Panic disorder is diagnosed if your child suffers at least two unexpected panic or anxiety attacks—which means they come on suddenly and for no reason—followed by at least one month of concern over having another attack, losing control, or "going crazy."
• Many children experience separation anxiety between 18 months and three years old, when it is normal to feel some anxiety when a parent leaves the room or goes out of sight. Usually children can be distracted from these feelings.
• Social anxiety disorder, or social phobia, is characterized by an intense fear of social and performance situations and activities such as being called on in class or starting a conversation with a peer.This can significantly impair the child’s school performance and attendance, as well as his or her ability to socialize with peers and develop and maintain relationships.
• Children who refuse to speak in situations where talking is expected or necessary, to the extent that their refusal interferes with school and making friends, may suffer from selective mutism.
• Most children with OCD are diagnosed around age 10, although the disorder can strike children as young as two or three. Boys are more likely to develop OCD before puberty, while girls tend to develop it during adolescence.
• A specific phobia is the intense, irrational fear of a specific object, such as a dog, or a situation, such as flying. Common childhood phobias include animals, storms, heights, water, blood, the dark, and medical procedures.
• Children with posttraumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, may have intense fear and anxiety, become emotionally numb or easily irritable, or avoid places, people, or activities after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic or life-threatening event.
  
• Separation anxiety has been explained in detail:-
• Separation anxiety is normal in very young children (those between 8 and 14 months old). Kids often go through a phase when they are "clingy" and afraid of unfamiliar people and places. When this fear occurs in a child over age 6 years, is excessive, and lasts longer than four weeks, the child may have separation anxiety disorder.
• Separation anxiety disorder is a condition in which a child becomes fearful and nervous when away from home or separated from a loved one -- usually a parent or other caregiver -- to whom the child is attached.
  
• The diagnosis is given only when the distress associated with the separation is unusual for an individuals developmental level, is prolonged and severe. The need to stay in close proximity to caretakers can make it difficult for children with this disorder to go to school, stay at friends houses or be in a room by themselves.
• Children may be resistant to going to school because of the separation from parents. They may want a detailed time line of where parents will be and when they will return home. Physical symptoms of stomach aches and vomiting are common to children with separation anxiety.
• The criteria for diagnosis of separation and anxiety disorder include the following:
• Developing inappropriate and excessive fear or anxiety concerning separation from those to whom the individual is attached, as evidenced by at least three of the following:
• Recurrent excessive distress when anticipating or experiencing separation from home or from major attachment figures.
• Persistent and excessive worry about losing major attachment figures or about possible harm to them, such as illness, injury, disasters or death.
• Persistent and excessive worry about experiencing an untoward event (eg. Getting lost, being kidnapped, having an accident, becoming ill) that causes separation from a major attachment figure.
• Persistent reluctance or refusal to go out, be away from home, go to school, go to work, or elsewhere because of fear of separation.
• The fear, anxiety, or avoidance is persistent, lasting at least 4 weeks in children and adolescents and typically 6 months or more in adults.
• The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, academic, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
• Treatment that involves both medication and psychotherapy have higher success rates for alleviating the symptoms of Separation Anxiety.
• Art therapy with parent-child pairs has been found helpful with improving parent child relationships and decreasing anxiety.
• Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and exposure therapy are the most common treatments for children with Separation anxiety. Exposure therapy is based on the anticipation that the anxiety will decrease with graded exposure to the stressful situation.
• Exposure occurs in a very gradual manner and increases the person’s ability to tolerate distance from the attachment person. Interventions that include parent training in addition to CBT has been found to be more effective then CBT alone.