Anxiety disorder in children is prevalent all over the world. Man has suffered with it since the beginning of time. It crosses all barriers of race, creed, national origin and social class. What is this orphan disorder? It is an emotional and physical problem that some theories consider to be genetic in origin. The first signs of this disorder will be present in early childhood. The adults of the society, even those with the disorder, very seldom recognize it in their children. Often the children are very sensitive, creative and extremely intelligent, but they carry a flaw within their biochemical makeup that causes an excessive reaction to the certain stimuli. No one will recognize the problem until much of the damage to the child's psychic and physical health has been done. The child grows up in a society where they find out that what is normal for their peers, is not normal for them.
What is there about this group of children that will make them different from other members of society? It is a physical reaction to internal feelings that cannot be measured or seen. This reaction will take control of the conscious mind, and then the child will begin a trip into a place in their mind where a fierce fear will overtake their sensory feelings. Their mind will descend into a chaotic fight to return to the normal status quo where the rest of society exists. This experience is an internal fight that will continue until the fear suddenly disappears back into the dark recesses of the mind from which it came. The child is then confused about why they lost contact with the safe world of the rest of their peer group. Often, as they try to explain their feelings, they will find very few adults who can or will try to understand them. Mostly the attack will stay hidden within their memories and the child will hope that it will never return. The more times the fierce fear overtakes a child, the more reactive the child's nervous system becomes. As time goes on, the child becomes over sensitized to the point that only a hint of the memory will return the child to the land of the fierce fear.
As the child grows older, he or she will learn many methods to cope with the problem and hide it from the society that does not understand. Physical symptoms will appear that will get the medical profession involved. The child will experience stomachaches, vomiting, headaches, and problems of the ears, nose and throat. Their heart will race and they will sometimes become drenched in sweat. Doctors will medicate the physical symptoms without realizing what is causing them. As the years, pass and the child becomes older, their integration into normal society will become more difficult. No one in his or her world will have an understanding of the internal war going on inside the child. This disorder will fill the child's school years with terror and illness as he or she tries to adjust to a classroom filled with normal children. When the child becomes older, certain behaviors will appear that will act as a defense mechanism so the child can survive. The child’s defenses will be like the shell of the turtle, where the youngster can retreat from the hostile world of normal society. With this retreat the child will become isolated and will learn that in their world they will often be alone even when they are surrounded by group of people.
Though the child will try to reach out to his peers, he will not experience the bonding which normal children feel. The child's grim internal life will sometimes feel a wave of fresh air come into their walled room when they find some member of society that understands. This will take their fragile life and with a sweet breath blow a new hope of life into the darkness. A glimmer of light will creep into their being and give the young person a certain freedom that they have never known before. It is now that the child may learn to smile. They will have a renewed hope for a place where society will accept them and they will belong.
The medical community has given this disorder many names. Progress in science and medicine has begun to open the locked boxes with a key of understanding. Some members of the medical profession are slowly accepting the idea that this condition may be a biochemical problem in the neurotransmitters of a specific part of the brain. Currently no research project has provided the answer to how this mechanism works, but these projects have proved that a medical problem exists. Society and the medical profession are now recognizing children with the problems of this misunderstood disorder. Some members of our society are beginning to understand that these children can lead a normal life. The society, which for many years did not understand the problem, is finding the answers to these children’s perplexing dilemma. Medications can dampen the “fear from nowhere,” but they cannot end it completely. A more promising solution, suggested by the new understanding of this disorder, is to use behavioral training that can modify the child’s response to the “fear from nowhere.” A smile of relief will spread across the child's face when they learn how to control the fierce fear, which had once ruled their very existence. When the mind of a child with this disorder has been retrained it allows them to open a door that had been closed to them so they control the fear. Now the child can start to live within the boundaries of their chaotic nervous system. The doors to life are opened and they can be nearly as free as any normal child.
I have written, “FEAR from NOWHERE – Children with Anxiety” as a story. I believe that the only way a person can begin to understand the effects of panic anxiety disorder is to feel the same feelings that the children feel. This format was chosen to impress the reader with how severely panic anxiety disorder can affect children if their doctors improperly diagnose their problem.
The format I've chosen to use to discuss this disorder is different from the normal format used for a discussion of a medical or a psychological disorder. Doctors, who only see this medical problem as clinicians, have written the many books that are currently available on Panic Anxiety Disorder. The value of “FEAR from NOWHERE – Children with Anxiety” is that I lived in a family where they documented the effects of panic anxiety disorder for five generations. My family recognized the behavioral problems associated with this disorder long before the medical community admitted that this problem even existed. Panic anxiety disorder now has a medical name and various doctors have outlined treatment plans that will make life easier and more productive for the current generation. Besides describing the medical problems of a person with panic anxiety disorder, the book will let the reader experience the emotional and physical turmoil of individuals with this disorder. I will describe some tools that are available to help children with panic anxiety disorder. In the book I describe intervention plans for use on the youngest children. I also talk about the treatment plans available today in modern society for older suffers of the disorder.
The stories in “FEAR from NOWHERE – Children with Anxiety” are true. They describe the battles of two members of a family as they fought to be like everyone else. The stories of the mother and her son are presented here to help the reader understand what the person with panic anxiety disorder must live with. My vignettes show the emotional turmoil an individual with panic anxiety disorder experiences in their day-to-day life. They also show the many people with this disorder that they are not alone, and help is available if they look in the right place. Instead of promoting isolation, which was the solution so prevalent in the past, this book will show some methods available today to treat panic disorder. This knowledge should give hope to people who have to deal with these problems. It also shows that people with panic anxiety disorder can live normal happy lives and be successful at anything they wish to accomplish. “FEAR from NOWHERE – Children with Anxiety” will give the reader a picture of what an innocent youngster born with the disorder must deal with throughout their life.
As children, the mother and son had to fight the fierce fear and live in normal society. Reaching out with a shaking hand, both children found a flicker of light in the darkness. Following the flicker of light given them by an adult who understood, both children slowly crept out into the sunshine where they found acceptance and a normal life in society.
The boy, who fought so hard to survive, has finished his dissertation for his Ph.D. The little girl is living the life of a grandmother and writer, proudly watching the next generation cope with the fierce fear without the struggles of past generations. Sitting in her retreat in the mountains, she is watching the newest behavioral program working. We are teaching the children in the new generation to control their fear so each of these youngsters will grow up enjoying the creative talents they possess. They do not need medications because their problems were recognized early, before their nervous system became too highly sensitized. They must, however, continue to receive the behavioral intervention required to teach them the skills they will need to live free in society in the years to come.
When you have finished reading this book you will have a small understanding of what children with this disorder go through and you will be able to help them. If you have this disorder you will know what lori and her son have gone through and you will know lori, and know that you are not alone or strange.