Views & Opinion
Why we need to pay more attention to anxiety Comment by Dr ASHA PATEL, CEO of education not-for-profit Innovating Minds
questions in class but it may go further. Anxiety disorder is a umbrella term used but there are different types of anxiety disorders that can affect children's behaviour and their relationship with teachers and classmates. Children who have obsessive compulsive disorder may have cleanliness rituals and be unable to pick up a pen or a spoon without washing it. Their senses (i.e touch, taste, smells) may be heightened therefore they may struggle to sit next to other students and/or feel comfortable in the classroom. Some children have separation anxiety disorder. While we may
associate this more with young children, there is a residual element in much older students. Being away from families and friends in unfamiliar surroundings makes us feel unsafe. We take extra care to check our surroundings not only to make sure there our no threats to our physical safety but also to be extra careful in our relationships with the people around us. We associate Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with children who have
Anxiety is a strong uncomfortable emotion but it's there for a reason. It acts as an early warning system, a signal that there may be danger just around the corner. But sometimes it can be overwhelming or occur so frequently that it dominates a child's life. Michael felt that he looked different from the majority of children in his
secondary school and came to feel that people were talking about him all the time. He became self-conscious and stopped attending school. Tia was unable to leave her bedroom because she had a terror that she would fall down the stairs and break all her bones. When her mother tried to force her out of the room, she lashed out. These children were experiencing forms of anxiety that triggered the fight or flight response. Anxiety is not a cognitive response: it is an emotion. When we feel
anxious our body sends signals to the brain and the brain is licked into survival mode. It is a perfectly natural physiological reaction and if we didn’t have it, we would not have survived as a species. It generally becomes a disorder where episodes are longer, more intense and starts to impact daily life. The key question is whether it impacts daily life as it did for Tia and Michael. Does it stop a child from going to school or interfere with social activities? Does it affect sleeping and eating and so have other effects on their health?
Signs of a child experiencing uncomfortable levels of anxiety • Avoidance behaviours • Inability to focus on the task in hand • Psychosomatic complaints (headaches, stomach pains, feeling sick) • Sleep problems • Faster breathing • Panic attacks Restless and/unable to sit still
It is the most common unreported mental health condition and often
goes undiagnosed. 'She's an anxious child,' sounds as if the problem is innocuous, and a form of shyness. Anxiety disorder can be quite mild but it can also be as severe as panic attacks which can look and feel like a heart attack.
Anxiety and other conditions An anxious child may avoid attracting attention and not want to answer
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come from war zones and children who have been abused. However, any event can be traumatising for an individual (i.e., watching the news on TV). With PTSD. children may dream about, and relive, experiences while they are awake. It can lead to sleep disturbances and a child being haunted by things from the past. PTSD can also be triggered by sounds and other sensory stimuli. A child
who has been shouted at when they’ve accidentally kicked over a tin of paint may experience a shock at the time and this may come back as a more generalised feeling of dread when they smell fresh paint. Some children may have an apparently irrational phobia about a member of staff, perhaps they cannot be with a teacher who has a particular regional accent. Often this can be linked to incidents in the past which they may not even remember.
Support for the child • A trauma informed approach which helps children to learn about what is happening to their body and brain when they are feeling safe and unsafe • Focusing on breathing relaxes the muscles and lowers the levels of stress hormones in the body • Fidget toys, plasticine, plaiting - anything which uses repetitive, rhythmical movements can help with self soothing • Anxiety medicines can be prescribed by a psychiatrist but these are usually the last resort for children and young people
It’s important that the child has strategies in place so they don’t feel
helpless but often it needs to start with co-regulation where they are in a room with somebody who can support them and help them to re-engage and connect. Sometimes the best thing a teacher can do is just be present, to be in
the space. Their role is not to deliver helpful comments therapy or interventions but just to be with somebody while they are distressed. However, on occasions anxiety can draw attention to other serious issues such as self harming fear of going home so it’s important that staff know where they can go for the next level of help and support and this is where Mental Health Leads come into their own.
For more information: Innovating Minds -
https://www.myedupod.com/
October 2021
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