Screening for Anxiety.

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Screening for Anxiety.

Anxiety disorders can be extremely traumatic for all concerned. When you, as a parent, see your child struggling with their fears, you become affected too and often don’t know which way to turn. You need answers and advice about how to help your child.

Good news.

There are tests available enabling screening for anxiety.

Some of these are available online.

All sorts of screening tests can be found here.

In order to determine how severe your child’s anxiety might be, these screens can help you choose the correct path of treatment.

4 ways to use an online test for anxiety.

Screening for Anxiety, whether with a doctor or online, involves questions such as:-

>> When your child enters a stressful situation does he react by clinging, freezing or having temper tantrums?

>> Have you noticed a downturn in your child’s grades at school, refusal to go to school and avoidance of social activities?

>> Have you noticed that your child has many unfounded fears about situations such as storms or performing in front of a group?

Screening for Anxiety….

…is a  preliminary step in determining if your child may be experiencing an anxiety disorder that should be treated professionally.

There are also questions about how often your child cries, feels sick, clings to you or obsesses over their ideas of you dying or becoming ill.

After screening for anxiety disorder, you and your doctor should sit down and decide the next steps to be taken to help your child cope. It may be as simple as learning how to calm him/her and teaching him/her a few effective strategies for dealing with his/her anxiety.

Another option is to have your child work with a professional. These therapists are much more skilled in how to help children rid themselves of these debilitating fears and feelings of anxiety that keep them from enjoying their lives to the fullest.

Your chosen professional therapist may suggest group therapy. This can be very effective. by working together in a group, children realize that there are other kids too who have the same feelings as them. This can help them see that they’re not alone.

Screening for Anxiety…

…is very important.

Although these feelings of anxiety in a child isn’t life-threatening, undiagnosed and untreated symptoms could result in depression, obsessive compulsive disorders or other disorders that keep your child from experiencing and enjoying all that life has to offer.

It is extremely important that you approach a screen for childhood anxiety related disorder in a calm and helpful manner. It is an anxious time for all but children can pick up your feelings too. If they sense that you are really uptight and anxious, it will not help them remain as calm as possible during the screening process.

If you have younger children, you may be able to help them look at the screening as a kind of game, where they’re going to answer questions about how they feel.

If you suspect your child is suffering from anxiety in any way, don’t hesitate to get help. Our job as parents is to protect and nurture, but at the same time teach our children to become independent problem-solvers. There is nothing to be ashamed of. By dealing with anxiety in a calm, open and honest manner, your child will see that there is always a solution and that screening for anxiety is the first step.

Then with the advice of your doctor, the correct course of action can then be determined.

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photo credit: Zuhair Ahmad via photopin cc