difficult child has severe anxiety and panic disorder. Because her anxiety is so severe it tends to have a snowball effect. One worry leads to another and another and then worrying about worrying...you get the idea. For some of her less severe anxieties, simple tricks would work. For example, when she was younger and afraid of monsters in her room, I grabbed some glitter and put it in a different container, called it "monster medicine" and had her go with me as we sprinkled it around the house so that no monsters could get in. However, her fear of monsters wasn't throwing her into full-blown panic.
These kids tends to need a strict routine to give them a feeling of control because the anxiety and constant worrying makes them feel so out of control. They have a need to try to control their environment. They also need a lot of reassurance. However, once they are in a state of severe anxiety or panic, unless they have been taught to recognize it and have learned coping skills, it is extremely difficult to help them. It's almost as if the anxiety overrides the rational part of the brain. Instead of focusing on what is making them anxious, focus on relaxing and/or distraction. I've found with my difficult child that focusing on the anxiety by trying to talk about it and reason with it just makes her anxiety worse. However, if I can get her to breathe like she does for her hiccups (we have a trick to get rid of hiccups...difficult child gets them all the time), then I can get her to relax enough to gently pull her attention from the anxiety.
