Treatment of Child Anxiety

Anxiety is a fear-based emotion that is experienced by all human beings, including children, just like every other emotion. Anxiety is an emotion that arises when we are scared of something and when we feel threathened in some way. Sometimes anxiety can be hepful in order to keep us safe, but often anxiety is limiting and holds us back from being open to new opportunities. Chidren can feel anxious for a number of reasons and it is hard to know when to seek treatment for child anxiety. This blog explains why children get anxious and when to consult with a psychologist for treatment of anxiety.

Why are Children Anxious?

Children can experience anxiety due to many reasons and situations, however the emotion of anxiety is created and exascerbated by underlying fear-based thoughts. Often these fear-based thoughts have developed from a learnt experience of theirs or of someone else’s, and may be themed around:

• “Something bad will happen”
• “I’m not good enough”
• “I can’t do it”

When fear-based thoughts arise and your child believes these thoughts to be true, anxiety will arise and can escalate to a point where it may impact upon your child’s functioning in certain areas such as their sleep, school attendance and concentration, appetite, social engagement, and their overall mood and behaviour. When any emotional state is high, it can be very difficult to maintain a rational perspective, therefore it is important to assist your child to sooth and calm the emotion prior to attempting to talk things through.

When to Consult a Psychologist?

Psychological intervention is important if your childs’ emotional states are impacting upon their functioning as mentioned above, however prevention is one step better than intervention. Bringing your child in for treatment at the very first signs of anxiety can assist in preventing impact on your child’s functioing, as well as preventing the development of unhelpful coping habits. If your child’s fears and worries are impacting their ability to sleep, be happy, engage with school and friends, then it might be time to seek the professional support of a psychologist working with treating child anxiety.

Treatment of Child Anxiety

A psychologist will help you to

• assist your child to learn about their emotions and when an emotion is arising
• learn how to prevent emotional states from escalting
• how to manage the emotion once it has escalted
• provide positive coping strategies to deal with their anxiety
• help your child feel more confident and OK

If you would like help for your child, please take our Referral Form to your long consultation with your child’s doctor. This will help facilitate a referral to CBT Professionals.

If you have any question please give us a call or pop us a line in our enquiry form and we will happily assist.

We look forward to being of assistance soon.