Phobic Disorders in Children
Specific phobias can interfere significantly in a daily life of the child. The prognosis is that they tend to remit spontaneously over time periods ranging between 1 and 4 years. Some examples of Phobic Disorders in Children are: the darkness phobia, phobia of dogs or phobia to doctors. The phobia of the dark can cause a strong anxiety in the evening at bedtime and tantrums and refusals to sleep outdoors. The phobia of dogs can lead a child to use paths longer or unnecessary detours to get home or to school. The phobia can prevent doctors’ preventive controls, as well as hamper the administration of beneficial treatments.
One of phobic disorders in children, phobia school refusal refers to a child experiencing prolonged to go to school for some kind of fear associated with the school situation. It is rare and tends to occur between 3-4 years or 11-12 years. It affects more boys than girls. His start in young children is sudden, while in older adolescents and is more gradual, more intense and serious, with the worst prognosis. From a clinical perspective, the school phobia is usually preceded or accompanied by physical symptoms of anxiety (tachycardia, sleep disturbances, loss of appetite, pallor, nausea, vomiting, headache) and a cognitive anticipation of negative consequences associated to school as well as a very dependent relationship with the mother and the proliferation of nonspecific fears (the dark, the noises). The result is the avoidance behavior. School phobia is associated with other clinical disorders such as depression and low self-esteem.
Some predisposing factors of school phobia are the existence of anxiety disorders or depression among parents, school-related factors such as fear of a teacher or negative life events such as prolonged illness, or separation from parents. In summary, the school phobia is a complex phenomenon that may indicate the existence of a specific phobia (fear of being injured on playground games), a social phobia (fear of being ridiculed), an obsessive-compulsive disorder (fear to be fouled) or a separation anxiety itself.
The disorder is characterized by avoidance of excessive avoidance of contact with unknown persons for a period exceeding 6 months and interferes with social relationships with peers or school playground. All this is coupled with a clear desire for affection and acceptance of oneself before others. This disorder is diagnosed only after 2.5 years as at an earlier age may be simply the normal evolutionary fear strangers to the child. These children tend to be insecure, shy, low self-confidence and little assertive. Following the Phobic Disorders in children, they may have difficulty in acquiring the social skills needed in the process of adaptation to an environment that is changing dramatically at this age. Social isolation and depression can be the consequences of this disorder.
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Phobic and Anxiety Disorders in Children and Adolescents: A Clinician’s Guide to Effective Psychosocial and Pharmacological Interventions (Hardcover)
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