Understanding Anxiety: How to Help Your Child Navigate Their Feelings

Anxiety is a gift! Can you believe it? God gave us anxiety for a reason. In fact, anxiety helps us survive because anxiety is the body’s natural response to a recognized threat. For example, if a poisonous snake slithered into your room, your body would send a signal to your brain that you were in trouble. Your body would begin to produce cortisol and adrenaline to keep you safe. Your limbic system would be activated and you would begin to fight off the threat. Your body’s natural response to the threat, and your feeling of anxiety, would help you survive! 

Although anxiety is a gift, sometimes our anxiety is problematic and begins to impact our everyday functioning. This happens when we perceive something as a threat when we are in fact safe. For example, if we saw a dark, skinny object on the ground and began to panic, because we thought that object was a poisonous snake, but in fact it was actually a stick, our fight or flight stress response would hijack our brain, leaving us with intense feelings of fear and worry. 

We will all experience anxiety throughout our life and it is important to differentiate between good and healthy anxiety and anxiety disorders. Knowing the difference can help parents and caregivers get the proper support for their children. 

Children with anxiety disorders experience persistent and excessive worry that is out of proportion to a perceived threat. Children with anxiety disorders have difficulties controlling their worry and often attempt to avoid anxiety provoking situations. Common signs and symptoms of anxiety include; an accelerated heart rate, difficulties breathing, racing thoughts, sweating, shaking/trembling, difficulties concentrating, and sleep disturbances.  Children with anxiety often complain of somatic symptoms associated with their anxiety such as headaches, upset stomachs, and other unexplained aches and pains. Unaddressed anxiety can begin to impact children’s academic and social functioning, making it difficult for them to do things they should have or would have liked to do.  If you begin to notice these signs and symptoms in your child, reach out to your doctor or local mental health provider for more support.

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CBT for Children’s Anxiety: A Guide for Parents

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The Neuroscience of Anxiety & My Dog Winnie