Anxiety

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is a normal and healthy emotion; everyone feels anxious at times. Other words used to describe the emotion include worry, fear, nervousness, scared, shyness or stress. Anxiety involves physical sensations (e.g. increased heart rate, breathing and shaking), thoughts about danger or threat (e.g. worrying about not getting on well with others or getting sick) and behaviours (e.g. avoiding situations or seeking reassurance from others).

Anxiety can be helpful in some situations, it is your body’s way of keeping you safe, it is vital in protecting us from danger and it may even help us to perform better by helping us feel alert and motivated. However, when anxiety is too severe or occurs too frequent, it can become debilitating, it can interfere with daily functioning and prevent people from engaging with friends, family, school, or work. An anxiety disorder occurs when, rather than feeling anxious in response to actual danger, someone with an anxiety disorder will experience the same symptoms in situations they perceive as dangerous (e.g. when meeting new people or taking public transport).

Anxiety disorders are common, around 6.9% of children and adolescents (aged 4 – 17 years) and 15% of young adults (aged 16-24 years) experience an anxiety disorder in Australia each year.

There’s no single cause for anxiety, but several factors can contribute, such as family history, genetic factors, personality traits, coping styles, and the experience of stressful and traumatic life events (for example, bullying or the death of someone close).

What are the signs and symptoms of anxiety?

Some common physical symptoms are:

• a racing heart (heart palpitations)

• tightening of the chest

• rapid breathing or shortness of breath

• feeling tense, restless, ‘on edge’ or wound up

• sweating

• shaking

• nausea

• headaches

• feeling weak or tired

• feeling sick in the stomach or digestion issues

You might also experience:

• worrying a lot of the time, obsessive thinking or rumination (i.e. difficulty in thinking about anything other than what’s worrying you)

• a sense of impending panic or danger, imagining the worst-case scenario

• having trouble concentrating

• being unable to relax

• avoiding places or people

• difficulty sleeping

What are the most common anxiety disorders?

• Generalized anxiety disorder: excessive worry about anything and everything, including worrying about worrying.

• Social anxiety disorder: a fear of being humiliated, judged or embarrassed in social situations.

• Panic disorder: repeated panic attacks and a fear of future panic attacks. A panic attack is a sudden onset of intense fear and overwhelm which lasts for about 10 minutes and is accompanied by physical symptoms of pounding heart, trouble breathing, sweating, trembling, or feeling dizzy. There are also often thoughts and fears of losing control, ‘going crazy’ or having a heart attack.

• Agoraphobia: feeling unsafe outside of ‘home’ and fear of being in a place or situation where it may be difficult to escape or where help may not be available if a panic attack was to occur.

• Separation anxiety disorder: a fear of being separated from or losing a career/parent.

• Obsessive compulsive disorder: unwanted thoughts, ideas or images (obsessions) occur and cause people to perform repetitive behaviours (compulsions).

• Specific phobia: intense fear of a particular object or situation (e.g. spiders, heights).

What to do if you think you’re experiencing an anxiety disorder?

Seek advice and support:

• Firstly, talk to a trusted parent, adult/family friend, teacher, school counsellor or health professional such as your GP. A GP can help sort out what is and isn’t anxiety and help with a plan for getting better. Involving mental health professionals, such as clinicians at The Younger Years experienced in working with children and young people may be necessary.

• Seek treatment:

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for anxiety and is based on the idea that moods and emotions are influenced by thoughts. A psychologist will explore thinking patterns and behaviours that are making/keeping you anxious and over time they’ll help you recognize, challenge, and change those actions and thinking patterns.

• Other treatments like mindfulness, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), relaxation training and in some instances, medication may also be helpful.

Remember to also practice good self-care:

• try to eat healthily

• do some exercise

• find ways to relax by doing things you enjoy

• try to avoid alcohol and drugs as over time they can make anxiety worse and lead to dependency

• practice breathing techniques which can slow your breathing and calm you down

try: breathing in deeply for 3 seconds and out for 3 seconds

• focus on the present

try: noticing your surroundings; notice 5 things you can see, 4 things you can hear, 3 things you can touch, 2 things you can smell and 1 thing you can taste

• take a break

try: getting some fresh air, going for a walk, chatting to a friend, watch an episode of something or listen to a podcast or music.

We offer the Cool Kids Anxiety Program at The Younger Years as individual sessions. These sessions are run by Cool Kids Accredited Providers, Natalie Dahora and Lindsay McFarlane.

The Cool Kids Anxiety Program is a structured 10 session program run over a minimum of 10 weeks that teaches children and their parents how to better manage a child’s anxiety. The Program is based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), involves the participation of children and parents, and focuses on teaching practical skills. Topics covered in the Program include:

• Learning about anxiety

• Learning to think realistically

• Parenting an anxious child

• Facing fears using stepladders and

• Learning coping skills such as assertiveness or problem solving

Cool Kids was developed by Macquarie University and has been running since 1993. The Program has undergone continual scientific evaluation and development to include the latest understanding of anxiety and its treatment. It has been translated into a number of languages and today, is used in clinics, schools and hospitals around the world.

The program is offered to children and adolescents aged 7-17 following an initial assessment to determine suitability. Initial assessment and subsequent session costs adhere to our standard service fees, with an additional $50 for parent and child workbooks required to undertake the program.