How Children Experience Anxiety Differently from Adults

Anxiety is one of the most prevalent mental health conditions in the United States. According to the CDC, it affects over 19% of adults and about 10% of children aged 3 to 17 annually. While anxiety can manifest in anyone regardless of age, the way it presents itself in children often differs significantly from how it appears in adults.

Understanding these differences is crucial for providing appropriate support and treatment. Early onset anxiety is worryingly common, with clinical rates continuing to rise every year. Some part of this evidence can be attributed to improved diagnosis in children but it is still undeniable that children are now more anxious than ever before. With this rise in prevalence comes a real need to address the condition and come up with evidence-based treatment plans for children.

What Are the Symptoms to Look For?

Classic Signs in Adults

Adults experiencing anxiety often report symptoms such as persistent worry, restlessness, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, and physical symptoms like increased heart rate or sweating. They typically recognize these feelings as anxiety and may articulate their emotional state clearly. This allows for better and faster diagnosis and early treatment. Being able to describe problems clearly also allows the therapist to provide accurate remedy methods.

Classic Signs in Children

Children may struggle to recognize or verbalize their anxiety. Instead, they might exhibit behavioral signs like clinginess, tantrums, difficulty sleeping, stomachaches, or frequent headaches. Unlike adults, children often show anxiety through actions rather than words, and their symptoms may overlap with behaviors typically attributed to developmental stages. As you’d expect, this makes diagnosis a lot more complex. Even after diagnosis, treatment can be complicated as children are rarely able to verbalize what exactly they are feeling.

Key Differences

• Expression: Adults often internalize anxiety, while children externalize it.

• Triggers: Adults’ anxiety is often linked to work, relationships, or finances, while children’s anxiety may be rooted in fears of separation, school pressures, or social situations.

• Understanding: Adults are more likely to identify their anxiety and seek help, whereas children may not realize they’re experiencing anxiety at all.

Types and Causes of Anxiety in Children

Common Types of Anxiety in Children

• Separation Anxiety Disorder: The most common form of anxiety in children, characterized by intense fear or distress at being away from parents or caregivers.

• Social Anxiety: Fear of social interactions or being judged, which may manifest as avoiding group activities or reluctance to speak in class. This type of anxiety has seen an increase in prevalence during and after the pandemic.

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): Excessive worry about a wide range of issues, including school, family, and future events.

• Phobias: Intense fear of specific objects or situations, like animals or the dark.

Causes of Anxiety in Children

Children’s anxiety often arises from a combination of genetic, environmental, and developmental factors:

• Family History: A predisposition to anxiety may be inherited.

• Environmental Stressors: Bullying, family conflict, or academic pressure can trigger anxiety.

• Developmental Stages: Certain fears, like fear of strangers in toddlers or fear of failure in older children, are typical but may escalate into anxiety disorders if not addressed.

Treatment and Support for Children

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Often considered the gold standard for treating anxiety, CBT helps children understand and manage their anxious thoughts and behaviors. CBT has shown similar efficacy in children compared to adults and can have fewer side effects compared to other options. In the case of children, CBT techniques are taught to parents or caregivers and administered to the child through them. This reduces the additional burden a child may face in a clinical environment.

Medication

In some cases, anti-anxiety medications may be prescribed to children, typically as part of a comprehensive treatment plan. The usual mode of treatment is mild selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) antidepressants. However, this mode of treatment is comparatively rare and usually reserved for more acute cases.

Other Therapies

Techniques like play therapy or exposure therapy may be tailored to younger children to make treatment more engaging.

The Role of School Counselors

Schools often provide an essential layer of support for children with anxiety. School counselors with advanced training, such as a Masters in School Counseling online, can be invaluable in guiding children through their anxiety journey and equipping them with tools for long-term resilience.

School-based interventions can be particularly effective because they address anxiety in a familiar and structured setting. Children can have additional anxiety about seeking help from a clinical environment. This can be off-putting enough for them to attempt to hide symptoms. The role of the school counselor eliminates this additional step and allows children easier and better access to help.

Parental and Caregiver Support

Parents and caregivers play a pivotal role in managing children’s anxiety. Here are some ways they can help:

• Open Communication: Encourage children to talk about their feelings and validate their emotions. Having an open channel of communication makes them feel safe and helps them offload anxious thoughts. This can be key to reducing symptoms of anxiety. This can either be with parents or with school counselors depending on the specific situation.

• Routine and Predictability: Predictability can reduce anxiety in children, so maintain consistent daily schedules.

• Encourage Gradual Exposure: Help children face their fears in small, manageable steps. Large daunting tasks can be overwhelming and put them off the treatment plan.

• Model Coping Skills: Demonstrate healthy ways to handle stress, like deep breathing or mindfulness practices.

As we’ve seen, anxiety differs in children both in terms of how it is presented and how it is treated. The key takeaway from the research is that a lot of the treatment depends on people close to the child.

Caregivers, parents, or school counselors play a crucial role in employing techniques that help the child deal with their condition. Medication is usually reserved for severe cases, and techniques like CBT are employed more often.

Mental health struggles in children have certainly attracted concern, with many organizations running studies to better understand childhood anxiety. This will inevitably lead to better treatment plans in the future. There are concerns about material conditions that are causing this rise in anxiety as well. We can only hope the future is better for our children.