Anxiety

In general, anxiety disorders are discriminated from one another by the focus of the fear.

For example, an adolescent diagnosed with a separation anxiety disorder may experience developmentally inappropriate and excessive levels of fears surrounding the separation of a significant individual from whom he or she is attached too (i.e. parent, sibling or guardian).

Whereas, social anxiety, is marked by excessive anxiety about one or more social situations in which the adolescent is exposed to (i.e., social interactions, preforming in front of others, being observed, giving a class presentation).

Categories of Anxiety Disorders

Presently, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5; APA, 2013) categorizes anxiety disorders, and children and youth can be diagnosed with any seven categories:

1) Separation Anxiety Disorder (SAD)
2) Selective Mutism
3) Specific Phobia
4) Social Anxiety Disorder
5) Panic Disorder
6) Agoraphobia
7) Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Anxiety Disorder Recommendations

It is important that your link your recommendations to the specific fears and worries your client experiences.

If your client is diagnosed with an anxiety disorder it is likely they will require recommendations in the following categories:

• General anxiety supports
• Positive coping stratagies 
• Perfectionism 
• Reduce avoidance behavior
• Parent supports 
• Resource: Client insists on sleeping in parents bed
• Resource: How to explain anxiety to your kids
• Challenging negative thinking 
• Increasing health coping strategies