Doughty

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Samantha doughty

Angela Pedrotti 

1201

May 2, 2021

Anxiety in children

What is anxiety? Anxiety is A feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about

an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome. Anxiety is also something that

everyone has gone through that least once in their lives, but some people are affected

differently. As a person who struggles with anxiety myself, I want to learn and understand

how it affects others. They may be struggling and do not want others to know they may have a

hard time with things but do not want the help, it affects more people than most would

understand and know, and it can be caused by stress many things can cause that as well it can

be test taking, meeting new people, trying new things and so many other things.

One of the social causes of school anxiety are people, wondering if their friends will

be in class with them, who the teacher may be, if kids will be made fun of. This normally

happens at the very end of summer beginning of the school year where they do not know the

ending outcome. Teachers have good experiences with caring for the children and can cause a

lasting impression on a child’s life good or bad. Teachers do their best to provide their students

with a positive educational experience some students are better suited for certain teaching styles

and classroom types then others. A teacher should be someone that a child can go to if they need

help, personal or school related but some kids may feel scared and worried to ask questions.
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Teachers should be able to adjust to your students teaching needs. Another factor could be

Friends, most children go to school excited to see their friends but that can also be stressful if a

child thinks they do not have enough friends, not being in the same class as their friends, not

being able to keep up with them in one area or another and even peer pressure, these are common

ways kids can get stressed out by their social lives at school. If a child is dealing with these

issues alone it could easily cause anxiety in even the most secure kids. So many other things

were mentioned in this website and I thought It was all so important you realize what people

really have effect on some kids weather it is a friend, teacher, bullies, learning styles, text anxiety

and so many others.

Sometimes stress can also be involved with anxiety there can also be many hidden

environmental stressors. According to Elizabeth Scott “Social stressors can be caused by some

level of stress or anxiety in social situations they encounter in school. Some issues that can

provide important opportunities for growth and need to be handled with care and must be dealt

with.” Many of us experience test anxiety as well, regardless of whether we are prepared for

exams. Unfortunately, some studies show that greater levels of test anxiety can hinder

performance on exams. Reducing test anxiety can improve scores.

Classroom accommodations to help the anxious child at school. There are so many

anxiety disorders that can affect children and anxiety can interfere with social, occupational

(school or work) it can also affect the physical health of a child. Kids can worry themselves

sick. Anxiety can interfere with a child’s learning according to Katie Hurley, “anxiety

disorders are the most common mental illness in the united states, impacting an estimated

one in eight children. Left untreated, childhood anxiety can result in poor school performance

poor social functioning and even substance abuse.” There are also many kinds of anxiety
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some of them could be separation anxiety, social anxiety, Generalized Anxiety, test anxiety

and so many different things can cause these different types of anxiety.

The year 2020 is a great example of anxiety and how not only is adults affects but

children are as well. The year 2020 we had coronavirus and that took a lot away from a lot of

people school being one of those things. What you must acknowledge and can be hard for a child

to understand is we have to keep everyone safe and that meant making school online. Meaning

you would be going to school though a camera and that can be hard and cause stress and anxiety

for any age level but especially in younger age levels. Children may not be a high risk, but

teacher may be and that can cause a lot of stress on anyone even children. We need to accept the

uncertainty and just go along with everything and not worry about it all the time which is

stressing us out and can cause more anxiety. You need to stop fighting with your feelings that

feeling in your stomach that makes you sick people get that when they worry, and it is not

always good for them. according to Dr. Pearson “it is not to guarantee that your child will never
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be exposed to a virus particle. That is impossible. The goal is to make a realistic plan that will

holistically keep teachers, families and children as safe as possible.” This is a way to think about

anxiety outside of the virus but can also use this advise in your everyday lives.

Anxiety among the United States and Canadian college students according to Patricia A

Lowe, “Existing measures of test anxiety used with the college student population are old with

old norms and old items, and they do not capture the multiple dimensions of the test anxiety

construct or assess facilitating anxiety.” In the new studies the validity of the scores of new

multidimensional measure of test anxiety. Anxiety is a serious problem not only in the united

states campuses but also in the Canadian campuses. Text anxiety refers to the anxiety such as

worry and fear. Students that struggle with test anxiety are at a greater risk of poorer academic

performances and school dropout. “The most popular measures to identify test anxious college

students in the test anxiety inventory.”

Depression can lead to anxiety, both anxiety and depression are neurobiological

disorders. In other words, we know that there are changes or differences in how the brain

functions in these individuals that provide the basis for the behavioral changes that we can see in

depression. These symptoms can also go along with the symptoms of ADHD as well that so
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many people misidentify it. According to The National Survey of Children’s Health “some initial

population-based data about the mental health needs of U.S. children aged 3 – 17 years. Based

on these results, 1 out of 7 children aged 2 to 8 years had a diagnosed mental, behavioral, or

developmental disorder (MBDD), and of those ages 3-17, 3% had a current diagnosis of

childhood anxiety and 2.1% had a current diagnosis of depression.”

When researching this topic, I realized how much this is also affecting adults or how

many children had anxiety has a kid then continued to have it as an adult. According to mindful

searching “Anxiety is the body’s normal response to stress. It helps us stay motivated while

studying, focused while completing an important project at work, or alert while protecting

children from everyday dangers.” Anxiety could become an issue when it starts affecting your

daily activities. You start to feel sudden panic when there is no real thing to panic about or have

an overwhelm for non-threatening activities such as greeting a stranger in public. Anxiety

impacts 18.1% of adults in the united states, about 40 million people. It also more common in

women then in men, women are about 23.4% and men is 14.3% and most people with anxiety
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only has a mild case of it meaning it’s there but it’s not severe and may only happen every once

and a while. The top two types of anxiety are social anxiety (social phobia) with 6.8% and 15

million people in the united states along with specific phobia with 8.7% and 19 million people in

the united states. There is a difference between everyday anxiety and an anxiety disorder. Some

everyday anxiety is things like worry about paying bills, job, a break, or other life events.

Another one could be embarrassment or self-consciousness in an uncomfortable or award social

situation. And the other one could also be nervousness or sweating before a big test, business

presentation, stage performance, or other significant event. Things that are known for anxiety

disorder could be things like constant and unsubstantiated worry that causes significant distress

and interferes with daily life.

Are anxiety rates increasing? Yes, people are becoming more anxious. According to

mindful searching, “American Psychiatric Association (APA) ran a poll in 2018 to measure

anxiety levels in the United States. On a 100-point scale, the average score in 2018 was 51.” That

is five points higher than the previous year. One of the largest increases in anxiety was related to

people paying the pills this study that mindful searching also did was that they found

“millennials are the most anxious generation.” There are different types of anxiety statistics one

being Generalized Anxiety Disorder also known as GAD this has been known to affect 6.8
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million adults or 3.1% of the U.S population but when looked further into it only43% of people

with Generalized Anxiety Disorder are receiving the treatment they need. People who have

Generalized Anxiety Disorder normally excessively worry about many different things and can

even overthink things all the time and start to panic. They may also picture the worst possible

thing happening or making day to day events something to worry about.

There is a difference between everyday anxiety and an Anxiety disorder. Everyone

experiences everyday anxiety but there is a difference between the two. Everyday anxiety

consists of things like worrying about paying bills, getting a job, important like events, breakups.

There is also embarrassment or self-consciousness in an uncomfortable or awkward social

situation. People also can get nervous about things like taking a big test, performing on a stage in

front of people, or even presenting in front of others that is your nervous getting to you. You

could experience some nervousness or sweating or feeling sick to your stomach. Now looking at

things that could be more likely said to be Anxiety disorder, unsubstantiated and constant worry

that can cause distress and can interfere with your daily life. Another one could be you avoiding

social situations, so you do not have the fear of being judged, embarrassed or humiliated. You

could be scared to visit a place object or situation that poses to little, or no threat of danger and

you avoid these things.

What causes anxiety in a child or teen? well according to Stanford Children’s heath “is caused by

both biological and environmental factors. A child may inherit a tendency to be anxious. An

imbalance of 2 chemicals in the brain (norepinephrine and serotonin) most likely plays a part. A

child can also learn anxiety and fear from family members and others.  For example, a child with

a parent who is afraid of thunderstorms may learn to fear thunderstorms. A traumatic event may
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also cause GAD. This can include things such as the death of a parent, a divorce, or a serious

family accident or illness.” Children who have parents with an anxiety disorder could be one

reason a child may have it as well. Children who seem more restrained as a toddler then more my

also be more at risk for an anxiety disorder. When diagnosing a child or teen with anxiety your

child’s healthcare provider will rule out any other health problems. When the healthcare provider

is done a child psychiatrist, or another mental health expert can then help and diagnose the

Anxiety disorder. They will then do a mental health assessment of the child or teen which could

include things like a emotional and social history and interviews with the child and the parents

and doing standardized testing. Anxiety and GAD being treated in children and teens according

to Stanford children’s health “Children and teens with GAD can’t just pull themselves together

and get better. They often need treatment. In many cases, treatment is key to recovery. Untreated,

GAD can get worse or become a long-term problem. Treatment will depend on your child’s

symptoms, age, and general health. It will also depend on how severe the condition is.

Treatment for GAD and other anxiety disorders could be.

 Cognitive behavioral therapy. This helps a child learn how to better manage anxiety.

The goal is also to help a child master the situations that may lead to the anxiety.

 Medicines. Antidepressant or anti-anxiety medicine may help some children feel calmer.

 Family therapy. Parents play a vital role in any treatment.

 School input. A child’s school may also be included in care.

There could be more then just these and these treatments don’t only just help with a specific kind

of anxiety GAD is the most common type of anxiety and these are come of the treatments used

for that but also has and can be used on people dealing with other types of anxiety.
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Anxiety is something that has influenced everyone at some points in their lives and

you can see that there are many things that can cause anxiety such as people, school, family,

test taking, online school and so many other things. It also affects everyone differently and

people must adjust to it differently. Finding out the different types of anxiety and realizing

what the main things of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) are. Now I know this topic

has meaning to a lot of people but has also meaning and affected me and made me want to

know it on a deeper level and see how others are affected by it in school as well. Anxiety is

also something you may have to be patient with its not something that will go away right

away for most people, a lot of people struggle with anxiety most of their lives and can leave

an unpredictable impact on anyone.

Work cited page

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Elizabeth Scott, MS. “Why Do Children Get So Stressed With School?” Verywell Family, 30

Mar. 2020, www.verywellfamily.com/social-causes-of-school-anxiety-3145171. 

Hurley Katie Hurley, Katie. “Anxiety at School - Accommodations to Help Your Anxious

Child.” Psycom.net - Mental Health Treatment Resource Since 1996, 26 Sept. 2018,

www.psycom.net/classroom-help-anxious-child-at-school/. 

Lakshmin, Pooja. “How to Handle Anxiety Over Back-to-School Decisions.” The New York

Times, The New York Times, 29 July 2020,

www.nytimes.com/2020/07/29/parenting/schools-reopening-parents-decision-kids.html. 

Lowe, Patricia A. “Exploring Cross-Cultural and Gender Differences in Test Anxiety Among

U.S. and Canadian College Students.” Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, vol. 37,

no. 1, 2017, pp. 112–118., doi:10.1177/0734282917724904. 

albanese, Erin. “Mental Health in the Classroom: An Expert Interview with Dr. Tanisha

Drummond and Dr. Lisa Jacobson.” Kennedy Krieger Institute,

www.kennedykrieger.org/stories/linking-research-classrooms-blog/mental-health-

classroom-expert-interview-dr-tanisha-drummond-and-dr-lisa-jacobson. 

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) in Children and Teens,

www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=generalized-anxiety-disorder-in-children-

and-adolescents-90-P02565.
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“Anxiety Disorder Statistics 2020 - U.S. And Worldwide.” Mindful Searching, 4 Mar. 2021,

mindfulsearching.com/anxiety-statistics/#:~:text=Anxiety%20Statistics%20in%20the

%20U.S.%201%20Anxiety%20is,anxiety%20can%20be%20treatable%2C%20only

%2036.9%25%20seek%20help.