It seems like there has been a pronounced increase in younger kids with profound anxiety

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see a lot of kids with anxiety, too, but I also know a lot of adults who were like that as kids. My father had debilitating shyness ... that's what it was known as then. It would be called anxiety now. I was shy, my sisters were shy, etc. We avoided things because of it. All of that would be diagnosed as some kind of anxiety now. Medications or therapy would be offered. Back then it was just part of growing up.

Shyness is normal part of growing up. Learning how to deal with it is important. But medicating kids for shyness is a mistake because then kids don't learn how to deal with shyness.

I would argue the opposite, that a kid with significant social anxiety (not just common variety shyness or introversion) is more likely to develop coping techniques if also helped with medication. Basically, you can't learn or apply strategies when you're in panic mode.

[Anonymous]

Panic fueled by anxiety can also manifest itself as aggression, self-harm, or just bolting from an overwhelming situation. Untreated anxiety can lead to very unsafe situations for some kids.

[Anonymous]

I just read a really great book called "the opposite of worry" about how parents can help their children deal with anxiety and fears. Has anyone else read it? Or are there any other resources/books people recommend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see a lot of kids with anxiety, too, but I also know a lot of adults who were like that as kids. My father had debilitating shyness ... that's what it was known as then. It would be called anxiety now. I was shy, my sisters were shy, etc. We avoided things because of it. All of that would be diagnosed as some kind of anxiety now. Medications or therapy would be offered. Back then it was just part of growing up.

Shyness is normal part of growing up. Learning how to deal with it is important. But medicating kids for shyness is a mistake because then kids don't learn how to deal with shyness.

You are confusing 'slow to warm' with shyness. People often do. The pp indicated that her father had debilitating shyness. Not run of the mill, slow to warm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see a lot of kids with anxiety, too, but I also know a lot of adults who were like that as kids. My father had debilitating shyness ... that's what it was known as then. It would be called anxiety now. I was shy, my sisters were shy, etc. We avoided things because of it. All of that would be diagnosed as some kind of anxiety now. Medications or therapy would be offered. Back then it was just part of growing up.

Shyness is normal part of growing up. Learning how to deal with it is important. But medicating kids for shyness is a mistake because then kids don't learn how to deal with shyness.

You are confusing 'slow to warm' with shyness. People often do. The pp indicated that her father had debilitating shyness. Not run of the mill, slow to warm.

Yep. His was 'hide in the library until everyone's gone'-type.

Anyway, like the nature/nurture debate, there's probably a bit of both arguments. I.e. (1) people have always had anxiety problems and it was just considered a quirk rather than an illness/issue in the past; and (2) people are generally more anxious these days due to pressures to do everything correctly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My niece, who does not have special needs, has been taking an anti anxiety medication since she was eight. She's now 13.

She had severe separation anxiety and was having panic attacks at school. The medication has helped her tremendously.

+1. Same for my niece except she is 17 and a senior in hs. Without the meds, she would not have been functional during most of her childhood.

We have a family history of alcoholism and it's not far fetched to speculate grand pa Joe would not have been a drunkard if there had been help for GAD back in the day.

[Anonymous]

I would guess that some of the rise is due to awareness/ability to seek treatment as PPs have speculated. I think another chunk of the rise is due to the increasing pressure of school. Kids are expected to be able to do SO MUCH MORE at such a young age and expected to do things that are not developmentally appropriate for many kids.

[Anonymous]

Since we're talking about "anecdata," there is a view among child psychologists and child development experts that increased expectations in school that are not developmentally appropriate (think homework and writing starting in K, having kids copy from the board at young ages) has driven up anxiety rates.

[Anonymous]

Haven't read all the responses, but here's my 2 cents"

1.) School curriculum is no longer developmentally appropriate and it's stressing too many kids out.

2.) Teachers are stressed with all the demands and parents are stressed jugging careers and kids without enough job security. Kids feed off parental anxiety.

3.) Chemicals in foods and pesticides

4.) Not enough sleep and down time.

BOOM!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since we're talking about "anecdata," there is a view among child psychologists and child development experts that increased expectations in school that are not developmentally appropriate (think homework and writing starting in K, having kids copy from the board at young ages) has driven up anxiety rates.

ha! I posted before reading this. Great minds think a like! Yes!

[Anonymous]

I was really anxious as a child 40 years ago, but then the treatment (for someone poorer) was to "no be anxious." I just had to deal with it and create all sorts of bad coping behaviors I'm now unlearning.

I also think more kids are being pushed academically before they are ready; have had friends who held their kids back because they could not sit still ong enough to do the work until they were older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haven't read all the responses, but here's my 2 cents"

1.) School curriculum is no longer developmentally appropriate and it's stressing too many kids out.

2.) Teachers are stressed with all the demands and parents are stressed jugging careers and kids without enough job security. Kids feed off parental anxiety.

3.) Chemicals in foods and pesticides

4.) Not enough sleep and down time.

BOOM!!

+1 I think the role/importance of sleep is greatly underestimated. My kids had a 7pm bedtime even into their early ES years, something I've seen dismissed on DCUM as ridiculous or unreasonable. Even in MS, my kids are in bed at 8:30, then allowed to read until 9pm. Sleep is important.

[Anonymous]

Oh, yes, I went to bed at 8pm in elem. school until 5th or 6th grade, and then it was moved to 8:30 (woo hoo!). By 8th grade I had several hours of homework so it was 9:30 or 10pm, by high school it was whenever the heck all that homework is done, which was 10 or 11pm.

The challenge now is that with both parents working, and not getting home until 6pm, how does dinner get on the table, bath, books and bed happen by 7pm? It can't.

So either the nanny does 6pm dinner and parents see kids at bedtime, mornings and weekends, or kids are up later so parents can have dinner and see their kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My niece, who does not have special needs, has been taking an anti anxiety medication since she was eight. She's now 13.

She had severe separation anxiety and was having panic attacks at school. The medication has helped her tremendously.

+1. Same for my niece except she is 17 and a senior in hs. Without the meds, she would not have been functional during most of her childhood.

We have a family history of alcoholism and it's not far fetched to speculate grand pa Joe would not have been a drunkard if there had been help for GAD back in the day.

Sounds like both girls have special needs to me.......anxiety bad enough to interfere with activities of daily life? That's a special need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids have always been anxious. It's just pathologized/recognized/treated more now.

My grandfather, grandmother, and father all had severe anxiety as children. They were also all put on opiates. So it's not some new thing caused by (ugh, seriously?) vaccines.

In the past, parents tended to be much more hands-off (lots of unsupervised play time) and didn't necessarily notice the signs or get help. There's also a huge culture of medicating kids now that didn't exist in the past, and you can bet pharmaceutical companies benefit from increased "awareness" of psychiatric issues that lead to more prescriptions for their products.

This. I am realizing now as adult that I had anxiety as a child. I distinctly remember going through a period of insomnia around the age of 9-10 and my parents did nothing about it. I just learned to stop "complaining". I am starting to notice similar anxious tendencies in my own child.