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Anxiety disorders in children & young people
Anxiety disorders are common in children and young people. Specific phobias usually develop sometime during childhood. Social phobia usually develops during the early teenage years and obsessive compulsive disorder during the later teenage years.
Other extreme anxiety experienced by children is related to separation anxiety from their parents, sometimes in conjunction with panic attacks. This frequently means anxiety about going to school, and can result in difficulties in getting the child to school (school refusal). The child may be excessively “clingy” and want to sleep with the parents every night to quite a late age.
As anxiety is common and normal in children, parents would be advised to seek professional help from a psychologist with their child if:
- The anxiety is extremely distressing for the child
- The anxiety has been going on for more than a few months
- The anxiety is stopping the child or the family from doing normal things like attending swimming lessons, going to birthday parties and so on.
Generally speaking, the earlier that anxiety disorders are treated with counselling, the easier it is to recover, and the person is less likely to develop strong habits of avoidance, low self esteem or depression. | 
