Any advice for DD6 anxiety?

[MrsTiggywinkles]

Just that really. My dd (6) has always suffered anxiety from a very young age, starting with separation anxiety as a baby.

Her anxiety has recently become more intense manifesting in school gate hysterics - not wanting to go into school and also hysterics at dropping off at after school activities (which she loves!).

DD is unable to give any sensible reason for her anxiety often suggesting random excuses.

Perhaps connected (or not?) DD also has twitches and a nervous cough. I have noticed these getting worse in line with the anxiety at drop offs getting worse.

There have been no changes in the home/family situation.

Does anyone have any experience or suggestions on how to tackle this? I hate seeing her so anxious/hysterical and am concerned that this is getting worse. Should I be taking her to the doctor? Seeking out a counsellor?

This may be less than you need for your dd but I recommend this book I bought for my dd when she became anxious at 6 or so. Hers was triggered by an accident but she wasn't sleeping, hated me being out of sight, worried about everything. It's "what to do when you worry too much" and I got it from amazon. It gave us exercises to do together and things she could do to manage her anxiety herself such as stomping on her worries. In her case this helped more than any other methods we tried.

Thanks - we'll give that a try. We have worry dolls too.

My concern is that there is no apparent trigger such as bereavement, big change, trauma. It has just inexplicably intensified and I want make sure that I take the right course of action to minimise the effect and/or prevent from escalating.

I used to work wth little ones with separation anxiety as a therapist, and I'd definitely recommended popping in to see you GP about this so you can get help before it escalates. Unfortunately, some kids are just anxious - there doesn't always need to be a trigger or some big event. Sometimes there is a trigger but we don't know what it is. Either way, definitely have a chat to your GP and ask for some support.

In the meantime, this is something I used to use with my kids at work that really worked. If you can make a lot of the little hearts, you can put them in a jar somewhere visible like the kitchen every time you get reunited, so that when she starts to get anxious, you have a visual representation of how many times things turned out just fine. Definitely use the "building up" idea mentioned in the article, too, if you do decide to try it. Hope this helps

http://creativesocialworker.tumblr.com/post/56195953704/separation-anxiety-pocket-heartsmore-young

Thanks for the link and the advice. I really wasn't sure about going to the GP as I didn't want to waste their time, but it's reassuring to know that this is the normal route to take.

I am so glad I posted about this!