What are signs that an 8 year old has "anxiety problems?"?

Answer 1

headaches, nausea, vomiting, sweating, nightmares, night terrors, nervousness, OCD behaviors , lots of phobias.

one or two of these things occasionally are normal at different stages of development, but several of these bad to the point of interfering with the child's day to day activities are something to worry about.

What brings it on? being a victim of abuse, death in the family, parents' divorce, witness someone getting hurt, or even just reflecting back a parent's or care giver's neuroses.

Answer 2

Okay, please don't take offense at this...I don't mean any. But I just wanted to give you something to consider: Consider that he's a normal child. Americans have a tendency to call EVERYTHING a disease. In a way, it's great that we recognize certain things as symptoms and take advantage of scientific advances in pharmaceuticals to help us live better lives. But somewhere during this progress, we've put a full third of our children on meds that only a small percentage of them need. We've labelled anything and everything that's the least bit unomfortable a "symptom" of some "disease" that requires medication. EVERYONE on the planet shows signs of social anxiety at some time or another. How this got to be a disease, I have NO idea. I suppose this is particularly true of a four year old being in social situations for the very first time in their young lives. In a simlar vein, kids talk nonstop. Welcome to parenting an 8-year-old. When he's 13, he'll swear he's never going to talk to you again. For now, you probably just have a normal, chatty kid. My sister and I never DID shut up and still talk excessively at family gatherings. Certainly, if the child seems manic, if he talks about "inappropriate" things, or if you truly think there's a problem, get help! That's what it's there for. But it could be that he's just coming out of his shell, finding himself, and is a talkative child. There really isn't anything wrong with that. Kids ARE active, they ARE fidgety, they DO talk a lot about nothing at all...these are symptoms of being a KID, not of having a problem. Good luck! I hope he truly is a healthy boy!

Answer 3

I have to agree with the first comment. I got my first anxiety attack when I was 10. Feelings of death or overwhelming fear, overly excited, extremely nervous, tingling of arms, legs, or head, rapid heartbeat.. etc. There are a lot physical symptoms that come with anxiety attacks. If she is experiencing any of these, please don't ignore it and take her to a Physicarist (sp) and best of luck to you.

Answer 4

if they freak out for no apparent reason on the daily. at least thats how it started with me, like unbearable fear out of nowhere