Childhood anxiety can be a normal part of growing up, especially at times of change and uncertainty such as the first day at school.  However, if this childhood anxiety becomes prolonged or extremely intense it may develop into a anxiety disorder.  Extreme childhood anxiety can have a massive impact on your child’s quality of life and their future development.

If your child is experiencing high levels of anxiety, they may not feel able to tell you, maybe because they are to young to express the problem or because they are a teenager!

There are signs of anxiety to look out for, unfortunately these little clue’s are similar to the symptoms of “growing up”, or a child being bullied or even drug use.  So if your child is showing these signs of anxiety it is important to gently try to chat and establish what’s going on in your child’s life.

If you would like to learn more about the signs of childhood anxiety…Click Here.

If your child is suffering from an anxiety disorder it will begin to interfere in your child’s normal life, such as friendships, schooling and extra school activities.  Also, research has shown that 90% of adults who suffer from anxiety and panic attacks have also suffered from childhood anxiety.

The symptoms of childhood anxiety can include:

• Repeated mystery illnesses; such as tummy pains
• Lack of concentration at school
• Not wanting to mix and spend time with friends
• Outbursts of anger

See more anxiety in children symptoms…

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Types of Childhood Anxiety

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There are several different types of childhood anxiety, they are not necessarily exclusive of each other and may blend into each other, however, they may be broadly classified as:

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Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

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A child with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) would experience a pretty constant level of excessive and out of control fear.  These fears can be about absolutely anything and everything in your child’s life; from exam results and grade to worrying about timekeeping.

Anybody who has ever experienced fears and anxiety as a adult will realise how totally debilitating these feelings would be for a child.  They may not be able to function in the world on a day to day basis.  They may become angry, have trouble sleeping, or be unable to go to school.

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Separation Anxiety

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It may well be normal for a toddler to suffer from a mild level of separation anxiety on the first day at nursery, however if this doesn’t improve as the child gets older and gets more comfortable in their surroundings, your child may be developing serious seperation anxiety.

Separation anxiety can cause major problems with school, or even with them sleeping in their own bedroom.

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Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

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A child may suffer from OCD, where they have obsessions that they can’t stop and feel the compulsion to perform tasks to try to feel better.   The compulsion such as hand washing may take up a lot of the child’s time and start to interfere with daily life.

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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

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As with adults a child can suffer from PTSD after a bad experience, such as being involved in a car crash.  PTSD can show it’s self in the form of flashbacks,nightmares,insomnia,depression, or crippling fear, or they may not want to mix with other people.

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Phobias

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Phobias are an intense and irrational fear of everyday and harmless objects or animals, such as dogs or spiders.  These are very common fears in both children and adults and many people can function fine throughout their life, but in some severe cases it is best to look into a phobia cure such as the NLP fast phobia cure.

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Ways to help childhood anxiety

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Although the treatment for anxiety in children is broadly similar to that for adults, it should be tailored to their development level to help them to understand.  The most successful treatments usually involve a type of CBT therapy aimed specifically at children.

There are two programs available online that both have a very high success rate, dependent on some commitment from you as a parent to do the work with your child.

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The Anxiety Free Child Program:

The anxiety free child programme has been developed by Rich Presta, after he suffered from anxiety throughout his childhood and then for many years as an adult.  The program is based on many cutting edge techniques and aimed at a child in the way that they can understand.

Please read my review of Anxiety Free Child Program…

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Linden Method For Children:

The Linden Method is an excellent method for adults to overcome panic and anxiety, and they have developed a new way to use their techniques with their Linden Method Junior for children.  This is a great way to offer a cure for your childs anxiety.

Please read my review of The Linden Method Junior…

Medication should never be the answer in childhood anxiety cases.