Treatment options are available and effective

If your child or teenager is struggling with an anxiety disorder, we can help.

We speak to hundreds of families every year about their child’s struggle with anxiety and know how heart breaking it is for parents who often feel unable to help.

Clinical Partners have an expert, caring team of psychiatrists, psychologists and psychotherapists who are able to assess and diagnose anxiety disorders and then recommend the best treatment option for your child.

Talking therapies

Research has shown that talking therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) can be hugely effective for children with anxiety disorders, teaching them active coping strategies, distraction techniques and problem focused solutions.

EMDR (eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing) is a type of therapy that involves using a gentle visual stimulus, for instance moving a pen from side to side in front of the patient’s eyes, whilst asking the patient to focus on the distressing thought. EMDR helps the brain to re-programme itself and is a recognised treatment option for anxiety disorders, particularly effective with PTSD.

Often children and adults adopt avoidance focused coping strategies as a way of managing their anxiety, which can be ‘successful’ in allowing them to get on with their daily lives. However, they don’t address the root problems and risk reinforcing the fear of the anxiety inducing event or object, making things even harder in the future.

Having a safe space, with someone who is specifically trained to deal with anxiety, can allow your child or teenager to talk through their condition and learn successful ways of dealing with challenges they may face. If the anxiety is caused by a traumatic life event, psychotherapy can be very useful in helping them deal with the complicated emotions they are experiencing. The hope is that talking therapies equip your child with lifelong skills, resulting in them being happier and able to live their lives more fully.

Medication

Sometimes medication will be recommended. Medications such as antidepressants have been successfully used by young people to overcome their anxiety disorders.

Often a talking therapy will also be recommended and it has repeatedly been shown that medication taken alongside a talking therapy is more effective than medication alone¹.

Read 'Anxiety disorder assessments: what to expect from your child’s appointment'

¹ Seligman, L.D. and Ollendick, T.H. (2011) Cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety disorders in youth in Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, Vol 20, No. 2, pp 217-38