mardi 14 février 2017
3 Common Misconceptions About Childhood Stress Explained
When some parents start recognizing behaviors of an anxious child, many struggle to understand the difference between stress and anxiety in both kids and adults. Others get caught believing common misconceptions about how stress impacts kids, and it's these "myths" that prevent both kiddos and their parents from getting the help that they need.
As a psychologist and clinical director of TherapyNest: A Center for Anxiety and Family Therapy, Dr. Aarti Gupta helps break down childhood anxiety for parents, often before their kids have developed the tools to be able to communicate their feelings of stress and pressure. "I conceptualize stress as an external pressure or tension that is exerted on a child. Sources of stress for kids could be parental conflict, moving to a new home, excessive homework, bullying at school, or even a scary book or movie," Gupta explained to POPSUGAR. However, she describes anxiety as the response to that stress, which parents can see materialize in their child as worry, nervousness, or feelings of uncertainty.
During these conversations with parents, Dr. Gupta finds that they frequently bring up three misconceptions, which she needs all parents to recognize and understand as soon as possible. Read through for the common misunderstandings about stress and anxiety in children that moms and dads need to realize just aren't true.
"Anxiety springs from bad parenting."
Although parents often blame themselves or feel judgment from others to do so, they need to understand the real cause of their child's stress. "While a child's environment at home can exacerbate stress and anxiety, it is not the cause of anxiety," Gupta said. "However, parents can certainly play a central role in comforting an anxious child."
"Anxious children are damaged for life."
There's just nothing true about this. Gupta explains that children can lead happy, fulfilling, and satisfying lives if their struggles are recognized and treated in a timely manner. However, she does note that it's true that untreated childhood anxiety becomes more difficult to manage later in life.
"This is just a stage."
The last misconception that Gupta deals with is that children will "outgrow" their anxiety or can manage it with willpower. "Unfortunately, children do not have the skills or life experience to use willpower to manage a debilitating condition like anxiety," she said. "They certainly require the help of their parents, role models, mentors, and possibly even the help of a mental health professional."
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