- Fear is focused on a specific object or situation, whereas anxiety is nonspecific.
- Fears in early childhood are associated with monsters and imaginary situations. In late childhood to early adolescence this fear becomes grounded in realistic situations or things such as natural disasters, school achievement, and peer acceptance. 
- It is important to take the development of fears into consideration when assessing the presence of an anxiety disorder and decide whether these fears are appropriate to the child's age

The Development of Fears

- There are anxiety disorders that are specific to children such as separation anxiety, avoidant disorder, and overanxious disorder. 
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder, simple phobia, school phobia, and social phobia are adult anxiety disorders included on the DSM-III-R.
- The onset of panic attacks and agoraphobia is not usually until after childhood years.

Types of Anxiety Disorders

- Anxiety is characterized by physiological arousal. This arousal can be increased heart rate, dizziness, or nausea.
- Behavioral symptoms include trembling voice, hands, arm, and leg movement as well as crying.
- Cognitive symptoms associated with anxiety are the content of thoughts and misperception of threats. 

Symptoms

- Not all interventions are effective for each type of anxiety disorder. 
- However, an intervention can be used to treat two different anxiety disorders and be successful in both.
- For example, exposure therapy is a core intervention in the treatment of overanxious disorders (OAD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
- Systematic desensitization, real-life exposure, and operant conditioning have proved to be helpful in the treatment of childhood phobias.
- Using medication as an intervention in children with anxiety is also an option. Although, the use of benzodiazepines for children has not been researched enough. 

Interventions for anxiety disorders 

- The development of fears
- Types of anxiety disorders
- Symptoms

Indiana University

Anxiety in Youth

Kendall, P. C., Kortlander, E., Chansky, T. E., &amp; Brady, E. U. (1992). Comorbidity of anxiety and depression in youth: Treatment implications. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60(6), 869–880. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006x.60.6.869 

Learn Before

Related

Learn After