Causes of Childhood Anxiety
Childhood anxiety can occur for a variety of reasons and cause the child to feel overwhelmed, nervous and even terrified of certain situations.
What are some of the common reasons that childhood anxiety occurs? Anxiety may occur in children due to a specific fear that has developed. In this case, the child is fearful of a certain act, item or situation and therefore may exhibit signs of anxiety when this item is in place. These anxiety attacks can often be deterred through the use of distraction or simply avoiding the situation until the child feels that they are ready to deal with the situation.
Generalized anxiety disorders in children may also occur and cause the child to be anxious about a variety of situations. These types of anxieties may have no triggers and lead the child to feel anxious the majority of the time, which can lead to other adverse effects on the child. In this case, medication may be used to soothe the child and reduce the anxiety which is felt to allow the child to function optimally.
There are three levels of childhood anxiety which are often exhibited: mild, moderate and severe. Depending on the severity of the symptoms which are associated with each case the course of treatment may differ from behavioral therapy to medication which can assist the child in reducing the symptoms which are experienced by the childhood anxiety.