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Children Won’t Tell You They Have Anxiety, They’ll Say “I Don’t Feel Well”

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During early childhood, kids experience different negative feelings and emotional reactions. But, they don’t have the self-awareness and experience to understand what’s happening to them.

However, they’ll let their parents know that something is wrong even when they don’t know what they’re dealing with or what its name is.

While kids perceive things in a different way from adults and they have a totally different perception of the world around them from adults, they are not as self-aware or educated as a grown-up is.

Therefore, to a child, his/her feelings can be quite confusing. So, making an accurate prognosis of their health is not likely at all. Instead, they’ll tell their parents the symptoms they experience and then wait for their help.

Up until recently, the majority of adults were unaware of the regularity of mental disorders children suffer from. And when it comes to anxiety, it appears that grown-ups don’t take this condition as seriously as they should, since most adults still think that anxiety is just a fear which takes hold of us.

But, the truth is that anxiety is much more than feeling fear, and only the person suffering from it knows how overwhelming, draining, and all-consuming it can be.

Unfortunately, children, too, can develop an anxiety disorder. If a child’s anxiety is left untreated, it can be detrimental to them since it may turn into serious sleep disorders, difficulty creating and maintaining relationships with other people, and substance dependency.

Additionally, untreated anxiety can also undermine your child’s confidence and self-esteem, and in turn, prevent them from fulfilling their true potential.

And last but not least, untreated anxiety can cause your child to develop depression.

So, the question is: How can you recognize your child’s cry for help?

Since more often than not, your child won’t tell you, “I have anxiety,” you have to be able to recognize the symptoms of it yourself.

Here they are:

Restlessness

Continuous stomach aches

Agitation

  Avoiding situations or people that could stress them out

–  Becoming extremely upset over the smallest problems

  Being an extreme perfectionist

Unusual coping mechanisms that can even be regarded as self-harm, such as scratching, pulling their hair out, pinching, biting, and etc.

If you notice that your child is showing these behaviors, and they’re interfering with his/her day-to-day activities, make sure you seek help from a professional therapist.

Children Won’t Tell You They Have Anxiety, They’ll Say “I Don\'t Feel Well”