Panic attacks in a 9 year old child. How to diagnose panic attacks? Panic attack test. Causes of panic attacks in children

Symptoms associated with anxiety

• panic or pronounced fear;
• muscle tension;
• discomfort, discomfort, chest pain.

Vegetative symptoms

• increased heart rate;
• feeling of suffocation or lack of air;
• nausea;
• sweating;
• increased blood pressure;
• chills, shivering.

Other symptoms

• dizziness;
• pre-fainting state;
• tinnitus;
• numbness, etc.

Causes of panic

In today's world, a child is under enormous pressure in many aspects of their lives. Even at primary school age, children face competition to be more popular and physically attractive. If the child does not succeed, there is a fear of ridicule and misunderstanding. This is what often underlies panic attacks. In addition, the child subtly feels any family problems. They can affect the harmonious development of the baby. Often, children experience fear in a school environment, which is why they withdraw into themselves, cannot establish contact with classmates, and become inattentive. This leads not only to a deterioration in relations with others, but also to a decrease in academic performance. If you notice that your child is worried about something, try to talk to him about this topic, find out the reason. Tension and fear will begin to increase if the baby hides his emotions.

Treatment for panic attacks

What can parents do

When PA appears, the child feels unprotected and vulnerable. Try to give him more attention and support him. A calm home atmosphere is especially important for such children. Try to come up with a common hobby, the main thing is to be close to the child. If he feels trust in you, he will be able to talk about his fears.

What can a doctor do

In some cases, it is advisable to contact a child psychotherapist. The doctor will help to establish the causes of panic attacks and identify the provoking factor. The psychotherapist will tell you how to behave in case of a sudden appearance of PA in a child, how to communicate with such children. After making an accurate diagnosis and identifying concomitant diseases, the doctor can prescribe a course of treatment. Taking medications in this case is aimed at blocking PA, reducing anxiety, eliminating autonomic symptoms and interrupting seizures. The most effective is considered a combined treatment that combines the methods of psychotherapy with the use of drugs.

If you have children, and one of them has the symptoms listed below, then you should think about it and possibly go to a child psychoneurologist. It will be useful.

The article is written in medical language, but now all parents are literate. If a word is not clear to you, ask me or look for the meaning on the Internet. Reading questions for me.

Panic attacks in children are a manifestation of violations in the delicate and fragile psyche, which are most often generated by fears of various etiologies.

They are based on early socialization, exorbitant psycho-emotional stress, increased sensitivity. Identification of the "culprits", timely assistance to a person undergoing the process of formation, are the key to his strong mental health and harmonious development.

Causes of PA

The origin of panic attacks in little fidgets may be due to:

• With increased anxiety and excessive guardianship of parents who are intensely in control of school life, health and personal time of their child.
• With upbringing in a family where the father and / or mother are in any form of chemical dependence (drug addiction, alcoholism).
• With psychotraumatic events that arise in life - divorce of parents, moving, etc.
• With unhealthy, conflicting relationships in the family.
• With childhood phobias: fear of the dark, fear of separation from the mother, etc.

The causative factors for the appearance of deep, "animal" fears in a child at the age of 5 and a little older often become the harshness and severity of the parents. They can also be the result of a loss of warmth in relations between adults and a small person, “covering” his feeling (especially at night) of insecurity. It is very important for moms and dads to take into account that it is during this period that a child has a claim through the love and approval of elders to confirm his own significance.

Psychologists note that in a child from the age of 7, uncontrollable fears are often associated with a different, new environment, as he begins to attend school. His environment changes, an important person appears in his life - a teacher who can be quite strict. Fear of doing the wrong thing can lead to severe mental discord, which ends in a painful attack.

In adolescence, vegetative-vascular dystonia and PA are provoked by chronic ailments. This time is also often associated with a "riot" of hormones that cause arrhythmia, tachycardia and bradycardia. Doctors have noticed that with VVD, older children often convulsively listen to the heartbeat, and during panic attacks, they may additionally experience a fear of stopping the myocardium.

Symptoms of panic attacks

Moments of panic attacks in children occur spontaneously, without any apparent reason. They do not pose a threat to the lives of children, are characterized by vegetative disorders, including:

• feeling of drying out of the mouth;
• pallor of the epithelium;
• increased anxiety;
• hypertension;
• increased sweating;
• ringing in the ears and fog before the eyes;
• trembling, numbness of the limbs.

In children during an attack, there is often a tremor of the eyelids and lips, pain in the chest, dizziness. Also, with PA, they may experience nausea that is not related to nutrition. Often the attack ends suddenly, accompanied by significant urination (light-colored urine with a low relative density). Since children cannot always explain their condition, point out painful areas, as well as a variety of symptoms, the anomaly is not always diagnosed on time.

note: The peculiarity of panic attacks in a small person is often associated with his lack of experience in life, so he cannot understand and accept his condition. It is important for parents not to leave the baby alone with excruciating fears, even for a short time.

How to treat, so as not to harm

Treatment of PA in children is aimed at alleviating the course of painful attacks. To exclude any other pathology that may have similar symptoms with panic attacks, the child must be examined by a general practitioner, a neuropathologist and a cardiologist.

Psychotherapy is considered the most effective method, especially if a child has had a panic attack more than once. Panic attacks may include:

• Cognitive-behavioral therapy. It teaches you to “catch” panic thoughts in time, to replace them with positive ones. It gives children the opportunity to understand their fear, to explain it to adults.
• Therapy is emotionally oriented. It is aimed at developing positive thinking in even very young patients.
• Art therapy. Allows psychologists to see the fears and anxieties of their patients through the drawing. Helps to relieve their accumulated stress in a short time.

Another type of treatment is medication. In order not to aggravate the anomalies, pharmacological drugs are prescribed exclusively by physicians, taking into account all the characteristics of the child, the nature of panic attacks. In particular, they are shown in the early stages and/or with particularly severe characteristics of the ongoing processes.

Prevention of diseases in children

What to do in order to protect a growing person from panic fear?

• Firstly, you should be with the child in the warmest possible relationship, in every possible way protect him from stress, do not overstrain.
• Secondly, it is very delicate to teach him to adequately relate to a different environment, new people, ongoing events, even if they do not like it.
• Thirdly, it is necessary to maintain and raise his self-esteem all the time.

It is important for parents to identify panic attacks in children in time, understand their causes, and treat them properly. It is very important to have an action plan that is agreed with the doctors. Remember that even small fears in a child's life tend to turn into more complex problems.

A panic attack is a state of increased excruciating anxiety combined with fear and unpleasant somatic symptoms. Similar phenomena appear precisely in adolescence, when the human nervous system is very vulnerable.

This question is within the competence of psychologists and psychotherapists, and not some other doctors. Therefore, if panic attacks occur too often and interfere with a fulfilling life, you should seek the advice of an appropriate specialist.

In adolescence, a person is faced with the problem of becoming a person, but still cannot clearly define his views and goals. Many factors put pressure on him - criticism of teachers and parents, communication with peers, the influence of the Internet and the street.

Negative experiences accumulate and provoke sudden outbursts of negative emotions. It is difficult even for a mature person to control panic attacks, while teenagers endure such a condition especially hard.

panic attack has following symptoms:

• confusion of thoughts, loss of control over speech and emotions;
• heavy breathing, shortness of breath;
• frequent pulse, pressure surges;
• tremor, trembling, chills;
• sweating;
• nausea and dizziness;
• numbness of the limbs;
• dry mouth, pale skin;
• fear of going crazy or dying.

A person may show several signs at once, as well as insomnia, depression, and a depressed state. In this case, the internal tension can persist for quite a long time. This phenomenon cannot be ignored. because it can end in a nervous breakdown or even suicide. In adolescence, a person begins to perceive the world as hostile, feels lonely and abandoned.

Panic creates unfounded fears which often develop into serious phobias. Panic attacks in adolescents are facilitated by behavioral stereotypes imposed from childhood. When a child tries to express emotions, parents scold him, saying - "shut your mouth!" or “stop crying!”.

At an older age, they teach him that in any situation you need to behave with restraint and decently. Most parents conduct such education in a raised voice, in a rude, frightening form. As a result child's self-esteem drops, he is afraid to express his opinion, to prove himself in society. It suppresses feelings and emotions, which in the future results in panic attacks.

Often seemingly quiet and calm teenagers commit stupid spontaneous acts, show aggression and cruelty.

Adults believe that such behavior is not typical for them, however, such manifestations most often occur in notorious adolescents, such “gray mice”. The volcano of constantly suppressed emotions must find a way out somewhere.. A good option could be sports sections, dancing or other activities that require physical activity. Thus, a teenager throws out spiritual negativity and tension through the body.

Psychologists consider creativity to be a good way to transform emotions.. It allows you to get rid of experiences, giving them a different form (music, poetry, prose, paintings). If a teenager does not find ways to release his emotions, they destroy him from exhaustion. Against this background, conflicts arise with parents, teachers, friends and relatives. It is difficult for a teenager to figure out who supports him and who is trying to harm him. Often he compensates for disharmony with alcohol and drugs.

Panic attacks are much more common in girls than in boys. This is explained by the female gender is naturally more sensitive and emotional. Do not take this as a ladies' whims. If a girl has become nervous, tearful, her mood and desires often change - this is an alarm signal for both parents and the teenager himself.

The prognosis for the treatment of such conditions is good. It is possible to get rid of them without resorting to medications. Sometimes a few conversations with a psychologist are enough. However, a favorable outcome is possible only if there is a trusting relationship between parents and the child. After all, an unhealthy family environment is the first factor in the development of neuroses and other mental disorders in adolescents. If parents do not pay due attention to the child, do not seek to understand and hear him, he finds solace in dubious companies and subcultures.

What if a panic attack did happen?

It should be remembered that it can arise quite suddenly, so you need to be prepared to meet it. Here are some ways to fight with a panic attack

• Breath control

Try to slow down your breathing so that its frequency does not exceed 4-5 breaths per minute. Place your hands on your upper abdomen. It is better to close your eyes while doing this. You can practice this exercise at home in a relaxed environment.

• red herring

You can remember something pleasant or even funny. Of course, it is very difficult to switch from a negative state, but you should turn your thoughts in a different direction, stop thinking about what actually caused the attack.

• Eat something or drink (but not alcohol). It is necessary to break the vicious circle of panic by shifting the attention of the body to other actions.

The periods between panic attacks can be characterized by a complete absence of negative symptoms, as well as chronic anxiety and tension. Blocking panic manifestations with sedatives only exacerbates the problem.

Need a professional correction of a psychologist. In adolescence, it is generally not recommended to take any medication in the fight against psychological disorders. The instability of the nervous system of adolescents is a natural phenomenon that can be regulated without the help of pharmacology.

It is important to replace the disorder in time and start effective therapy, otherwise such phenomena are fraught with severe depression, which can break a person from the inside. Chronic neuroses severely limit personal development and significantly reduce the quality of life.

“It was a normal school day, recess. I walked down the hallway with my friends and laughed. Suddenly it seemed to me that my heart burned strongly, and my breath caught.

I stopped and felt my heart beating fast, like a rabbit's. I thought I was dying. My legs turned into cotton, I was seized by a terrible panic, there was a real hysteria. The head teacher called an ambulance…”

Such a story is in the memoirs of almost every VVDshnik. The first panic attacks occur during puberty, and there are good physiological and psychological reasons for this.

Very young patients with VSD, as a rule, are poorly aware of the symptoms (or do not feel or understand them at all). Therefore, the diagnosis of "vegetative-vascular dystonia" in childhood is extremely rare. But the body of a teenager is the best soil for rooting the IRR and its main "charms" - panic attacks (hypertensive or adrenaline crises).

A picture that inspires eternal fear

The symptoms of a panic attack in a teenager are not much different from the symptoms of adult VSDshnikov, but young sufferers perceive the picture extremely hard for three reasons:

1. The nervous system of a teenager, by virtue of its formation, perceives any trouble as a tragedy, and a panic attack is a whole horror movie, where the main role is played by the teenager himself.
2. Disgusting sensations during a panic attack occur for the first time in their lives, and the teenager simply does not know how to respond to them. Due to the presence of an acute fear of death, the schoolboy prefers to sound the alarm in all tambourines.
3. The first panic attack leaves an indelible wound on the psyche of a teenager, after which he begins to expect that this will definitely happen again. And this is repeated, justifying his worst expectations, and is fixed as a reflex.

If there is no understanding adult nearby, or if everyone around begins to accuse the teenager of a simulated illness, the student becomes even more isolated in himself. As a rule, in a tense atmosphere, panic attacks in adolescents tend to recur with renewed vigor and become fixed for life.

How does a child who has undergone an adrenaline crisis feel?

• The increased internal tension intersects with another failure of the vegetative system and provokes a sharp release of adrenaline into the blood, due to which the teenager suddenly feels an unusual strong fear.
• Not knowing how to react, the teenager gets even more frightened, and the adrenaline rush repeats - from an excess of the hormone, the pressure rises sharply and the tremor of the whole body begins.
• There is a strong panic, coupled with the fear of death. A teenager can feel, like his legs, his head has become “alien”, the pulse has become more frequent, his throat and chest are suffocated. Consciousness is changed, the child is not able to adequately respond to what is happening, he can beat in hysterics and sob.

If others succumb to this panic (and this happens very often, since not all people are familiar with the manifestations of VVD), the teenager may be frightened to such an extent that he loses consciousness. First of all, you need to hug the child and try to convey to him: what is happening is not fatal and will pass in 20-30 minutes.

The teenager should be seated on the sofa and given 30 drops of Corvalol (Valocordin) to drink, try to distract him with conversations or joint activities. A teenager, captured by adrenaline, breathes too quickly, because of which he feels suffocated: the lungs, clogged with air, function in an unusual mode. To do this, you need to ask the child to fold his palms in a boat and breathe in them for a while, stretching his inhalations and exhalations.

Young victims of adrenaline

Attentive parents always remember that before the onset of panic attacks, the teenager had a kind of “medical history”. It manifested itself in a “strange” state, which doctors attributed to the age-related restructuring of the body. Many will also remember how they did not believe in the "disease" of the child and sent him to lessons with abuse, strongly recommending that he end with pretense. The symptomatology may indeed seem twisted, but, unfortunately, often these symptoms become harbingers of imminent panic attacks:

1. Short-term jumps in pressure and pulse.
2. Subfebrile temperature (37 degrees) for a long time.
3. Lethargy and.
4. "Water" in the head and.
5. and depression.
6. Meteorological dependence.

The fact is that every teenager, without exception, undergoes a global restructuring of the body. Sometimes the body grows so intensely that the vessels simply do not have time to stretch and supply all the organs with the necessary volume of blood: hence the weakness with low blood pressure and cottony legs. And the central nervous system is just learning to keep a balance between its two departments, so the pressure of a teenager is so unstable, however, like his mood.