Why feeling worried is important
Anxiety is your brain’s early warning system, designed to tell you, you may not be safe. It’s important you listen to it. Developing a pattern of avoidance or denial has flow on effects for self- trust, hinders expression of all emotions and can compound or lead to declining mental health. Exploring worries from a space of Calm Dynamic provides the opportunity for working through what is wrong.
Exploring worries from a space of Calm Dynamic provides the opportunity for working through what is wrong.
Anxiety is Exhausting
Have you ever tried to hold a beach ball underwater? It takes effort. And then when you must let go because you're worn out it can jump right up and smack you in the face.
It's much easier when someone stands beside you and gently allows the beach ball to rise to the top. You can be the conduit guiding the beach ball your child is struggling to, to the surface. |
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What does being anxious feel like?
Chances are you’ve been worried about something in your life. It may have been fleeting and something you managed quite well. You may know what is happening within your body and how your body shows the world your anxiety: blushing, tears, loss of words, meltdowns, hot flushes etc. However, this can vary between individuals.
Within an anxious brain it’s like a black curtain gets pulled across and creates a barrier between you and your life. Your brain becomes full of all the things could go wrong – how embarrassed you might feel, how much trouble you might get into, how you can keep yourself safe from that person who follows you around and sneakily kicks you when no-one is looking, how you can avoid going to PE, or what else you could possibly do to pass that Math test. Your brain may ruminate on past experiences both one’s you’ve directly experienced and ones you’ve witnessed or heard about.
And as you’re ruminating there is likely to be a mean accompanying voice reminding you of your failings.
There is no end to the ways anxiety can taunt and torment.
Within an anxious brain it’s like a black curtain gets pulled across and creates a barrier between you and your life. Your brain becomes full of all the things could go wrong – how embarrassed you might feel, how much trouble you might get into, how you can keep yourself safe from that person who follows you around and sneakily kicks you when no-one is looking, how you can avoid going to PE, or what else you could possibly do to pass that Math test. Your brain may ruminate on past experiences both one’s you’ve directly experienced and ones you’ve witnessed or heard about.
And as you’re ruminating there is likely to be a mean accompanying voice reminding you of your failings.
There is no end to the ways anxiety can taunt and torment.
Within an anxious brain it’s (anxiety is) like a black curtain gets pulled across and creates a barrier between you and your life.
What is the Calm Dynamic Mind?
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The Calm Dynamic mind is like a break in the clouds. In this place you’re standing there with your unique glasses on, with a clear view of what is happening and what may happen next. In this place time can seem to slow and things lose their frantic urgency. It can be described as being in flow. You may feel some peace or openness.
The clarity experienced in a Calm Dynamic state isn't just about relaxing you. The Dynamic part is the action part. It's this space that allows you to sort the snakes from the sticks, problem solve, communicate effectively, act from your strengths and make changes needed to support learning and enhance school success. |
What is the difference between anxiety and fear?
Anxiety happens when you are thinking about an event. Fear is what you have when you are experiencing an event. For example, if your child goes to school happily and then stiffens up when they notice a different teacher in the class that’s a fear response. If they’re worried at home because they might have a substitute teacher, that’s an anxious response. When your child is feeling fear in response to a real or perceived imminent threat, your child may notice sudden hear rate increase and other Autonomic Nervous System changes. When your child is feeling anxious in anticipation of a threat, the symptoms are a little different as your mind knows action right at this second is not needed. Muscle tension, vigilance, cautious/avoidant behaviour. Panic attacks are seen in anxiety as a fear response.
What happens when your fear response is triggered?
Once your brain identifies something as a threat to your safety, it sends a message to your adrenal glands requesting energy to take action. Or in other words, prods it to switch on your stress response so that you can fight, flight or freeze to keep yourself from harm. When your body responds a cocktail of biochemical survival hormones are released such as adrenaline, noradrenaline, cortisol, norepinpephrine and ephinephrine. These hormones influence everything you do, from eating and running to feeling, thinking and behaving. Your heart will start beating quicker as it pumps blood to the areas that your brain believes are needed right now, like your muscles. A rush of adrenaline causes your lungs to take in more oxygen which the heart pushes to the rest of the body. Your breathing becomes more rapid and shallow as the airway between the nose and the lungs constricts.
How common is school anxiety?
Whilst about 7% of children have a diagnosed Anxiety Disorder (DSM-5), depending on age and research design, about 20-50% of children experience anxiety about school, at some stage.
The diagnosis of an Anxiety, or any other mental health condition is complex, but the main differences between School Anxiety and an Anxiety Disorder, include: the nature of the worry itself - the length of time, the frequency and the intensity of which your child experiences worries; what they worry about; and thirdly how much it gets in the way of their life.
School Anxiety is not a diagnosed disorder. It’s a way of describing worry about a school related stress. It exists outside of a diagnosed Disorder but can also be a part of a diagnosed Anxiety Disorder, or other Disorders in children, including ADHD, Autism, Learning Difficulties, Depression, Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Trauma.
The important thing is that many more children will experience anxiety about a school stress at some point during their schooling than those who have an official diagnosis. Your child does not have to have a diagnosis to be experiencing School Anxiety.
The diagnosis of an Anxiety, or any other mental health condition is complex, but the main differences between School Anxiety and an Anxiety Disorder, include: the nature of the worry itself - the length of time, the frequency and the intensity of which your child experiences worries; what they worry about; and thirdly how much it gets in the way of their life.
School Anxiety is not a diagnosed disorder. It’s a way of describing worry about a school related stress. It exists outside of a diagnosed Disorder but can also be a part of a diagnosed Anxiety Disorder, or other Disorders in children, including ADHD, Autism, Learning Difficulties, Depression, Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Trauma.
The important thing is that many more children will experience anxiety about a school stress at some point during their schooling than those who have an official diagnosis. Your child does not have to have a diagnosis to be experiencing School Anxiety.
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