“mommy, there is a monster under my bed, I’m scared”
“there is a ghost in my closet, I’m so scared, I want to sleep with you”
“I don’t know what to do in the exam tomorrow and I’m so scared”
“I don’t want to go to school, what if something happens to you while I’m at school”
Etc. We have come across many situations of fear, albeit a little.
The word fear is a situation that we often hear from our children and that we sometimes do not know how to approach, sometimes calmly and sometimes angering us. “Is the man afraid”, “He is actually making it up”, “You have studied enough, why are you afraid of the exam!” Not knowing what to do in situations where we think that we are, helplessness and lack of solution is a problem we often experience.
Fear, anxiety, apprehension in general; the individual’s perception of everything that happens around him as a danger and threat during any situation, which is felt in that situation; Tension is a strong urge to run or fight, as a result of which the body responds with physiological symptoms such as rapid heartbeat and tension in the muscles. In fact, it can be said that it is a state of intense arousal experienced by the individual.
Children with very wide imaginations may find it difficult to suppress their fears and anxieties from time to time. Children’s fear of bad guys, thieves, monsters, ghosts, animals such as cats and dogs, especially at night, is a situation that should be taken seriously, although it may seem funny sometimes. The feeling of fear, which settles in the mind from a young age, may continue as symptoms that are reflected in adulthood.
There are fears or widespread anxiety states that emerge in childhood and can be called psychiatric problems, which parents should distinguish well and offer their children intervention and support before it’s too late.
From time to time, we may notice that our children look at all the changes and events around them with intense anxiety and fear. These anxieties may manifest as restlessness, overexcitement, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, or stagnation, irritability/emotional sensitivity, muscle tension, and sleep problems. The child has difficulty controlling his anxiety. Anxiety may also be accompanied by physical complaints. Such situations negatively affect the quality of life of the child. Our children are not able to express their inner distress and stress verbally from time to time and they call for help with their behaviors. These calls for help should be carefully evaluated by parents and sensitivities should be met.
The psychiatric picture defined as Generalized Anxiety Disorder is a state of fear and anxiety in the individual, ranging from mild uneasiness to horror and panic. Anxiety, which reaches this stage, loses its feature of being one of the protection mechanisms of the person and becomes a problem that the person has to deal with.
If the state of anxiety and fear experienced by the individual or the child affects daily life, if it has negative reflections on the relationship between friends and parents, and if it jeopardizes school life, this situation should not be considered as a simple childhood fear and help from a specialist should definitely be sought.
