Mental illness, including anxiety disorders, are common among young people. Anxiety involves stress responses and worrying that impact functioning. It can cause physical, psychological, and behavioral symptoms. Treatment may involve psychotherapy, medication, or both depending on severity. Parents can help anxious children by setting clear expectations, making time for worries, gradually exposing children to anxiety triggers, reframing anxious thoughts in a positive way, and building coping skills.

1. What To Do When YourChildren
Worry Too Much
MENTAL ILLNESS & YOUNG PEOPLE
• Mental illness is the leading cause of disability in young people.
• Worldwide 10-20% of young people experience mental disorders.
• Nearly 1 in 3 adolescents will meet criteria for an anxiety disorder by the age of 18.
WHAT IS ANXIETY?
Anxiety is the stress response to anticipated danger.
WORRY VS. ANXIETY
Symptoms of anxiety include:
• Somatic symptoms, such as headaches, abdominal complaints, muscle tension,
restlessness, and difficulty in sleeping
• Agitation
• Inattention, poor focus
• Avoidance
• Tantrums/ Crying
• Refusing to go to school (Meltdowns before school about clothing, hair, shoes, socks)
• Meltdowns after school about homework
Effects of anxiety:
• Worry is experienced in our heads
• Worry is specific
• Worry often triggers problem-
solving
• Worry does not impact our
professional/school and personal
functioning
• Worry tends to be temporary
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• Anxiety is experienced in our bodies
• Anxiety is more diffused (it can be a
vague feeling)
• Anxiety does not trigger problem-solving
• Anxiety impacts our professional/school and
personal functioning
• Anxiety can linger over a longer period of time
PHYSICAL
Anxiety can cause fast
breathing, sweating,
shaking, fatigue, weakness,
dizziness, difficulty
concentrating and in
severe cases, panic at-
tacks.
PSYCHOLOGICAL
Anxiety can cause
rumination - thinking a lot
about bad experiences or a
situation repeatedly. It can
cause a sense of dread,
fearing the worst, and also
a sense of disconnection
from the world.
BEHAVIORAL
Anxiety can cause
relationship problems,
and a poor quality of
life. It can further trigger
avoidance as a coping to
strategy to ease anxiety.

2. TREATMENTS
• For mild severity to slight anxiety: psychotherapy is usually very effective
• For moderate to severe anxiety: psychotherapy along with medications are effective
WHAT CAN PARENTS DO?
Here are 5 ways to support your child when they are feeling anxious orworried.
1. Set clear expectations
Setting clear expectations and helping your child create appropriate benchmarks to meet
those expectations teaches your child that she/he can work through anxious feelings and
manage their anxiety.
2. Let your child worry
No child ever stopped worrying because a parent said, “Don’t worry!”, or “Relax!”.
In fact, worry serves an important function in our lives. Without some amount of worry,
we wouldn’t stop to consider actual dangers that do threaten us. Give your child
uninterrupted time with you each day to vent worries and brainstorm solutions together.
3. Avoid avoidance
Just like telling your child not to worry won’t make those anxious thoughts disappear,
avoiding triggers of anxiety won’t help your child learn to cope. For example, if your
child becomes anxious around dogs, crossing the street each time you encounter a dog
or staying away from all dogs will only validate that anxious thought. It sends the message
that all dogs are dangerous. It’s better to desensitize your child to triggers of anxiety by
taking small steps. Try looking at pictures of different breeds online and talking about what
feelings they trigger. Next, watch dogs at play at a dog park from a safe distance.
Finally, ask to visit with a calm, older dog of a friend or a therapy dog. By taking small steps,
kids can learn to work through their fears and worries.
4. Practice reframing
The anxious thought cycle is overwhelming because it causes feelings of helplessness.
When anxiety spikes, children get caught in a cycle of “What ifs” and “I can’ts.” Anxious
kids tend to engage in a variety of cognitive distortions such as black white thinking and
overgeneralizing. Carving out regular time to work on positive reframing empowers your
anxious child to take control over his anxious thoughts.
It works like this:
1. Name a worry floating around in your brain right now.
2. What is the worry telling you?
3. Let’s break it down and see if that worry is 100% right.
4. How can we take that worry thought and change it to a positive thought?
5. Help them build a ‘coping kit’
If you want to empower your child to work through his worries, they need to learn a variety
of coping skills. Having a concrete list of strategies to use in a moment of anxiety is helpful
for children. Some may be able to memorize a list of strategies, while others may need to
write them down. Try these:
1. Deep breathing 4. Write out phrases/words that can calm
2. Progressive muscle relaxation 5. Talk back to worries and re-frame thoughts
3. Stress ball 6. Get help from an adult
821 Al Wasl Rd
Al Safa 2
P.O. Box 334273
Dubai, UAE
T. +971 (0)4 380 2088
E. info@lighthousearabia.com
lighthousearabia.com