what can cause childhood anxiety?!
Question: I have an anxiety disorder now and am in my 20's, when I was about 6 or 7 it stated, I was terrified of being left in the car alone, I wouldn't go upstaris alone and I'd make someone wait outside the door when I went to the toilet. I was never sexually abused that i know of, my dad was very bad tempered and my parents later divorced when i was 15, what could have caused this childhood anxiety?
Answers:
It could possibly be a severe form of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder):
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that a person may develop after experiencing or witnessing an extreme, overwhelming traumatic event during which they felt intense fear, helplessness, or horror.
The dominant features of posttraumatic stress disorder are emotional numbing (i.e., emotional nonresponsiveness), hyperarousal (e.g., irritability, on constant alert for danger), and reexperiencing of the trauma (e.g., flashbacks, intrusive emotions).
Posttraumatic stress disorder is also referred to as shell shock or battle fatigue (when describing the disorder in combat veterans) and as postrape syndrome.
Trauma
A trauma is an intensely stressful event during which a person suffers serious harm or the threat of serious harm or death or witnesses an event during which another person (or persons) is killed, seriously injured, or threatened. Traumatic events are commonly classified as follows:
* Abuse
o Mental
o Physical
o Sexual
o Verbal (i.e., sexual and/or violent content)
* Catastrophe
o Harmful and fatal accidents
o Natural disasters
o Terrorism
* Violent attack
o Animal attack
o Assault
o Battery and domestic violence
o Rape
* War, battle, and combat
o Death
o Explosion
o Gunfire
Types of PTSD
There are three types of PTSD: acute, chronic, and delayed onset. In acute PTSD, symptoms last less than 3 months. In chronic PTSD, symptoms last 3 months or more. In delayed onset PTSD, symptoms first appear at least 6 months after the traumatic event.
(From the website listed below)
This type is anxiety is the most common type of childhood anxiety.
Associated with childhood PTSD are disruption of attachment and emotional regulation, distorted self-identity, peer problems, sexual problems, criminal or antisocial behaviour, and increased risk of adult psychpathology, i.e. depression, eating disorders, substance abuse. (source- me)
All sound like alot of fun :-)
If you think any of this sounds like you, I would advice councelling or cognitive-behavioural therapy. If you go to www.apa.org (or www.bps.org if you are in the UK) and click on 'find a psychologist', that will point you in the right direction.
All the best, hope that helps!
Other Answers:
You said it yourself, the fact that your parents divorced can be the cause of anxiety. This leaves you with a feeling of loss, sadness and desperation.Most children respond to certain situations differently, such as anxiety. You may have lossed a loved one who might have been very dear to you, you may have a low self esteem or you may even have had feelings of guilt in the past (this feeling could be after your parents divorced or before: *most kids feel that they are the cause of divorce and as a result anxiety develops). No matter how old you are everyone has some traces and symptoms of anxiety because life can bring so many trivial problems, stress, etc. Just remember to be yourself and tell yourself that you are special because you are and beacause you were placed on this earth.
well , children by nature are afraid of any situation make them being alone without any help especially if the parents make them dependent individuals by preventing the child from facing that situations also from your history it seems that you was living a bad familial environment represented by the bad marital life of your parents beside that the temper of your father which made your relation with that guy is far of being a relation between child and his guard""father"".
over guardianship can be reason. or may be not. many of us used to do exactly like what u said, specially the toilet thing. one of my cousins was like that when she was a kid. anxiety disorders can be troublesome to live with. but if u have good reasoning, and can formulate a good analytical model of it (like what makes u anxious with the psychological componets of it) u can fight it back. hope it helps.
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