Anxiety disorders are entirely treatable, and people often show symptoms and signs while they are children. The thing about anxiety is the longer it goes untreated, the harder it is to recover from. Learning the warning signs can help you put your child on the fast track to recovery so they can live a fulfilling life into adulthood.
Chronic anxiety is more than just stressing out. It shows physical and behavioral symptoms that can make daily life more difficult than it has to be. Here are some of the signs that may indicate that your child has anxiety.
Excessively Worrying
Everyone has worries, but when it comes to having anxiety, these worries are excessive. Your child may raise concerns every morning that they might miss the bus to school when that isn’t a situation they have experienced often. Your child may have constant worries that they will fail a test or that they will forget their homework. These worries can branch out into continually worrying about where you are, afraid that something may happen to you. If your child is always concerned about something at an alarming rate, they may have anxiety.
Trouble Sleeping
It’s not uncommon for children to refuse bedtime because they don’t want the fun of the day to be over. But children with anxiety cannot sleep even when they have been laying in their bed for long periods of time. They may wake up exhausted because they kept waking up which makes them irritable throughout the day. Insomnia is a symptom of anxiety that makes thinking harder to do and can cause harm to their body.
Irritability
It isn’t just getting enough sleep that could be changing your child’s mood. Anger is a product of fear which is what anxiety is. If your child is easily frustrated, there may be more going on in that little brain of theirs that needs to be addressed.
Trouble Concentrating
ADHD is a type of anxiety disorder, but they don’t need to have this specific condition to have a difficult time concentrating. Anxiety makes your mind race and your thoughts ramble. It is difficult to keep your mind focused on one thing when there is so much happening in the background.
Stomach Aches and Head Aches
Anxiety is more than just mental, it has physical symptoms, too. Common symptoms in people of all ages of anxiety are upset stomach and headaches. If you can’t find a medical reason as to why they are feeling ill and it happens most often around stressful periods of their life, it could be their anxiety.
Fear Of Making Mistakes
Having anxiety is more than just being a perfectionist. It is the constant fear or ridicule, beratement, or chastising for mistakes made. Even if at home they aren’t excessively punished for their mistakes, they could still harbor an innate need to be perfect. They could refuse to do activities because they don’t think they will perform well, or have excessive stress thinking about an activity or task they need to do. If they can’t get failure off of their mind, it could be their anxiety,
Shaking and Sweating
In a crowd, in loud places, or around stressful situations you might notice that your child tenses up, starts to sweat, or shake. This is another common symptom of anxiety that shouldn’t be overlooked because while it seems they are doing their best to keep it together, they may be falling apart on the inside.
Extremely Sensitive
While children are more sensitive than adults, some children may seem to cry or throw a tantrum at the slightest thing. It can be frustrating to live with a little ticking time bomb, but your patience is needed more than ever when it comes to anxiety. Their emotions are running high because their brain is so confused with natural fear, and it may cause them to act out or be upset over things that might leave you puzzled. Never make fun of your child for getting upset over something that is small, that will just open up a new box of problems.
What Can You Do?
Therapy is highly suggested for children with anxiety. The way they think is different from us, and they need some brain training to stop being so negative internally. It can be challenging to use coping strategies when you’re upset, which is why they need a strong support system and you can even utilize medication. CBD oil has shown to be very successful at helping ease anxiety and is safe for children to use. Talk to your doctor to find out what the best treatment option is for your child that can put them on the pathway to success.
