Is child anxiety a pathology?

  Unlike many other psychopathological phenomena, anxiety is considered a normal emotion that is appropriate and protective throughout the developmental stages. Fear allows one to avoid danger, worry allows one to take things more seriously, and neurobehavioral science considers anxiety to be necessary for the survival of the race.  Brief periods of fear and worry can occur during normal child development, such as fear of harm to oneself or one’s family, excessive terror of certain special circumstances or fear of separation from loved ones. Excessive anxiety is pathological because excessive anxiety can cause not only psychologically uncomfortable reactions, but also physiologically uncomfortable reactions.  The symptoms of anxiety disorders involve emotional, cognitive, behavioral and somatic symptoms.  1, negative emotion: unpleasant, negative state of mind as the main experience, feel nervous, uneasy, unpleasant.  2. Negative cognition: Children feel overly worried about their schooling, partnerships, sports, their own or their parents’ health, and upcoming events, such as an exam or performance, for fear that they will not do well and will not be able to satisfy others.  3. Behavioral abnormalities: Children’s anxiety and terror are expressed mainly through their behavior, such as crying, temper tantrums, disobedience, and the need for repeated parental reassurance; children who are afraid of exams will be “sick” on the day of the exam, and children who are worried about their schooling, partnerships, or fear of separation from their mothers may refuse to go to school.  4. Somatic symptoms: they involve all systems: palpitations, shortness of breath, sweating, frequent urination, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, irritable bowel syndrome, dizziness, headache, insomnia, muscle tension, easy fatigue, and are based on a high state of autonomic alertness.  If any of these manifestations occur it is time to seek expert help from a psychiatric psychologist.