Childhood Anxiety Disorder Today: How Should It Be Addressed?
The phenomenon of anxiety, which can be identified as an excess of the future in which we have difficulty focusing on the present, has increased especially in childhood who resumes his classes in person in the return to presence. It is not unusual for children and adolescents to come to the consultation with various difficulties both at school and at home, where symptoms such as irritability, concentration problems, sleep hygiene problems, anger attacks and also physical symptoms such as muscle tension, stomach discomfort, sweating, difficulty breathing.
These are some of the most common symptoms belonging to generalized anxiety disorder in childhood or GAD, and in addition to the effect of returning to face-to-face situations, where it is likely that the child or adolescent has found themselves in a more comfortable space. , tranquility and comfort by maintaining their classes online from their homes, or on the contrary, it has meant a high level of exposure and discomfort to be present in front of their classmates in classes daily.
However, There are other difficulties that can arise in this age range in addition to the aforementioned phenomenon such as the occurrence of an event loaded with high levels of stress, such as the loss of a family member or loved one, parental divorce, as well as important changes in the person’s life, such as moving to another city , entering a new educational establishment, and a history of abuse present in the child or adolescent.
Now, regarding the psychotherapy process that can be carried out for this issue, The psychotherapist will initially be in charge of gathering as much background information as possible about the patient’s current situation resorting to interviewing him, as well as the adult accompanying him and, if necessary, an anamnesis of the child or adolescent will be taken.
Within the elements that can be worked on, once a comprehensive framework of the anxious elements in the person’s life is established, various work strategies can be developed, such as helping the child to understand thoughts, visions and ideas that you can present regarding the stress factors that are currently affecting you, whether your own life experiences or the behaviors of other people that may be affecting you.
Besides, You can work on recognizing and replacing the thoughts that generate panic to help the person establish a margin of control and approach regarding those issues that affect you, so that you can have some control over the anxious episodes.
Pharmacological support can also be a favorable complement to psychotherapy that helps control anxiety symptoms, which can include antidepressants and anxiolytics of a diverse spectrum depending on the present symptoms. Treatments in turn can be either short or long term.
Furthermore, it is important to consider that in some cases when the present symptoms begin to worsen in the child or adolescent, this may present comorbidity with other mental health pathologies such as depression and substance abuse the latter as a way to cope with those situations that generate higher levels of anxiety.
Now, When is it necessary for parents or responsible adults to take their child to psychotherapy? There is no single answer to this question, since it will depend on the symptomatology, its evolution, the time in which it is present in life and when it began to significantly affect your daily activities, the support or not that may be available. receiving, among other factors.
However, basic elements that can be considered in addition to the symptoms presented are considering that the strategies that have been adopted as a family, as well as the child’s or adolescent’s own resources, are insufficient to confront the anxious situation on a daily basis and require external help, which, as mentioned, can be established through psychotherapy and pharmacology, always in an articulated work to generate greater results.
Likewise, the evolution of GAD will depend both on the aforementioned factors, the development of coping resources in the person and also a very important element that I will address in a future document, which is cortisol, which is also related to the presence of stress.
However, in conclusion, The evolution of childhood generalized anxiety disorder will depend on multiple elements, such as the severity of the present symptoms which may define a treatment, from short to medium to long term.
