Fears in anxious children - 13/04/16
Résumé |
Introduction |
Fear is a distressing emotion aroused by a risk or a damage, real or imaginary. Fears have a warning function against dangers. Nevertheless, fear can also become in one of the most limiting elements of a person's life.
Objectives |
To characterize the profile of fears presented in a sample of 19 children, aged between 8 and 13years old, who had previously been diagnosed with one of the following: Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Separation Anxiety Disorder or Social Phobia.
Material and methods |
The sample was taken from patients who participated in a cognitive-behavioral group therapy. The Spanish version of the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised (FSSC-R) questionnaire was employed. The FSSC-R asks children to indicate on a 3-point scale (‘none’, ‘some’, ‘a lot’) how much they fear 80 specific stimuli or situations. Five basic categories of fears can be stablished: failure and criticism (17 items); the unknown (17 items); minor injury and small animals (13 items); danger and death (16 items); medical fears (5 items).
Results |
The sample includes 19 children: 12 boys (63.2%) and 7 girls (36.8%). The median age is 10.74 years. The sample shows 15 excessive fears on average (those scored as ‘a lot’). Girls show higher rates of excessive fears than boys: 19 versus 13. The most common fears were ‘being hit by a car or truck’, ‘bombing attacks. Being invaded’, ‘a burglar breaking into our house’ and ‘falling from high places’.
Conclusions |
Most common excessive fears belong to danger and death category. Females report more fears than males.
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Vol 33 - N° S
P. S352 - mars 2016 Retour au numéroBienvenue sur EM-consulte, la référence des professionnels de santé.
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