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Learn MoreAnxiety is the experience of fear, distress, or worry. It often happens in response to a stressful situation. But it can also occur without a specific trigger. Anxiety might involve worry about something that happened in the past or about something bad happening in the future.
In most cases, children and teens cope well. Less often, anxiety causes ongoing problems. This may suggest an anxiety disorder.
Resources and services are available to help people with anxiety and anxiety disorders.
Anxiety is common for any person facing a serious illness. Parents, family caregivers, and siblings may also struggle with worry and anxiety.
Stressors that can contribute to anxiety include:
Each person experiences anxiety differently. Younger children may have trouble naming and talking about feelings of anxiety. Older children and teens may not want to discuss their worries because they do not want to upset people close to them or make things more stressful. It can be hard to talk about emotions. But open communication with each other and with your care team is important to make sure you have the resources you need.
The worry about tests and waiting for imaging test or scan results has an unofficial name — “scanxiety.” Scan anxiety, or scanxiety, is stress about imaging tests used to find cancer or other problems. In a broader sense, the term means the worry that occurs before, during, and after any medical exam or test.
Signs and symptoms of anxiety in children and teens may include:
Many symptoms can occur due to physical illness or as a side effect of living with a difficult medical diagnosis. A mental health provider can help you understand anxiety symptoms and how best to manage them.
An anxiety disorder is ongoing fear or worry that negatively affects a person’s daily life or causes extreme distress.
Usually, anxiety is part of a normal range of thoughts and emotions. But symptoms of anxiety that negatively impact daily life or do not improve may also signal an anxiety disorder or other mental illness that needs treatment.
Anxiety disorders are diagnosed based on symptoms. Anxiety disorders include:
Each anxiety disorder has symptoms that lead to a certain diagnosis. Some anxiety disorders may have similar symptoms and treatments.
Care team members who can help may include:
Talking to a trained mental health professional will help make sure your child gets the best possible treatment.
Managing symptoms of anxiety is important.
High levels of anxiety can:
Treatment for anxiety may also help with pain, nausea, and depression.
Main treatments for anxiety disorders include cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and medicines.
CBT is a type of therapy that helps a person understand the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. A CBT practitioner provides strategies to change thoughts and behaviors to improve well-being.
Your child can learn ways to lessen the effect of stress and anxiety with relaxation techniques. These techniques can include deep breathing, guided imagery, and muscle relaxation. CBT is often the first recommendation for treating anxiety disorders in children and adolescents.
A health care provider may prescribe medicine to help with anxiety symptoms. Some patients may need medicine that works over time to treat an anxiety disorder. Some patients may need a combination of medicines.
Patients taking medicines for anxiety need to visit their health care provider regularly to make sure the medicines work properly. The health care team will also monitor any side effects. Always follow medication instructions from your health care provider. Do not take more medicine than prescribed. Do not stop taking the medicine without talking to the care team first.
Talk to your child’s care team before making any dose changes. Also, be sure to store medicines safely. Keep them out of the reach of children.
Tell your health care provider if your child’s anxiety symptoms do not improve or if they get worse.
Managing anxiety is important. There are a variety of strategies that may help. Talk with your care team to make a plan that works best for your child and their specific situation.
Talk openly: It can be hard to talk with children about fears and worries. It might also be difficult for children to share their worries with adults.
Use coping skills and resources to help manage anxiety: Make it a habit to use coping skills even when things are going well. This will make the strategies easier to use when they are needed. Having more than 1 method to deal with anxiety is also important. Sometimes a usual coping strategy cannot be used or does not help.
Reach out to friends and family: Social support is important for patients and families facing serious illnesses. Help children and teens stay connected to friends and do usual activities that they enjoy.
Consider support groups: Patients and families often find that it is easier to share their experience with someone who has been there. Joining a support group, taking part in group activities, or making new friends in the hospital can give patients a safe place to talk about anxiety and find ways to cope.
Manage your own anxiety and stress: Stay calm when your child is anxious. Children sense the moods of those close to them. They also learn coping strategies from watching others. Parents and caregivers need to take care of their own mental health. Find ways to manage your own anxiety so that your child can know they can do it too.
Encourage your child to face their fears: Children and teens with anxiety often avoid situations they fear. At first, this may decrease their anxiety. But over time avoidance helps maintain or even worsen anxiety. Praise your child for getting through a hard situation.
Offer security without being overprotective: Parents want to protect their children from both physical and emotional hurt. Offer your child age-appropriate ways to be independent. This helps children develop confidence in their own abilities to solve problems.
Seek help for your child or yourself if anxiety symptoms get worse: Medical needs are often the most important concern when a child is seriously ill. But anxiety can have a negative impact on physical health and medical outcomes. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. Talk to your care team or mental health provider.
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The Together by St. Jude™ online resource does not endorse any branded product mentioned in this article.
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Reviewed: November 2023
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