What Is Anxiety?
Anxiety is an overwhelming sense of worry, fear, and unease that can disrupt your daily life. Poppy Pediatric Mental Health creates a safe space for you or your child to openly discuss the anxiety symptoms and for us to formulate a plan to help find relief.
Signs of Childhood Anxiety
All children will experience fear and worry from time to time. Perhaps they are nervous about their first day of school or worried about an upcoming test. These feelings are normal. However, if your child’s worries and fears start to affect their home, school or social life then it's time to talk with your pediatrician or a mental health provider. Some signs of anxiety in children and teens include:
- Experiencing extreme fear around certain objects or scenarios (e.g. airplanes; animals)
- Frequent need for reassurance
- Difficulty sleeping alone
- Trouble going to or staying in school
- Excessive worry
- Fear of the future or worried that bad things will happen to them or their family
People with anxiety can have physical complaints related to the anxiety. It is common for children with anxiety to complain of poor sleep, decreased appetite, fatigue, headaches and stomach issues.
Wendy Silverman, Ph.D. a well respected psychologist at the Yale Child Study Center developed a quick method to determine if a child's anxiety is impairing a child's life by using the acronym F.I.S.H.:
If you or your child or teen feels that anxiety is detrimental to your or their lives please contact us or your regular doctor for guidance.
- Frequency — What is the frequency of the child’s anxious behaviors? Is it every day? Once a week? Once a month?
- Intensity — How intense is the child’s anxiety on a scale of 1 to 10?
- Severity — How severe is the child’s anxiety on a scale of 1 to 10?
- How long — How long have anxious behaviors occurred?
Treating Childhood Anxiety
Once diagnosed, treatment options may include therapy, medication, or a combination. For instance, cognitive-behavioral therapy can help patients challenge negative thoughts and behaviors associated with anxiety. Poppy Pediatric Mental Health will help direct you to one of the many excellent therapists in the area depending on the needs of the patients. Through frequent communication, she will closely monitor a patient's progress and will adjust treatment plans as needed, ensuring personalized care to improve mental well-being.