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A child of preschool and primary school age is extremely vulnerable psychologically. Serious pressure is put on his fragile psyche every day. A common result of such exposure is the development of anxiety. The presence of this psychological state in a child has a significant negative impact on the formation of his personality. Therefore, it is important for parents to know how anxiety is corrected in preschoolers.
Characteristics of childhood anxiety
Anxiety is an individual psychological feature that is expressed in negatively colored emotions due to uncertainty, the unknown result of any event or action. The causes of anxiety are usually not realized, which distinguishes it from fear. In children, the condition has pronounced features.
The reasons that have a key influence on the formation of psychological characteristics are the following factors:
- Lack of a clear line of behavior regarding demands from parents, educators and teachers.
- Excessive demands.
- Claims with a negative context that cause tension.
Study of anxiety levels in children
Based on research data, a pattern has been established: in preschool and primary school age, boys have a greater tendency to anxiety. Starting from the age of 12, “leadership” passes to girls. Objects that cause a psychological state at the age of 3 to 7 years also differ:
- boys are sensitive to issues of punishment and violence;
- girls - to build normal relationships with other people.
Psychologists have established a relationship between the degree of anxiety in children and the emotional and psychological state of adults. The higher the tension in the relationship between parents and teachers, the higher the level of anxiety in children.
How to get rid of anxiety?
You can cope with a condition that causes discomfort on your own with the help of introspection, yoga, meditation, or seek help from specialists.
How to cope with anxiety on your own - advice from psychologists
To independently reduce the level of anxiety, understand yourself and analyze what is the cause of the anxiety. If your experiences are related to a certain area of your life, try to remove the provoking factor and change the situation for the better. Expand your social circle and build self-confidence.
To relieve internal tension and recharge with energy, physical activity is useful. Join a gym and work out with other people. Communication and success in sports can calm the nervous system, improve self-esteem and mood.
Be sure to follow a sleep and rest schedule, walk in the fresh air every day, don’t work seven days a week, and balance your diet. Avoid drinking alcohol, smoking, limiting coffee, or drinking decaffeinated products.
Treatment with drugs
Drug treatment is suitable for solving psychological problems. It is carried out only as prescribed by a doctor.
Antidepressants:
- Agomelatine;
- Sertraline;
- Tianeptine;
- Venlafaxine.
Venlafaxine is an antidepressant for anxiety.
The drugs regulate the levels of norepinephrine and serotonin, hormones that cause anxiety and fear. Medicines work gradually. It takes 5 to 8 weeks to achieve results. To prevent side effects, use begins with a minimum dose, gradually increasing it to the optimal level.
Benzodiazepines:
- Phenazepam;
- Lorazepam;
- Bromazepam;
- Medazepam;
- Diazepam.
Phenazepam is a sedative
Anti-anxiety medications are used to treat anxiety syndrome. They remove internal tension, relax muscles, and normalize sleep. Long-term use provokes weakness, drowsiness, dizziness, and dependence. If you abruptly stop taking the drug, withdrawal syndrome occurs. To correct side effects, the dosage is reduced gradually under the supervision of a psychologist.
Sleeping pills:
- Zolpidem;
- Zopiclone;
- Nitrazepam.
They relieve nightmares during sleep, eliminate insomnia, and calm the nervous system. They are prescribed for a short period of time because they are addictive.
To calm down, you can take herbal medicines: Valerian, Motherwort, Hawthorn.
→ Detailed review of effective anti-anxiety drugs
Psychotherapy for anxiety
Cognitive behavioral therapy can help reduce anxiety. This is a technique used by professional psychologists and psychiatrists. It consists of 12-20 sessions, which are carried out once a week. Each meeting lasts approximately 50 minutes. Treatment is carried out in a group or individually.
During therapy, the doctor finds out how and what thoughts influence the formation of anxiety, analyzes the individual’s behavior and reaction to negativity. During conversations, the psychologist explains that it is not the situation that affects feelings, but how a person relates to it.
Therapy involves identifying anxious thoughts and replacing them with positive ones.
Treatment consists of 3 steps:
- identifying anxious thoughts;
- assessing negative thinking;
- replacing negative thoughts with positive ones that reflect reality.
For therapy to meet expectations, there must be active cooperation and trust between patient and therapist. The specialist recommends performing various tasks, for example, keeping a diary, writing down situations and thoughts that lead to anxiety. A psychologist analyzes the recordings and gives practical skills to help control anxiety.
To overcome anxiety and remove fear from the subconscious, exposure psychotherapy is used. The program teaches you how to manage situations that give rise to negative feelings. Under the supervision of a psychologist, a person challenges his fears.
Therapy includes relaxation and deep breathing
Therapy includes:
- relaxation techniques: deep breathing, muscle relaxation;
- drawing up instructions;
- elaboration of each point of the instructions.
Simultaneously with the above methods, hypnosis and auto-training are used - exercises that calm and relax the nervous system.
Exercises to combat anxiety disorder
Deep breathing is helpful to calm down. It saturates the brain cells with oxygen and distracts from bad thoughts.
There are special gymnastics to get rid of anxiety.
The complex consists of 4 exercises:
- straighten your back and slowly inhale air through your nose, mentally counting from 1 to 4. Hold your breath for a second and exhale, repeating the count;
- relax your upper pectoral muscles, shoulders, and slowly inhale and exhale. When breathing, the diaphragm begins to work and the airways expand;
- women close their left nostril with their left hand and deeply inhale oxygen through the right. Then they change hands, close the right nostril and exhale quickly. Men do the opposite. Inhale through the left nostril and release air through the right;
- sit on a chair with your back straight, or lie down on a flat surface. Place your palms on your stomach and chest. Inhale through your nose and make sure that the hand on your stomach rises up and the hand on your chest barely moves. Exhale through your mouth. The hand on your stomach should move down at this moment.
Do a set of exercises daily. Spend about 20-30 minutes to complete all tasks.
How to identify childhood anxiety
Before carrying out correction, it is necessary to accurately determine whether the child has psychological problems. To identify anxiety, an integrated approach is used, which includes: identifying visual signs in behavior, interviewing parents, and conducting tests.
Signs of anxiety in a child
General signs of anxiety in preschool children, primary school children and adolescents:
- Intensity of gaze.
- Timidity and uncertainty.
- Quiet voice.
- Wariness - refusal of new toys, participation in new activities.
- Self-criticism, increased demands on oneself.
- Seeking adult approval in all matters.
- Low self-esteem.
- Shyness, presence of fears.
- Emotionally sensitive.
Preventing parental anxiety
—Have you told the children what to do after they watch the film?
My husband took the children to the apartment that we rented in one beautiful ancient city, and he came down to me: we decided to spend this evening together.
- No, I didn’t say anything.
We went for a walk, wandered around for quite a long time, the movie the children were watching had ended long ago, and anxiety began to rise in me. How are the children? It's quite late, are they worried? Are they waiting for us? We didn't even leave them a phone number.
I realized that anxiety would not allow me to walk longer. We went home. As I walked up the stairs, I tried to imagine what awaited me.
Are they crying? Will they blame us? We have never done anything like this before, we have never left children alone in an unfamiliar city. We unlocked the door.
The room was dark, the children, washed and undressed, slept peacefully in their beds. I leaned towards my eldest daughter. She smiled and, turning on her other side, fell asleep again. I thought how good it was. This means we are doing everything right.
If I were them, I physically wouldn’t be able to sleep. Hot anxiety would already eat my heart.
I remember how, as a little girl, I sat by the window, peering into the darkness, when my mother was late from work.
I remember crying, imagining what else terrible things could happen to her. I remember my mother’s eyes full of fear and horror when I came from a walk later than usual.
Anxiety is woven through our relationship with her.
Her post-war childhood was riddled with anxiety.
I understand where it comes from, I know where it started and what it feeds on, and I want to stop it.
I want to stop this on myself.
When the children were very young, books and lectures on child development helped me. About how important it is to fall, touch, taste. How important it is to make mistakes. Make small, age-appropriate mistakes, so that you can see their consequences yourself. Learn through the body. Feel the boundaries of your body. You need to hit corners, fall from your height, break your knees. To be honest, I am still happy when children injure their elbows or knees. In our sterile world, bruised knees are almost a luxury. After all, how else can we understand our capabilities and our limits if not through mistakes and victories? How else can we understand our strength and then increase it, overcome ourselves, if not through failures and small troubles?
I remember how my eldest daughter, when she was three years old, developed a huge interest in matches. At first I hid them, but I noticed that interest was only growing, and I stopped hiding them. She found some boxes and began trying to light them. I slowly sat down not far away, pretending to be doing something of my own. She finally managed to light a match, it caught fire, her daughter looked at the flame in fascination, then screamed sharply. I hugged her and we treated her finger. I remember how hard it was for me to restrain myself from commenting in order to give her consciousness the opportunity to create this connection of fire and danger inside.
Now she is 11, and I know that I can safely trust her to light a fire and look after it. Despite the fact that I have never said anything to her about this in my life. Life itself told her a lot.
I know in my mind that I am not healthy when it comes to anxiety. This is a strong feeling that lives in the neck and stomach, in the shoulders and throat. I admit the fact of my illness. I see her from the outside. And the most important thing for me is to deal with my anxiety on my own. Take this responsibility for yourself. Don't leave it up to the kids to calm my anxiety.
What helps me:
1) Recognize the fact that bad things happen in life and I can’t control everything. Take off the crown and screw on your omnipotence. I am not in charge of everything, and even if I paranoidly monitor every step, “shit still happens.” That's life. I can create conditions for children to learn certain things at home. I can openly discuss real-life examples with them. But their life is their life, and they are the masters of their decisions.
2) It is important for me to see where I am and where my anxiety is. Where can I really do something, and where my job is to just sit and wait. And put your attention into experiencing this expectation consciously and remaining strong.
3) When anxiety goes off scale, I already know that I’m just tired, I don’t have enough resources, and I’m looking for a way to replenish it. Usually, after a bath, my anxiety completely disappears and life becomes equal to life, with everything that happens in it. Or I'm riding a bike. Or I send you to walk wherever your eyes look. Everyone has their own ways of replenishing resources.
That is, in fact, there are only three steps: see the disease, recognize it, take care of your treatment. And then inshallah.
The main thing is not to make children your main doctors.
