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Tips on Treating Anxiety In Children
There are many tips to follow in treating anxiety in children. First, you need to know the nature and behavior of anxiety children.
Know How Anxious Children Will Behave
For a child anxiety disorder manifests much as it would in an adult, with a pervasive sense of worry and fear with accompanying physical and mental distress. The child may complain of headache and nausea or will perspire and exhibit marked nervous distress. Thinking and decision making will be affected and even in young children blood pressure and heart rate will increase. It is not uncommon for children to vomit, to exhibit stomach pain and ulcers, to experience diarrhea, or to have tingling in the limbs and a shortness of breath.
How Do I Help My Child?
Above all else in treating anxiety in children it is extremely important for parents to be patient and understanding. Ridiculing an anxious child or being angry at the child for their fears will only make their situation worse. It is cruel and inappropriate to tell a child to "grow up." Remember, they are children, and they do not see and understand the world as you do.
Their minds and coping mechanisms are still developing and they need love and support.
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It has become a trend in recent years to medicate children as if they were adults. It is not at all uncommon for the parents of a nervous child to be presented with a list of benzodiazepines or antidepressants. Many of these medications have not been tested for use in children and little is known about their effects on developing minds and bodies. While it may become necessary to medicate children, even to sedate them, during severe episodes of anxiety, increasingly parents are reluctant to do so with good reason. The use of antidepressants like Prozac has actually caused children to commit suicide.
A better route to treating anxiety in children would be to find a suitable therapist, most probably a cognitive behavioral child psychologist, in whom the child can confide and from whom they can learn coping strategies and calming techniques.
Because it is in the nature of children to learn through play, play-based therapies have proven extremely effective in getting anxious children to open up and to share the causes of their fears and concerns. Often when those issues can be confronted in a safe environment in the company of a trusted adult, the child can overcome their anxieties and move on.
Anxious children crave routine. To help the child in the home environment emphasize regular eating and sleeping habits. Minimize their intake of dietary sugars and chemical food additives as these elements have been found to increase anxiety and agitation in children. Within reason, it is appropriate to give an anxious child reassurance in their fears. For instance it is perfectly acceptable to provide a night light for a child who is worried about the dark. Leaving every light in the house on to make them feel comfortable would not be an appropriate response.
Parents as much as their children can benefit from the guidance of a trained therapist in providing a correct amount of support and reinforcement.
Treating anxiety in children is a troublesome issue for parents but one that should not be ignored or passed off as a phase, which tends to trivialize the child's concerns and to make them feel inadequate. While separation anxiety in children and other small fears are a part of growing up, they should never be allowed to dominate and spoil childhood.
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