What are the symptoms of anxiety disorders in children?

Anxiety can be expressed in many ways in kids. Roy Boorady, MD, child psychiatrist, explains how things like frequent headaches, trouble sleeping and a need for reassurance can be signs of an anxiety disorder.

Transcript

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A lot of times, though, anxious kids need a lot of reassurance. They always need, whether from a parent, an adult, a teacher,

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how am I doing. [MUSIC PLAYING]

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Anxiety disorders might be tricky because the kids could look like you and I. We all know the very anxious kids that are more

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panicky than would be agitated. Or you would even sit next to them, and you would feel the anxiety coming off of them.

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But there are many types of other anxiety disorders that might be more internal and may be hard to see.

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But some typical things could be-- a lot of anxious kids have very physical complaints, headaches

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and stomach aches. They may show up to the school nurse a lot. Anxious children also have a lot of difficulty falling asleep

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or might get up very early because they're anxious. Some anxious kids have trouble eating, either eat too much

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or eat too little. A lot of times, though, anxious kids need a lot of reassurance. They always need whether from a parent, an adult,

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a teacher how am I doing. And even when you get the reassurance, they're back again asking for it.

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And then another symptom might be having a panic attack, which in some kids might look like a temper tantrum

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because if they feel they're going to be exposed to their anxiety, they could get quite anxious and panicky. So the parent might describe their kids

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as having tantrums when they actually might be anxiety. And then another big symptom I think would be avoidance.

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If you're anxious, you might avoid what you're anxious about. So some of these kids may not go to school.

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Some of these kids may not want to go to a birthday party or to summer camp because of anxiety.