Anxiety

Everybody experiences anxiety at some point in time. Anxiety is a natural response. Useful in helping us to avoid dangerous situations and motivating us to solve everyday problems. Anxiety can vary in severity from mild uneasiness through to a terrifying panic attack. It can vary in how long it lasts, from a few moments to many years.

Anxiety disorders may be caused by environmental factors, medical factors, genetics or brain chemistry and is most commonly triggered by the stress in young people’s lives.

At home a young person experiencing anxiety may:

• Be tearful in the mornings and say they don’t want to go to school
• Spend more time doing school work or express unnecessary concerns that the work isn’t good enough
• Complain of headaches and other physical symptoms
• Demand constant reassurances from parents
• Be irritable and snappy in interactions with family
• Spend a lot of time worrying about their appearance and behaviour leading up to a social event or being reluctant to attend