Anxiety and anxiety disorder in childhood

Abstract

Anxiety and fearfulness have been experienced by almost everyone, at least transiently, and are ubiquitous as symptoms in a wide variety of psychiatric disorders. The variety of experiences that are described as anxiety is great enough that one can legitimately ask whether anxiety is one phenomenon or many. When we discuss anxiety disorders in children, it is not always clear whether we are talking about unique disorders or about early-onset forms of corresponding adult disorders. Neither is it always clear which disorder should be included in this category. Sleep terror disorder, for example, has many symptoms in common with an anxiety attack but is now felt to be a parasomnia related to a specific stage of sleep.Although it is impossible to define anxiety in a way that all would agree with, it is clear that anxiety causes a significant amount of pain and dysfunction among children. Surveys of large populations of children find a significant number of markedly anxious children. Rutter and others (1970, pp. 181-186) in a survey of over 200 ten-and eleven-year old children on the Isle of Wight found an overall corrected prevalence of psychiatric disorder of 6.8 percent. About one-third of these suffered from an anxiety disorder consisting primarily of anxiety, worrying, and general fearfulness. One-third of those with anxiety disorders had specific fears or phobias severe enough to be handicapping. A second group constituting MuBoz (ed.). TIeating Anxrety Duordms. R. A.

Child Psychiatry and Early Intervention: II. The Internalizing Disorders*

“…Studies using random assignment and blind evaluations are rare. Consequently, more empirical work is needed before definite conclusions can be drawn (56,57).…”