The statistics indicate that 1 in 8 children will face severe anxiety. If a child is diagnosed with this illness and is not treated properly there may be long-lasting affects that will stay with the child. For instance, not treating anxiety disorder in a child may lead to dropping out of school, poor grades, introspective traits and higher chances of drug use.

There are many different types of disorders among children (as well as adults). One such disorder is Generalized Anxiety Disorder, commonly known as GAD, which produces high levels of worry about ordinary day-to-day activities. This type of anxiety disorder in a child will leave him or her feeling stressed about things that are intending but have yet to occur. They expect the worst for no apparent reason.

Simple activities can cause the highest levels of stress. In this case the child dealing with this illness feels out of control. There is no exact science detailing what causes an anxiety disorder in a child. However, there is some research evidence to suggest that biology has an influence, as do life trials; especially traumatizing or stressful events in a young life can trigger this type of disorder.  It is painful to watch anxiety disorder child endangerment, but as parents we are not necessarily helpless.

Dealing with this type of disorder is not only a mental process. There are also physical implications as well. Tense muscles, exhaustion, insomnia, and even diarrhea are just a few of the possible physical side effects of anxiety disorder in your child.

Another type of stress disorder is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, or what is commonly referred to as OCD. The main characteristics of this disorder are repetitive rituals such as hand washing or counting. This disorder inflicts the person with nagging thoughts that a particular routine has to be completed in order to ease the feelings of stress. Most children who suffer from this disorder will be diagnosed before the age of 10, but it is also been known to be an anxiety disorder child related that can strike children as young as 2 years old.

Girls’ and boys’ development of this disorder differ. Unlike adults, children can not grasp that their obsessive rituals are irrational. It is just known to them that doing something in particular is soothing. If this type of anxiety disorder is left unattended or treated, it can grow with the child into adulthood, affecting all aspects of life.

Anxiety disorder in a child is treatable. There are a number of methods of treatment available. These stress disorders are often medical conditions and, like other conditions, can be aided with professional help. Each individual child is unique and so is their condition, there is no one blanket treatment. Choose a doctor that can help you pinpoint your child’s need and aid them correctly.

As a parent there are a number of things you can do to help your child through this process. Listen to what your child tells you. When your child is going through an anxious phase, stay calm. Notice and pay compliments for accomplishments, regardless of how small. If you are looking for more support for dealing with anxiety disorder in your child, there are online and offline resources for parents.

We offer a number of additional ideas in our email mini-course shown in the upper right corner of this webpage.  That course will immedately introduce you to a wonderful natural method that has helped tens of thousands achieve permanent success over panic and anxiety disorder.

A panic disorder is a form of anxiety that can completely take over your life if you let it. As if the anxiety itself is not enough, the fear of having an attack in a public situation can paralyze you, cause you to withdraw from life, and even cause a panic attack that you would otherwise not have had.

Are you ready to help yourself? If so, here are a few of your most important treatment options. Some can be done on your own on a daily basis while others are best done with the guidance of a medical professional.

Panic Attacks Help: Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive behavior deals with the mental processes that allow anxiety to escalate. The fact that you are dealing with anxiety on a consistent basis is proof that there is some type of distorted thinking inside your head. This type of therapy is designed to expose that thinking and overturn it with more functional, realistic thought processes.

Behavioral therapy is also called immersion therapy because it deals with the physical symptoms of your panic attacks by placing you in situations that routinely cause anxiety or which you fear may bring on an attack. This can be done in a very controlled setting inside a doctor’s office or it can take place in real life situations.

Panic attacks have mental and physical components, so Cognitive-behavioral therapy is most effective when both aspects are taken together; combating them both works best.

Panic Attacks Help: Anxiety Medication

In some cases, a doctor may choose to prescribe medication either while therapy is progressing or for longer periods of time. These medications will control the anxiety so your life is not interrupted and can prevent future panic attacks.

The problem with medication is that you may have to take it forever to control the problem if you do not go through other treatment options to cure it. There may also be side effects that come with many medications.  Sign up for our free email mini-course for a couple of extremely effective treatment methods that are 100% free of drugs.

Panic Attacks Help: Relaxation and Exercise

Learning to relax your mind and body is something that you can do on your own and it is most effective when practiced on a daily basis to relieve stress and tension continually. Once you know how to calm yourself down mentally you will start feeling how it changes your breathing as well. This can be very beneficial if you need to calm down initial symptoms of a panic attack to limit its effect on you.

Exercise is a surprisingly effective way to help your body deal better with stress, and to combat a tendency towards anxiety or panic attacks.  A daily exercise routine is worth establishing on its own merits for good health, and is a can’t-lose source of panic attacks help–at no cost.

Think about learning deep breathing techniques, meditating on a daily basis, or even adding yoga into your daily routine.

Panic Attacks Help: Support Groups

Finally, support groups can be excellent in helping you succeed, no matter what other type of treatment you may decide to take on. Once you see that there are others just like you out there, the same and fear of having an anxiety problem will feel less overwhelming. You may also be able to hear about new treatment options and home exercises that have worked for other people.

In some cases panic attack medication along with other approved therapies can be quite beneficial. One type of therapy that has shown success is behavior changing therapy. When the way the sufferer thinks affects the behavior they display, these two aspects can be addressed by using therapy. The inclusion of medication can help by decreasing the number of panic attacks the person is having as well as the severity, thereby allowing them some relief.  The medication can help the therapy do its job more effectively.

Although medication alone is not the answer, the use of anti-depressants has often been shown to be effective. There are several that have been used, including Paxil, Zoloft and Prozac. These panic attack medications are called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI).  That is a mouthful, but the concept is actually fairly simple.  There are certain chemicals in the brain that are used to send messages from one nerve to another.  These are called neurotransmitters.  A nerve releases the neurotransmitter chemical with the intent that it will be taken up by another nerve as part of a larger process.  Sometimes a portion of the neurotransmitter is actually taken back by the original nerve, leaving less for the intended target.  The SSRI inhibits the donor nerve from reuptaking the released chemical, improving the communication process.

The types of panic attack medication mentioned above will allow serotonin, the neurotransmitter chemical of interest, to be more readily available for other nerves. Serotonin is thought to affect the emotional states of people. This is why anti-depressants are used as panic attack medication.

Before SSRIs were around, a tricyclic anti-depressant (TCA) family of drugs was commonly used as panic attack medication. This included Anafranil, Norpramin and Tofranil. These were found to be as effective as the SSRIs are now. One reason they are not used as much as before is because SSRIs have been shown to be a safer alternative–fewer side effects.

The TCAs require very stringent monitoring of the person taking them, however all medications are serious chemicals and must be used under the careful eye of a qualified specialist.  This is one reason the doctor chosen should have knowledge of panic attack medications as well as how they are used in conjunction with therapy.

Another panic attack medication that was used to treat anxiety attacks was a benzodiazepine drug. These included Klonopin, Ativan, Valium and Xanax. The main benefit of these drugs is they work immediately rather than taking a few weeks to build in the system to help. The SSRIs are taken on a daily basis and they tend to build up over time to help with anxiety or depression.

When taking panic attack medication, there should be a marked improvement shown within a few weeks. If not, the medicine may have to be changed or increased. Most people that take these medications for anxiety or panic attacks have to take them for at least a year and sometimes for years.

Usually their doctor will wean them from the medication and keep a check to see how they are doing. If the symptoms return they often have to go back on the medication for another period of time. As for others, they may have to take these medications for the rest of their lives if the therapy is not fully successful.

Panic attack medication, when used in combination with therapy, has shown very good results for those who suffer from this affliction when the causes are properly diagnosed.  However, the causes of anxiety and panic attacks are still a bit of a mystery.  Unfortunately there is some educated trial and error involved.

It is obviously important to find a doctor who has experience dealing with anxiety disorders as well with as the drugs used to help treat the problem.  Also, thousands of sufferers have found victory without the need for any panic attack medication, as we outline in our free email mini-course.

Let’s take a look at some of the most common panic attacks symptoms, learn how they interact with one another, and what you could potentially do to make future attacks shorter.

Physical Panic Attacks Symptoms

Most people who experience panic attacks remember the physical symptoms the most. In fact, the symptoms that are felt through the body are so terrifying that it is not uncommon for some sufferers to develop a fear of experiencing them again.

Most sufferers will experience some level of accelerated heart rate. It may feel as if your chest is pounding and you cannot catch your breath, which may lead to gasping for air. This may also be accompanied by chest pains which may be confused with a heart attack.  Of course, if in doubt about whether they are panic attacks symptoms or indications of a heart attack, one should seek emergency help immediately.

You may also experience a sudden wave of nausea, hot flashes, or chills. Many sufferers will also feel lightheaded or dizzy while others may feel off balance which can lead to stumbling or potentially falling.  What makes all of these symptoms so alarming is they come on suddenly, often with absolutely no real obvious cause.

Mental Panic Attacks Symptoms

Those physical symptoms are accompanied by and often caused by other symptoms occurring inside the mind. While there are a variety of panic attacks symptoms that vary from person to person and even attack to attack, what ties them all together is an overriding sense of fear, or “panic.” It is as if the body has entered the fight or flight state without any danger or threat being presented.

This fear may lead to a sense of escape where you just need to get away from your current location. Or, some other sufferers may feel detached from the situation as if it is occurring to someone else, which may make it difficult to for them to move or react. Exactly what is so terrifying that you need to escape or freeze up is unknown but the sense of danger is extreme.

Due to the extreme physical symptoms, many sufferers have additional fear in their minds because they think they are having a heart attack or may actually die.

Dealing with Panic Attack Symptoms

An attack may last just a minute, or as long as several minutes. If you suffer routine attacks or are afraid that another one may occur, it is essential to realize that your reaction to the initial symptoms of the attack could determine its length and level of discomfort.

The typical reaction to an attack is intense anxiety and fear, which adds onto the fear that is already present. This escalates the physical symptoms and can even extend the length of the attack.

Those who learn deep breathing and other relaxing exercises could reduce the length of an attack by calming their mind and body at the very first signs of an oncoming attack. This is quite difficult to do because of the panic sensation that comes so suddenly, but in many cases those who are able to practice deep breathing, mediation, yoga, and other relaxing exercises on a daily basis are able to reduce the amount of anxiety and increase their odds of reacting in a better manner when an attack comes on.

One of the first things tried by anxiety disorder suffers, often before seeking diagnosis and treatment, is to find ways to avoid the causes they are aware of. This can be useful when a very specific trigger is identified and the avoidance of that trigger does not dramatically impact normal life. When an anxiety is centered on common life situations, simple avoidance can be very limiting to a normal life. Even when an initial anxiety cause is easily avoided, some people find themselves encountering additional triggers when professional treatment is not sought.  So it is best not to ignore treating anxiety disorders.

It is easy for a person’s friends and loved ones to belittle an anxiety sufferer with such phrases as ‘it’s all in your mind’ or ‘just get over it’. They do not realize that the sufferer would do almost anything to ‘get over it’ if he/she could. Far too many folks suffer with anxiety without seeking treatment because of the way their friends and family act in response to their symptoms. The way some view the benefits of treating anxiety disorder and the perceived futility of treatment keeps too many people trapped in misery that is actually very escapable.

With so many options available for treating anxiety disorder there is no reason for any person to continue suffering alone. There are medical/pharmaceutical options with varying levels of effectiveness. There are behavior-based treatments that commonly take one of two different approaches.

Cognitive-behavior treatment for anxiety involves teaching the patient to recognize those thought patterns that lead to anxiety. When the irrational thoughts are recognized the patient can learn to challenge the beliefs that fuel the anxiety.  There is a right way and a wrong way to do this; if done correctly it can be a very effective method for treating anxiety disorders of various types.

Many anxiety sufferers have been successfully treated with exposure therapy. In a safe, controlled environment the patient experiences exposure to the trigger of his/her anxiety. As the increasing exposure is dealt with, without the patient being harmed, the irrational responses gradually diminish to the point where they stop being a problem.

Sometimes medical treatments are added to behavior-based treatments in the early stages to aid in the initial success. As the patient begins responding well to the behavior treatments the drug therapy is gradually eliminated. This approach to treating anxiety disorders is often successful. However not all sufferers respond successfully. Non-specific anxiety is hard to treat with exposure-based therapy for obvious reasons but cognitive therapy combined with anti-anxiety drugs can be very successful.

Recently, new anxiety treatments have been used successfully ‘ either alone or in combination. Believe it or not, exercise is one of nature’s stress busters and anxiety relievers.  A friend of mine depends heavily on daily exercise to help keep her emotional reactions under control. The mental concentration on an exercise regimen helps break apart the thought patterns that trigger anxiety. Some success has been seen treating anxiety disorders with relaxation techniques, biofeedback and even hypnosis. Anxiety sufferers should not be afraid to try alternative therapies if the first treatment approaches are unsuccessful.

If a person experiences occasional anxiety, it does not mean you are specifically exhibiting an anxiety disorder symptom. Anxiety is the body’s natural response to outside pressures, deadlines, and struggles. When it starts taking over your life, however, or you often times do not even realize why you feel anxious, then you may have a more serious problem. Anxiety should be the body’s way of helping you get things done or care about things. It should not ever become a health problem.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a very common variation. Many people have some of the symptoms of this to some small degree.  It involves weird fascinations with things, ritualistic behavior for every day tasks, and obsessive cleanliness. People often feel urged to complete a task in a very certain manner or perhaps a certain number of times.

Panic Disorders are a little more intense than other types of anxiety. They generally involve an intense confusion and fear that can strike at any time, often rendering a person unable to do anything else except panic for a period of time. Sometimes people can feel the panic attack coming and can do certain things based on their condition to stop it. There can be nausea and dizziness that proceed or accompany the attack. It can be caused by severe stress in a person’s life, or by nothing at all.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is one arguably the most challenging in terms of how the disorder came into being and in terms of curing it. This occurs when someone has suffered an intense trauma in their life like war, rape, or abuse. There can be panic attacks, flashbacks, or any number of different symptoms.  So the key is to be able to link the anxiety disorder symptom with one or more specific triggering events.

Social anxiety disorder can be easier to figure out by a person’s absolute loathing of social situations. The individual can stutter or get tongue tied when made to speak. They can constantly blush or can sweat profusely. It is a branch of phobias and can lead people to being extremely lonely and reclusive.

Women are more likely to have these disorders. Adults get them more than children, as children tend to have less stress in their lives. Kids should still be watched for any signs of these anxiety disorder symptoms, as it can lead to further problems as a child develops and grows with the disorder. The only one which seems to be normal for children is separation anxiety. Most children should grow out of this on their own, however.

There is no single approach for treatment for the many anxiety disorder symptoms.  As discussed elsewhere on this site, one approach that has had success is a combination of prescription drugs and therapy, often supervised by a psychiatrist. In this way, one can stop the surface symptoms from happening and can get the underlying cause solved, as a permanent solution. Some people will never fully recover and will have to be medicated and in therapy for the rest of their lives. There are  one or two comprehensive treatment methods that avoid the use of drugs altogether and have had a startlingly high success rate; our email mini-course provides the details for those; sign up in the upper right-hand corner of this page.