The term, school phobia, refers to the childs irrational fear about school attendance. This is a behavioral problem rather than a diagnosis. The refusal may be due to a dread of leaving home (separation anxiety); fear of some aspects of school (true school phobia) due to intimidating teacher or a play ground bully; and fear of feeling exposed or embarrassed at school (social phobia).
These symptoms mainly occur in the morning, and they worsen when it is time to leave for school. Your child my also have trouble falling asleep the night before a test or other stressful event. Your child otherwise seems healthy and vigorous.The sex incidence is equal with peaks of incidence at age's 6-7 years, 10-11 years and in early adolescents.
It occurs about 1 - 2 % of children.
Preadolescents who reported high levels of conduct problems were nearly four times as likely to have experienced an episode of depression in early adulthood than were children who reported low rates of conduct problems, according to a new study.
According to this survey report shown that 17% experienced social phobia, an anxiety disorder marked by an unreasonable fear of social situations involving strangers, of being judged in such settings and avoiding those kinds of situations. In some cases, the young people in the study met the criteria for two or all three of these disorders. The study also showed that early conduct problems were a strong predictor of later violence.
Clinical Features:
The child is reluctant to leave home in the morning to attend school. It occurs most commonly at the commencement of schooling, change of school, or the beginning of secondary school. Typically, most school refusers have good academic attainments, are conformist at school, but appositional at home. School refusal can present either acutely or insidiously, often becoming a chronic problem in adolescence.
The somatic manifestations include dizziness, nausea, and stomach distress and characteristically started when the time for going school is approaching and disappears when allowed to stay at home. In older children, may be associated with withdrawal and depression
Etiology:
Three mechanisms, often in combination causes school phobia: first, separation anxiety, whereby the child and/or the parent are fearful of separation; second specific phobia about some aspect associated with school attendance, such as traveling to school, mixing with other children, or some part of the school routine, for instance certain subjects or assembly; third an indication of a more general psychiatric disturbance such as depression or low self-esteem.
Sometimes a change of schools, strict teacher, hard tests, a learning problem, or a bully may appear to be causes of the child's fear of going to school. But these things may be only part of the problem and your child should still go to school while these problems are being resolved.
Treatment:
The longer the child remains out of the school, the more difficult it is to return. The goal of the treatment is to help the child confront anxiety and overcome it by returning to school. This requires a strong alliance between parents, heath care provider and school personnel. Severe school phobia requires expert psychiatric handling.
1. For the acute case, early return to school with firm support for the parents and liaison with the school is the most successful approach.
2. For the more intractable cases, extensive work with the child and parents, along with a graded return to school is advisable. A specific behavioral program for the phobic elements may be necessary as well as the use of anxiolytic drugs in some instances. Clonazepam may be an important adjunct to the behavioral treatment.Fluvoxamine is an effective treatment for children and adolescents with social phobia, separation anxiety disorder, or generalized anxiety disorder.
3. Many clinician also use family therapy to tackle the major relationship problems that exist in many cases.
Too many of our boys and young men are falling behind in school and life. Boys receive the majority of the Ds and Fs given all students, and they create 90 percent of classroom discipline problems. Eighty percent of all high school dropouts are boys, millions of American boys are on Ritalin and other drugs, three out of four learning-disabled students are boys, and colleges are struggling to retain male students. This startling trend is not only bad for boys but also for parents, communities, and for humanity's future in general.
Most people with social phobia have a strong fear of being embarrassed in front of other people. People with social phobia feel as though everyone is watching them to see them blush, sweat or otherwise show their fear. They often believe that showing anxiety is a sign of weakness or inferiority. They also believe other people are more confident and competent than these people really are.
The clinician rates five general items: the severity of the child's distress due to anxiety, the frequency of anxiety, the degree to which the child avoided anxiety-provoking situations, and the degree to which the anxiety limited the child's participation in typical daily activities both at home and in other environments, such as school.Anxiety disorders are the most common psychiatric illnesses in children,1,2,3 but most children with anxiety disorders do not receive treatment.
With anxiety this extreme, you may have social anxiety disorder. Social anxiety disorder is a chronic mental health condition that causes an irrational anxiety or fear of activities or situations in which you believe that others are watching you or judging you. You also fear that you'll embarrass or humiliate yourself.
| 
| 133 : vote(s) so far
| Cast your vote: