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Articles Childhood Anxiety Disorders - An Interview With Ron Rapee continued Jasmine: Do anxious children have the cognitive ability to understand the principles of CBT? Ron: At Macquarie University we take children as young as 7 years. These children do just as well in our programs as do older children and there is no difference in outcome due to age. Most children are able to handle the concepts of thinking more realistically very well but where there are difficulties, we focus more strongly on the exposure components and this works well. Parents are included to help their child master the strategies over time. Jasmine: What can parents do if their child refuses to see a therapist? Ron: Most anxious children will agree that it would be better to worry less, have more friends, join clubs, and so on. Therefore, if it is explained to them clearly and simply, they will be able to go to a therapist without too many problems. It is especially important to emphasise that their parents will be with them and to explain fully what they can expect. In most cases, they will be anxious, but they will go along. As a parent, we need to remember that sometimes children need to go through a little distress in order to achieve something - they will not break. If a child completely refuses to go to the therapist, the parents should still go so that they can discuss some strategies with the therapist. Asking the child exactly what he or she is worried about, explaining exactly what will happen, offering a reward or incentive, and pointing out the benefits of going, are some strategies you could use. Jasmine: How can parents help their child deal with anxiety? Ron: The main help that a parent can give is to be supportive to the child while at the same time giving them space to make their own mistakes and learn for themselves. Taking over and doing everything for your child, protecting him or her from any possible harm, and reassuring him/her constantly only serve to keep the anxiety going. Aside from this, common sense strategies are best but need to be used consistently. You need to teach your child to look at situations logically and to stop thinking about all the negatives. When a child reports a worry, ask them questions that will hopefully point out how unrealistic that thinking is. For example, "have you ever heard of anyone else doing that", "has it ever happened to you before", "would you do that to someone else", and so on. In addition, if your child fears a situation, you need to break the situation down into small steps and, in a systematic way, get your child to perform each step. Make sure you reward your child for trying his or her best. Jasmine: Can you tell us about the Macquarie University Clinic? Ron: The Child and Adolescent Anxiety Clinic at Macquarie University has been running for over four years and is aimed at helping children and their families with any type of anxiety disorder. We see children between 7 and 16 years for whom anxiety is their main problem. Following a thorough assessment, the children and parents are included in a treatment program that goes for nine sessions over eleven weeks.  |
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Last modified: June 12, 2007