Anxiety in children is part in the normal course of development. And these commonly include fear of the dark and imaginary objects such as what they typically refer to as “monsters”. Even though these fears may be outgrown, most anxious adults wondering what causes panic attacks are able to trace the possible underlying reasons for their problems back to childhood.

Separation Anxiety

Anxiety in children often starts when they worry persistently that something bad will happen to their parents or to themselves when they are away from them. Even at home, this form of anxiety is manifested when kids frequently shadow one or both parents and plead with their parents to sleep with them. The anxious feeling of being separated from parents is basically the main principle of school phobia.

School Phobia

School phobia or school refusal is very immobilizing to kids. It has very serious academic and social consequences for children. This childhood fear is present in school aged children who resist going to school.

It’s documented in a study that almost 75% of children who refuse to go to school have mothers who had also avoided school in childhood. And it has been hypothesized that anxiety in children with relation to school refusal stems from some issues with the mother – child relationship. It might be like the lonely or fearful mother lonely responds with her own anxiety issues and wrongly strengthens the avoidance behavior of the child.

School Refusal Vs Truancy

School refusal and truancy are different things. However, it’s realistically been used interchangeably. Some people unconsciously refer to truancy when what they really mean is school refusal.

School refusal is manifested by emotional distress in relation to any idea of going to school. The anxiety in children makes him or her experience severe apprehension that can lead to panic attacks in just the prospect of going to school. Furthermore, the child doesn’t manifest any evidence of anti-social behavior.

Truancy on the other hand is one who feels no emotional distress with going to school. The child may just develop an intense feeling of hatred toward the idea of it. And may simply avoid school because they think there are better things to do rather than attending school.

Anxiety in Children

The seriousness of issues concerning anxiety in children must not be underestimated. The fact that this fear may disperse over time should not be taken too lightly. Attention must be instantly given to the kids. A child psychologist can be a great deal of help as far as coming up with interventions to reduce the anxiety level of these kids. However, the parents must definitely be involved in any treatment.

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