My ds age 7 accidentally watched a few mins of a scary you tube video ( friends kid age 10 put it on). His reaction was extreme terror and now he seems to have some serious anxiety (Ptsd?) symptoms. How should I approach this?
He doesn't want to be alone anywhere, follows me round the house, asks me to come with him whenever he wants to go upstairs or downstairs. I pick him up from school and he's visibly withdrawn as he starts thinking about being at home and having to deal with potentially being alone (he said he likes school as there is always someone around). Putting him to bed is really tough, he wants me to stay all night, if I leave he panics and runs after me.
So what do I do? Go with him everywhere and stay until he falls asleep, and hope he'll get over it in a week or two (which makes me think he's not learning to confront and cope with his fears and emotions and will always need to turn to mummy to fix things) Or force him to get back to normal with punishments (withdrawing TV etc) which I tried tonight "go upstairs or no Tv tomorrow" It didn't work, he just got really upset, and I got more and more frustrated and angry"). I don't know what's best, I'm scared he'll not get over this.
I will add he's always been an anxious and sensitive child, had prolonged separation anxiety, hates change, scared of trying new things, and he's also got an obsession with getting germs, washes hands more than most kids. I'm nervous he will carry this and as he gets older and has to deal with teenage years it will get worse and turn into more serious anxiety and depression.... Am I making too much of this?....
Any advice mumsnetters?