Anxiety Disorders Types
Separation Anxiety Disorder: A child has intense fears about being away from home, or is fearful that something bad may happen to their caregivers, such that they have difficulty functioning away from home, such as at school or in social situations. A child with separation anxiety disorder may cling to their parents, refuse to go to school, or refuse to sleep alone.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Children with GAD have recurring worries and fears that they find very difficult to control. They may worry about just about everything–school performance, natural disasters, being on time. Childrenen may appear restless, tense, tired, irritable, and they may have trouble with concentrating and may have trouble sleeping. Children with GAD typically want to please others, and can become very upset when their performance isn’t perfect.
Social Phobia: Children with social phobia are typically shy, and fearful of social or performance situations. They may avoid public speaking or eating in public. Social phobia can be associated with physical symptoms, such as blushing, sweating, feeling one’s heart beating, feeling short of breath, and having muscle tension. Children with social phobia are typically sensitive to criticism, have trouble asserting themselves, and have low self-esteem.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Children have frequent and uncontrollable thoughts that we call obsessions, and will perform routines and rituals that we call compulsions that they engage in to eliminate the thoughts. These kids will engage in behaviors to avoid imagined consequences. Most people are familiar with the idea that people may wash their hands excessively to avoid germs, b but symptoms can also include repeatedly checking on tasks, counting rituals, repeating words silently over and over. These behaviors become a disorder when the obsessions and compulsions take up so much of a child’s time that it interferes with their ability to function in daily activities.
Acute Stress Disorder: Consists of the immediate reactions of fear and helplessness, and horror that occur after exposure to a traumatic event. This is usually time-limited, lasting a month or less. If symptoms persist beyond this interval, we call it Post traumatic stress Disorder.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: When a child experiences a physical or emotional trauma, such as witnessing a shooting or disaster, being in a car accident, or surviving physical or sexual abuse. Children may re-experience the trauma through nightmares or constant, intrusive thoughts about what happened, and they may re-enact the trauma during play or in other social interactions. Children wtih PTSD may have symptoms of generalized anxiety,., may be irritable, and may also have difficulty eating or sleeping.
Panic Disorder: is characterized by recurrent, discreet periods of time in which a person experiences symptoms of panic, which can include shortness of breath, lightheadedness, rapid heart rate, fear of losing one’s mind. People typically experience these symptoms in certain situations, and many people will then develop agoraphobia.
Agoraphobia: includes the fear and avoidance of any situation where escape would be difficult or help would be unavailable if an episode of panic were to occur. This often includes crowds or fears of riding in a car.
Specific Phobia: occurs when a person is intensely and unreasonably fearful of a specific object or situation, such that it interferes with the ability to function. Common examples are spiders, dogs, heights, and closed in spaces.
Selective Mutism: consists of anxiety about speaking in some environments. Typically, children will speak at home within the family, but not in school or in unfamiliar situations.
School Phobia: children may refuse to attend school, or may frequently need to leave school during the day. There are many reasons a child may refuse to attend school, including social anxiety, separation anxiety, generalized anxiety, or even conduct disorders.