An anxiety disorder is a mental health condition that causes you to feel an unusually or unreasonably high amount of stress and worry.
While a healthy person might find certain events stressful or unsettling, a person who has a problem with anxiety tends to react much more strongly (even when he or she does not appear to be anxious).
When children are affected by an anxiety disorder, they may display some troubling behaviors, even some that do not seem related to anxiety. For instance, a child who has a social anxiety problem may exhibit extreme reluctance go to school. Instead of articulating his or her fear, the child may cry or scream or throw a tantrum when it is time to go to school. An older child who is anxious about going to school for some reason may start skipping classes or feigning illness to avoid having to go.
It is important for parents to understand when a child is having a problem with anxiety so that appropriate steps can be taken. There are a variety of reasons a child may skip school, for instance, but the parent needs to be able to determine which is the true reason. If a child or teenager has a legitimate anxiety disorder, punishing him or her and failing to deal with the issue may do more harm than good. On the other hand, children must still be held accountable for their actions to an extent, so they need to learn they cannot just act out when they are upset by something.
If you want to read more about how to distinguish anxiety from stress in a child, visit the link below.
http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/northshore/nnews/7738356-113/anxiety-child-disorders-age
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