childhood disorders Flashcards
childhood mental health stats
- 1 in 8 children have a diagnosable mental health disorder – that’s roughly 3 children in every classroom.
- 1 in 6 young people aged 16-24 has symptoms of a common mental disorder such as depression or an anxiety disorder.
- Half of all mental health problems manifest by the age of 14, with 75% by age 24.
- In 2017, suicide was the most common cause of death for both boys (16.2% of all deaths) and girls (13.3%) aged between 5 and 19.
- Nearly half of 17-19 year olds with a diagnosable mental health disorder has self-harmed or attempted suicide at some point, rising to 52.7% for young women.
what is anxiety
Anxiety is a normal emotion
- Fear, stress, worry, nervous
- Problem when danger is imagined or out ofproportion to real threat
- Three parts:
- Body (physiology): Heart racing, sweaty, butterflies…
- Thoughts (cognition): “Something bad is going tohappen”
- Actions (behaviour): Flight or fight.
when is anxiety a disorder
- There is a fear or worry about a particularevent or multiple areas of life
- The fear/worry is excessive compared tothat experienced by peers or is age-inappropriate
- The fear/worry leads to avoidance ofevents
- The fear/worry causes significant distressand/or significant interference in dailyactivities
why do we care about anxiety in children
Anxiety disorders are one of the most common mental health problems affectingnchildren. Most recent review suggests 6.5% point prevalence (Polancyzk et al., 2015)
- They can affect academic performance
- Anxiety disordered school children:
- Less likely to have satisfying social relationships
- Have higher ongoing usage of health facilities
- Live a life (in their own words) of “missed opportunity”
types of disorders- DSM 5
Disorders are recognized by‘classification systems’
There are two main classification systems: DSM and ICD
Criteria don’t hugely vary for children/adults so we need to think about how symptoms present in children.
**
seperation anxiety disorder
- Developmentally inappropriate, recurrent, excessive anxietyconcerning separation either from a) home or b) attachment figures
- Excessive worry about possible separation, including losing caregiversor harm coming to caregivers.
- Experience physical symptoms on separation or anticipation ofseparation
- May be reluctant to attend school, may fear being alone, may havenightmares about separation
#
diagnosis requrement for seperation anxiety
- For diagnosis:
- Must last at least 4 weeks
- Must cause clinically significant distress or interference.
generalised anxiety disorder
- Excessive anxiety and worry occurring more days than not
- Worry is difficult to control
- Causes significant distress and impairs functioning
- Must exist for at least 6 months
- Worry accompanied by at least 3 somatic symptoms:
- stomach or head aches, problems sleeping, irritability, poor concentration or fatigue
- Seek out reassurance constantly
- Overly compliant/perfectionist
social anxiety disorder
- Pronounced and persistent fear of one or more social situations in which embarrasment and negative social evaluation may occur or in which the individual encounters unfamiliar people.
- Intense anxiety is experienced in feared situation.
- Often leads to avoidance of feared situation.
- For diagnosis:
- Must last at least 6 months
- Must cause clinically significant distress or interference.
- Evidence child has capacity for age-appropriate social relationships
- Anxiety must occur with peers not just adults
specific phobia
- Intense and persistent fear of specific object orsituation
- Avoidance and distress caused when confronted
- Children may cry, freeze or cling to express fear
- Common fears are animals/insects, storms, dark,heights, blood/injection/injury, vomiting & smallspaces
- For diagnosis:
- Must last at least 6 months
- Must cause clinically significant distress orinterference.
panic disorder
- Recurrent, unexpected panic attacks for noapparent reason
- Attacks involve intense fear, accompanied bysomatic symptoms (heart pounding, sweatingetc.) and catastrophic cognitions (e.g I can’tbreathe, I’m going to die).
- Associated with agoraphobia (next slide).
- At least one attack must have been followedwith:
- Persistent concern or worry that aboutpanic attacks or their consequences (e.g.I’m going crazy)
- Maladaptive change in behaviour relatedto the attack(s)
agoraphobia
- Persistent fear of certain environments, typically crowded places of open spaces.
- Must exist in at least two environments.
- Fear must be out of proportion to realistic threatposed.
- Presence or anticipated presence of fearedenvironment results in significant distress.
- Feared environment is avoided or endured withextreme distress.
average age of onset for seperation anxiety
Vasey et al.2014
6.5yrs
average age of onset for specific phobia
Vasey et al.2014
6.5yrs
average age of onset for social phobia
Vasey et al.2014
9.5yrs
average age of onset for panic disorder
Vasey et al.2014
19yrs
average age of onset for agoraphobia
Vasey et al.2014
11.5yrs
average age of onset for GAD
Vasey et al.2014
8.5yrs
prevalence of seperation anxiety
Vasey et al.2014
2-4% [decreases with age]
prevalence of specific phobia
Vasey et al.2014
5-7% [consistent across ages]
prevalence of social phobia
Vasey et al.2014
1-6% [increasing with age]
prevalence of panic disorder
Vasey et al.2014
1.1-1.5%
prevalence of agoraphobia
Vasey et al.2014
1.5%
prevalence of GAD
Vasey et al.2014
1.7-1.9%
