childrens health

Anxiety Disorders in Children

By Wilma McLaughlin, LCPC, Agape Counseling

nxiety and anxiety disorders in children are one of the main

reasons parents seek counseling for their children. Phobias (such as school or social phobia), separation anxiety,
obsessive compulsive behavior, generalized anxiety, and posttraumatic stress are all anxiety related disorders.
Anxiety is best understood in terms of being a response to
stress particularly exposure to cumulative stressors. In children,
anxiety disorders can occur when the child feels overwhelmed
by and unable to resolve external demands or circumstances,
producing a flight or fight response.
Anxiety disorders in children may have symptoms that further
their belief that they are different or inadequate, and can make them
targets for bullying. Children with high anxiety often complain of:
Page 32 Healthy Cells Magazine Peoria July 2014

Gastro-intestinal upset
Sleep problems
Vague physical (or somatic) ailments with no medical basis
Attention problems
Social isolation
Indecisiveness
Separation problems

Children who display anxiety-ridden tendencies tend to have

one or all of the following:
Highly developed sense of responsibility (my fault, I should fix this)
Perfectionism
High expectations

Oversensitivity to criticism or rejection

Strong control needs
Difficulty relaxing
Tendency to please
Difficulty with assertiveness
Frequent worry

Trauma is also often a contributor to childhood anxiety disorders. Trauma can include natural disaster, loss of significant
relationships, medical trauma, or exposure to intense situations
that are beyond a childs intellectual comprehension such as
viewing graphic images/events or even overhearing explicit sharing of events that contain fearful elements.
Parenting style has also been cited as a contributor to anxiety
in children, notably parents who share or convey their own fears
and anxieties to their children; non-nuturant or punitive parenting; non-responsive or unavailable parents; and unpredictable or
inconsistent day-to-day life thus fostering in the child a negative
view of self, the world, and the future.
Counseling is a good option for addressing anxiety in children,
but there are many ways parents can help as well. These include:
Regular exercise and active recreation
Attention to healthy nutrition
Structure ensuring predictability and consistency day to day
Parents modeling calmness under pressure
Maintaining a consistent rhythm to life, such as meal times
Sleep planning, time management
Limit media usage/exposure
Parents set reasonable, attainable goals for the child
Decrease negativity
 alk therapy that uses a Cognitive Behavior Therapy approach
T
identifying negative messages, dispelling the untruths, and
supporting reality based beliefs
 ocus on activities in which the child can experience mastery
F
such as learning a new skill or enhancing an old one
Parents can also help their child by encouraging the child to
keep a Worry Book to record things the child worries about,
ranging from the mild or harmless to tragic. After each entry,
have the child write an answer to So what if that does happen.
This exercise allows the child to actively manage their unreasonable fears, think through behavioral solutions, making the fears
manageable and resolvable, and decreasing the freeze or flight
response to stress.
Wilma McLaughlin is a licensed clinical counselor with an
advanced Certificate in Child and Adolescent Mental Health and
trained in Theraplay and EMDR. Wilma is one of a number of
therapists at Agape Counseling who work with children and welcome your questions of whether counseling is a recommended
option for your child.
Agape Counseling is a group of Christian counselors, social
workers, psychologists, and support staff committed to a therapeutic process that ministers to the whole person. They currently have groups for a wide variety of issues, including sex
addiction, partners of addicts, DBT, womens identity and more.
They have offices in Peoria, Morton, and Bloomington. Their
Peoria office is located at 2001 W. Willow Knolls, Suite 110.
For more information, call 309-692-4433 or visit their website
at www.agapecounselors.net.
Photo credit: alexsokolov/Thinkstock

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July 2014 Peoria Healthy Cells Magazine Page 33