In preschool and the first few years of school children’s fears and anxiety often manifest as difficulties in parting from their parent or a fear of specific things (e.g. the dark, bogeymen, wasps or clowns.) Difficulties parting from their parents and specific fears are also part of a child’s normal development. You should, however, get in touch with the child health clinic or school health care if these issues disrupt the everyday life of the child or family.

For school-age children, anxiety can also manifest as worrying and checking. In this case the anxiety is vaguer and more variable, and it is not connected to a specific situation. The child is often excessively worried about both past events and the future.  The anxiety can also manifest as compulsive behaviour. The compulsive behaviour can consist of repeatedly and excessively checking things, keeping things in a specific order, or handwashing.  A thought which causes anxiety, such as the fear of a virus or contagion, can lead to repeated behaviour that takes up an excessive amount of time. You should contact the school health care if the child’s compulsive behaviour starts to affect their everyday lives.

Anxiety among young people is often related to social situations. A young person worries about being embarrassed or judged by their peers, and this stops them from doing normal things. For a young person, anxiety can also manifest as panic attacks without an obvious cause. The attacks usually include many different physical symptoms, such as heart palpitations, shortness of breath, numbness, trembling, dizziness, nausea, needing to go to the bathroom more often, and various aches and pains. Severe anxiety can also make the person feel like an outsider or make life feel surreal, and they can also become scared of fainting, going crazy or dying.