Anxiety I think!

[Lmr078]

I'm not sure how to start but hopefully can explain this & someone may shed some light.
I have a 5 year ol son, Liam. He's always been a very switched on child. (I'm not just saying that because I'm his mum) very articulate & older fir his age. Not by iur doing as hes slways had kuds around him which he is great at sicislising even with kids but also will have an older conversation if that makes sense. He seems to be having type of anxiety attacks. I myself suffer from anxiety but it's not something I do in front of my children. even though he acts older we don't make him older or allow him to see or watch adult things as I know he questions things so I try to keep adult things from him. It seems though that he always jumps to the worst of things etc he fell over on his arm, he starts panicing & saying he wanted to go home because he's going to have to go to hospitsl, just now he said he was sore in his chest & had thought the worse that something was broken in him. His mind is so over active that going to bed he will say he can't get to sleep because someone is going to break into the house while we are sleeping or sometimes he just has these 'butterflies' in his belly that he can't explain why they are there. The anxiety that he seems to have can get quite severe & I have to try & get him out of his head space to calm now. I even find myself watching what I say or anyone around him just so he doesn't hear, question, over react & start panicing! I'm not sure of I have explained it enough but I'm just not sure how to work thru this with him. Please help & if anyone has had this & what they did?

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Anxiety disorders are biologically-driven. They are genetic in nature and have to do with the functioning of brain chemicals called neurotransmitters. It's important that you lower your intensity and maintain your equanimity. If you are intense in your reaction to this you are only going to make things worse. It is very important that you literally calm down and relax. Do the very thing that you will be helping your son to do. He's only five.

[Lmr078]

Thank you. After some research last night I have bought some books on line both for him and I.
This morning... He woke up and must of had a sore neck. He is really worried about that and getting all panicing thinking that it was broken and to get him out of this kind of mind frame is really hard. To explain to a 5 year old what you are thinking and its the worse case scenario isnt right!

I just dont understand where this has come from. I remember as a child, thinking to myself "wow, I am only 5 and only been alive on this earth for 5 years, thats not very long at all" and always thinking someone was going to come in my bedroom at night or something was going to happen to my family. I thought this was only because my family was broken. but Liam lives in a loving happy family and I have also made sure of this as I didnt want him to go through what I ever did.
& my poor baby, I dont want him to ever go through the anxiety that I have as an adult.
I need and want to fix this for him now.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, as they say. Your description does indicate a baseline level of generalized anxiety that is more than one would normally expect in a child this age. I would suggest utilizing a resource such as Chansk's Freeing Your Child from Anxiety. You'll find some useful tools and strategies that can be employed in everyday life.