Category: Anxiety Related Disorders

Social anxiety disorder, or social phobia, is characterized by an intense fear of social and performance situations and activities. This can significantly impair the child’s school performance and attendance, as well as the ability to socialize with peers and develop and maintain relationships. The feared situation is most often avoided altogether or else it is endured with marked discomfort or dread.

Major symptoms include the following:

1. Difficulty with public speaking, reading aloud, or being called on in class
2. Avoiding or refusing to initiate conversations, invite friends to get together, order food in restaurants, or call, text, or e-mail peers
3. Frequently avoiding eye contact with adults or peers
4. Speaking very softly or mumbling
5. Appearing isolated or on the fringes of the group
6. Overly concerned with negative evaluation, humiliation, or embarrassment

Children, adolescents, and teens with this disorder may have few or no friends. They may not participate in class or play at recess. A child who has had trouble making friends or who avoids participating in school and social activities and shows no sign of improvement may have social anxiety disorder.

Worried that your child might be suffering from Social Anxiety Disorder:

1. Does your child seem to have difficulty speaking in front of others?
2. Does he/she become extremely nervous and complain of physical symptoms like stomach ache, nausea, trembling, at the thought of social interaction and performance situations like speaking to a group?
3. Does he/she tend to appear have difficulty meeting other children or joining in groups
4. Does he/she have a limited number of friends
5. Does he/she avoid social situations where they might be the focus of attention or stand out from others – for example, talking on the telephone and asking or answering questions in class?

Treatments, we provide that can help your child and you

Psychoeducation

Parental counselling

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

Behaviour Modification

Arguments between siblings are one of the ways children learn how to be fair, to respect others and to resolve differences. Learning how to argue fairly without hurting anyone is a skill that will help them in future relationships. A rivalry between siblings has been around forever, but when it gets out of control and is left untreated, it can become a serious problem. The conflict may include hitting, kicking, name-calling and other types of verbal or physical aggression. Children may also fight about your love and compete for your attention. They can feel jealous if you seem to have more time for one child, or to treat one child differently to another. If children feel they are not treated fairly by parents they can sometimes be aggressive toward their siblings. This behaviour usually succeeds in getting parents’ attention. Managing sibling conflict can strain even the most patient parents.  There are several factors that may contribute to sibling rivalry like the individual child’s temperament, treating children differently, marital distress between parents, environmental stressors, etc. However, if the symptoms begin to worsen, it is crucial to seek professional help at the earliest.

Worried that your children are exhibiting sibling rivalry:

1. Do your children’s fights persist for more than a month?
2. Do you sense intense feelings of jealousy between your children?
3. Does your children’s behaviour with each other have an impact on the peace of the household?

Treatments, we provide that can help your child and you

Psychoeducation

Parental counselling

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

Behaviour Modification

Fears are common in childhood and often go away. A phobia is diagnosed if the fear persists for at least six months and interferes with a child’s daily routine, such as refusing to play outdoors for fear of encountering a dog. Specific phobia refers to the intense, irrational fear of a specific object, such as a dog, or a situation, such as flying. Common childhood phobias include animals, storms, heights, water, blood, the dark, and medical procedures. Children will avoid situations or things that they fear or endure them with anxious feelings, which may show up as crying, tantrums, clinging, avoidance, headaches, and stomach-aches. Unlike adults, children do not usually recognize that their fear is irrational.

Although fears are common, it is important to seek professional help if the child’s fears have been going on longer than six months are really interfering with your child’s daily life.

Worried that your child might be suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder:

1. Does your child have a persistent and unreasonable fear of an object or situation, such as flying, heights, or animals?
2. Does the child tend to avoid, or not approach these situations/object?
3. When encountering the feared object or situation, does he/she react by freezing, clinging, or having a tantrum?
4. Has this extreme fear lasted for more than six months?

Treatments, we provide that can help your child and you

Psychoeducation

Parental counselling

Behaviour Therapy

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

Is a disorder where a child suffers from extreme worries of getting apart from their loved family members or their loved places they are emotionally attached to.

Worried that your child might have SAD:

1. Does your child get frightened and have nightmares by thinking of getting separated?
2. Does your child have this tendency of overly reliant on you, even at home?
3. Does your child refuse to go to schools or going out?
4. Does your child have a lot of temper, tantrums when separated from parents / caregivers?
5. Does your child have frequent nausea, headaches or muscle aches?

Treatments

Play Therapy

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: by recognizing and vocalize worry and fear

De-sensitisation

Family directed interactions

Dialectical Behavioural Therapy: a kind of therapy that helps to deal with difficult situations