Separation anxiety
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Social Phobia
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Selective Mutism
Specific Phobias

Separation Anxiety
Separation anxiety, which is diagnosed only in children under the age of 18, is characterized by excessive fear and worry about separation from their major attachment figure. The child may fear that harm will befall the attachment figure or that they themselves could be kidnapped or get lost. The fear may manifest itself in school refusal or inability to go to sleep without the adult being present. The child may experience nightmares about separation concerns. There may also be repeated physical ills such as stomachaches, or nausea or vomiting. A diagnosis is dependent upon the condition being present for at least four weeks with significant social or school problems resulting from the symptoms. Separation anxiety is normal in young children, but the onset of the symptoms in adolescence is cause for concern.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Generalized Anxiety Disorder often begins in childhood, can be quite long lasting, and features multiple worries and fears that seriously interfere with participation in life. The symptoms include muscle tension, restlessness, easy fatiguing, difficulty with concentration, and trouble sleeping. Children with this condition are usually temperamentally perfectionistic and have a need to seek approval.

Social Phobia
Social Phobia, whichis more likely to occur in teenagers rather than young children,  centres on social situations such as going to school, or fear about having to speak in class. Often the symptoms are limited to specific situations like recreational activities, but don’t occur at school or work.The symptoms of the condition are sweating, blushing, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, or muscle tension. People with this disorder typically try to control their symptoms by avoiding the situations they fear. Young people with social phobia are often overly sensitive to criticism, have trouble being assertive, suffer from low self-esteem, are easily embarrassed and can be very shy and self-conscious.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) usually begins in early childhood or adolescence and is characterized by frequent, uncontrollable thoughts (“obsessions”) and the performance of routines or rituals (“compulsions”) used to try to eliminate them. Those with the disorder often repeat behaviours to avoid some imagined consequence.  One example is excessive hand washing used by people who are frightened of contamination with germs. The obsessions and compulsions take up so much time that they interfere with daily living and cause a young person a great deal of anxiety.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)is a fairly rare condition in children which involves a set of anxiety symptoms initiated by a single or repeated episodes of serious trauma. The symptoms include jumpiness, muscle tension, hypervigilance, nightmares and other sleep disturbances, and the experience of flashbacks or vivid memories of the event(s). PTSD usually resolves after approximately 6 months, but in some cases it may persist for years.

Selective Mutism
Children who do not speak in certain situations while speaking in others are said to have a condition termed selective mutism.

Children with selective mutism can be viewed as having a specific phobia – that is, a fear of speaking that manifests itself only in situations that make them feel anxious.  For example, the little chatterbox at home may never speak to his/her teacher or classmates while at school.  Some children make speak only to their peers and not to adults, particularly those in authority, like teachers, the principal, or other school staff. 

When anticipating a need to speak, these children may blush, look down, or withdraw.  When they do communicate in such situations, they may point or use other gestures to communicate rather than talk.  Some children with this condition may also be anxious about eating in front of other people or using the bathroom at school.

Up to 2% of school aged children may have the symptoms of selective mutism and the symptoms usually appear at the time of entry to daycare or school.  Some children may “outgrow” the condition but many do not.  Without intervention, certain children may have symptoms that persist throughout their schooling.  Early intervention is best.

References

McHolm AE, Cunningham CE, Vanier MK. Helping Your Child with Selective Mutism. Practical Steps to Overcome a Fear of Speaking. 2005; Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

Specific Phopias
Specific phobias, for instance, a fear of spiders, are much less disabling, although they are more frequent in the general population.