Anxiety Counseling Services for Children
Because some children are naturally shy, we tend to view anxiety in children as something they’ll outgrow in time. However, if the intensity of your child’s anxiety starts to interfere with their life and yours, it’s time to seek professional help.
If serious anxiety goes untreated, it tends to worsen with time because children will use avoidance to try to reduce their fear. As they try to avoid triggering those feelings, they only become more powerful.
Anxiety disorder in children is often treated with medication, just as it is in adults. Antidepressants tend to be the first choice to reduce anxiety, but Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can also be a great help in calming a child’s fears. Over the last 20 years, studies have shown that CBT is the most effective treatment for severe anxiety. Unlike medication, anxiety counseling near me gives kids the tools they need to self-manage their anxiety, both now and in the future.
How Do You Treat Anxiety Attacks in Children?
Cognitive-behavioral therapy uses the theory that how we act and think affects how we feel. By changing dysfunctional behavior and distorted thinking, we can change our emotions. Most therapists will focus on behavior with younger children, but the goal is to unlearn avoidant behavior.
“Exposure and response prevention” is one of the most important techniques to treat fears and social anxiety disorder in children. The idea is to expose kids to anxiety triggers using incremental, structured steps in a safe setting. As they become accustomed to these triggers, their anxiety will begin to fade, so they can build up to more powerful triggers.
Traditional talk therapy is very different than exposure therapy. With talk therapy, a counselor will often explore the roots of their patient’s anxiety in order to change their behavior, which can be effective as well. In exposure therapy, we get rid of the fear by changing the behavior.
Exposure therapy is especially effective on social anxiety, OCD, phobias, and separation anxiety.
How Can Anxiety Counseling for Children Help Them Understand Their Illness?
It’s important for a patient and their family to get some distance from their anxiety and realize that it is separate from who they are as a person. It’s also crucial to help kids see how anxiety affects their lives. By mapping out the things those fears keep them from doing, like sharing meals, going to sleepovers, or sleeping in their own bed, kids decide how that makes them feel, and they can get a better understanding of how their anxiety works.
Common Anxiety Disorders in Children and Teens
Anxiety can show up in several different forms, and knowing which type your child is dealing with can help guide treatment. Common anxiety disorders in children and adolescents include:
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Chronic, excessive worry about school, family, social situations, health, or world events. Kids with GAD are often hard on themselves and seek constant reassurance.
- Separation Anxiety: Intense fear of being away from home or caregivers, often showing up as refusal to go to school, camp, or sleepovers.
- Specific Phobia: Fear of a particular object or situation, such as spiders or driving, that is out of proportion to the actual risk.
- Social Anxiety Disorder: Fear of social or performance situations, like speaking in class or eating in front of others, often driven by a fear of embarrassment.
- Panic Disorder: Sudden, intense physical symptoms such as a racing heart or difficulty breathing that seem to come out of nowhere.
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Intrusive, anxiety-provoking thoughts followed by ritualistic behaviors meant to relieve that anxiety.
- Selective Mutism: A consistent inability to speak in certain social settings, like school, despite speaking normally elsewhere, such as at home.
How Do I Know If My Child’s Anxiety Is Normal for Their Age?
Some fear and worry is a normal part of childhood development, and what looks like anxiety often changes as kids get older. Common age-appropriate fears include:
- Ages 2-4: potty training, water, the dark, loud noises, costumed characters, strangers, or being separated from a parent.
- Ages 5-7: the dark, monsters or ghosts, a parent not returning, getting lost, bugs or animals, and doctors or dentists.
- Ages 8-11: supernatural fears, illness or death of themselves or loved ones, social acceptance among peers, and test-taking.
- Age 12 and up: social standing and appearance, school or athletic performance, and larger world events like natural disasters or crime.
If your child’s fear or worry goes beyond what’s typical for their age, starts to interfere with school, friendships, or family life, or can’t be eased with reassurance, it may be time to seek professional support.
How Can Seeking Therapy Counseling Services Help?
If your child’s anxiety is affecting your family life, it may be time for professional help. Seeking Therapy Counseling Services, serving Chula Vista, California, and greater San Diego County, has years of experience helping children get through tough times. Our Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) can provide counseling in one of several styles that best fits your child’s needs, including family counseling San Diego and individual sessions tailored to your child. Call us today at 619-646-8283 or contact us online to ask questions and make your child’s first appointment.