Causes of Anxiety in Children Essay Example

The little girl was so excited to go out and be with many people at the party. When she got there, she noticed something was not feeling right. Suddenly, the lights seemed too bright and the sounds were too loud. She felt like she was looking for control of her emotions. Anxiety is a feeling of fear or worry about an event or experience that might happen. Anxiety in children is very common and caused by genetics, temperament, psycho-social reasons, and parenting styles, but it can be treated by Cognitive- Behavioral Therapy and Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions.  

To begin with, anxiety is a disorder that affects many children and can be caused by a variety of factors. The most commonly diagnosed anxiety disorders in children are separation anxiety and social phobias. Separation anxiety describes feelings children get when they are separated from their parents, even though they are safe. Social phobias describe feelings of stress that children may experience in certain social situations. Most kids start having symptoms at age 3-5. Anxiety can appear in different ways, such as trouble sleeping, complaints about pain, attempts to avoid parents and caregivers, trouble focusing, and behavioral issues like tantrums. 

Particularly, there are many causes of anxiety, such as genetics, temperament, psycho-social, and parenting. K. Killu, R. Marc, and A. Crundwell state that, “Genes play a significant role in the transmission of a risk of anxiety that accounts for about one-third of the variants in the risk factors.” This puts children at risk of getting the disorder. An example would be a child who experiences test anxiety. This child may have a biological tendency at any time when they feel like they are being evaluated. Another cause of anxiety is temperament. This is an early development of a child’s personality, including how emotional they are or how they behave. For example, shy children are at greater risk of getting an anxiety disorder. The second most common cause for anxiety is psycho-social, which involves both psychological and social aspects of growing up. For example, children who experience a situation that is traumatic at a young age or feel like they lack control will have more issues with anxiety. Lastly, parenting plays a big role in a child’s ability to deal with stress. An example of this is that if a parent shows fear, stress, and anger, their child is most likely to also develop reactions that are similar. Without a doubt, there are several different causes of anxiety. 

Lastly, treatment is extremely important, and the earlier it happens, the better. Untreated anxiety can lead to poor coping skills, lower self-esteem, problems in school, socialization issues, and substance abuse. There are two types of treatments that can help people with anxiety. The first one is called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). According to the American Phycological Association, CBT is clearly different from other treatments. CBT helps children with facing fears instead of avoiding them, learning how to calm their mind and body, and much more. CBT focuses on helping patients become their own therapists. CBT gives children exercises and homework so that they can practice calming themselves down. This homework includes exercises that patients can do at home or outside of the session. The patients develop coping skills, which help them change their way of thinking. CBT works on the person's current problems, instead of what happened to lead up to their problem. A certain amount of information about the person is needed, but the focus is mainly on moving forward and trying to help them develop coping skills. Another popular treatment for anxiety is SPACE. SPACE stands for Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions. SPACE is a parent-based way of treating kids' anxiety.  Parents are an important part of the solution to get rid of anxiety. Children usually rely on their parents for guidance, support, and reinforcement. Kids with the disorder try to avoid it, meaning they try not to think about it much. Most children rely on their parents to help them do this, and this trust is completely natural. Parents have two different views on this. On one hand, they want to help their child. On the other hand, the parent may feel like they are not doing enough by just reassuring the child. Clearly, there are many treatment types for anxiety that can help children no matter what type of anxiety they are experiencing. 

Overall, anxiety in children is very common and caused by several different factors, including genetics, temperament, psycho-social situations, and parenting. As presented, it can be treated by Cognitive- Behavioral Therapy and Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions.  Now back to the party and the anxious little girl. She was able to adjust as she  remembered the sessions she had with her counselor and managed to use tools that she learned to calm herself down. By breathing deeply, it made her heart stop racing. By counting backward from ten, it put her focus on something she could control. Her parents were also there to support her along the way. As a result, she was able to enjoy the rest of her night.