Fear is an unpleasant strong emotion caused by awareness or anticipation of danger. Fears are learned, but there are the instinctual fears of loud sounds, loss of balance, and sudden motion. Children experience terror or fright over a large number of things or situations. Unreasoning and overpowering fear results in a panic state, while aversion or reluctance to face situations is called dread. When an irrational fear persists, the term used is a phobia. Typical childhood fears include dark, abandonment, mutilation, loud noises, illness, monsters, animals, heights, transportation, storms, strangers, and unfamiliar situations.
Three factors have been identified in childhood fears:
1) Physical injury - poisons, operations, war, being kidnapped.
2) Natural events-storms, riots, dark, death (these fears decrease significantly with age).
3) Psychic stress-tests, mistakes, social events, school, being criticized. Some children appear to be generally timid and fearful, while others have one or two specific fears. Boys and girls, in most studies, have been equally fearful.
At least half of all children have the common fears of dogs, dark, thunder, and ghosts, with 10 percent having two or more serious fears. Fears are most common between 2 and 6 years. between 2 and 4, fear of animals, storms, darkness, and strangers are frequent. These fears diminish by 5 years and disappear by 9 years. From 4 to 6, imaginary fears like ghosts and monsters predominate, peak by age 6, and disappear by age 10. As many as 90 percent of children under 6 develop some specific fear which leaves naturally. Supernatural fears (ghosts, Dracula, Frankenstein) still concern 20 percent of children age 5 through 11. Physical dangers are typical from age 10 and up. An important statistic concerning school is that 20 percent of children fear tests and do poorly due to those fears. from a positive point of view, fear enhances survival by alerting us to danger and preparing us to protect ourselves. Adrenalin flow prepares the body to take action for fight or flight. Physical and psychological mobilization is helpful in meeting and warding off danger. For example, we want children to be afraid of cars so they should be careful, but not mortally frightened.
Dreams very frequently reflect fears. If children discuss their dreams, parents can often understand what is frightening their children. As children mature, their feelings in general become more specific and intense. Most children outgrow fears if their environment is secure and irrational fears are discouraged. Intense fears do not naturally go away and punishment or ignoring are not effective. Specific fears may lead to general feelings of apprehension, insecurity, foreboding, or free-floating anxiety. Intense or prolonged fears should be taken seriously. Not wanting parents to leave is much different than extreme overreactions and fear of abandonment. Indicators of a need for professional help are fear of all objects in any category and debilitating, intense fear. Strikingly, children and teen-agers who watch a great deal of movie or television violence are relatively more fearful than those who do not.
Reason Why (read about it)
Three factors have been identified in childhood fears:
1) Physical injury - poisons, operations, war, being kidnapped.
2) Natural events-storms, riots, dark, death (these fears decrease significantly with age).
3) Psychic stress-tests, mistakes, social events, school, being criticized. Some children appear to be generally timid and fearful, while others have one or two specific fears. Boys and girls, in most studies, have been equally fearful.
At least half of all children have the common fears of dogs, dark, thunder, and ghosts, with 10 percent having two or more serious fears. Fears are most common between 2 and 6 years. between 2 and 4, fear of animals, storms, darkness, and strangers are frequent. These fears diminish by 5 years and disappear by 9 years. From 4 to 6, imaginary fears like ghosts and monsters predominate, peak by age 6, and disappear by age 10. As many as 90 percent of children under 6 develop some specific fear which leaves naturally. Supernatural fears (ghosts, Dracula, Frankenstein) still concern 20 percent of children age 5 through 11. Physical dangers are typical from age 10 and up. An important statistic concerning school is that 20 percent of children fear tests and do poorly due to those fears. from a positive point of view, fear enhances survival by alerting us to danger and preparing us to protect ourselves. Adrenalin flow prepares the body to take action for fight or flight. Physical and psychological mobilization is helpful in meeting and warding off danger. For example, we want children to be afraid of cars so they should be careful, but not mortally frightened.
Dreams very frequently reflect fears. If children discuss their dreams, parents can often understand what is frightening their children. As children mature, their feelings in general become more specific and intense. Most children outgrow fears if their environment is secure and irrational fears are discouraged. Intense fears do not naturally go away and punishment or ignoring are not effective. Specific fears may lead to general feelings of apprehension, insecurity, foreboding, or free-floating anxiety. Intense or prolonged fears should be taken seriously. Not wanting parents to leave is much different than extreme overreactions and fear of abandonment. Indicators of a need for professional help are fear of all objects in any category and debilitating, intense fear. Strikingly, children and teen-agers who watch a great deal of movie or television violence are relatively more fearful than those who do not.
Reason Why (read about it)
- Traumatic Experiences
- Projected Anger
- Control Others
- Constitutionally Highly Reactive
- Psychologically or Physically Weakened
How to Prevent (read about it)
- Prepare for Coping with Stress
- Early and Gradual Exposure to Feared Situations
- Express and Share Concerns Openly
- Model Calmness, Adequacy, and Optimism
What to Do (read about it)
- Desensitize and Counter-Condition
- Rehearsal
- Positive Imagery
- Reward Bravery
- Self-talk
- Relaxation
- Meditation
Case Report
A 5-year-old girl was extremely frightened of the dark, loud noises, and separation from her parents. Her parents had not left her with anyone since her intense fear began at age 4. Consultation with the parents consisted of developing strategies to reduce fears, from least to most intense. her fear of loud noises was approached by a simple desensitization procedure where she was given various objects to make more and more noise herself. All methods were tailored to increase self-reliance and decrease the intense attachment to her parents. After she was able to make loud noises, she was gradually introduced to louder and louder sounds with accompanying praise and rewards for "growing up." Her father made a tape recording of noises that scared her and she adjusted the volume. Fear of the dark was approached with positive imagery and rehearsal. She imagined herself in dim rooms with her favorite television personality, "Mr. Rogers." The parents were told to imitate Mr. Rogers's soothing voice to tell her that she was brave and darkness was okay. She then pictured herself and him in dark rooms together. Rehearsal consisted of her walking in dim rooms and then staying in darkened room for increasing intervals. All progress resulted in matter-of-fact praise for her acting like a big girl.
Finally, separation from parents was accomplished more easily than the parents expected. Since the girl was very pleased and proud of overcoming her fear of loud noise and the dark, she was looking forward to being like other children who stayed with babysitters. Her favorite local teen-age girl was hired. The parents left for 5, 15, 30, and then 60 minutes on successive nights. They stuck to this even though the girl wanted them to stay out longer. By the weekend, they went out for 4 hours and returned to their daughter sleeping in her darkened room. The babysitter reported to problems and said that the girl enjoyed playing games and proudly went to bed.
A 5-year-old girl was extremely frightened of the dark, loud noises, and separation from her parents. Her parents had not left her with anyone since her intense fear began at age 4. Consultation with the parents consisted of developing strategies to reduce fears, from least to most intense. her fear of loud noises was approached by a simple desensitization procedure where she was given various objects to make more and more noise herself. All methods were tailored to increase self-reliance and decrease the intense attachment to her parents. After she was able to make loud noises, she was gradually introduced to louder and louder sounds with accompanying praise and rewards for "growing up." Her father made a tape recording of noises that scared her and she adjusted the volume. Fear of the dark was approached with positive imagery and rehearsal. She imagined herself in dim rooms with her favorite television personality, "Mr. Rogers." The parents were told to imitate Mr. Rogers's soothing voice to tell her that she was brave and darkness was okay. She then pictured herself and him in dark rooms together. Rehearsal consisted of her walking in dim rooms and then staying in darkened room for increasing intervals. All progress resulted in matter-of-fact praise for her acting like a big girl.
Finally, separation from parents was accomplished more easily than the parents expected. Since the girl was very pleased and proud of overcoming her fear of loud noise and the dark, she was looking forward to being like other children who stayed with babysitters. Her favorite local teen-age girl was hired. The parents left for 5, 15, 30, and then 60 minutes on successive nights. They stuck to this even though the girl wanted them to stay out longer. By the weekend, they went out for 4 hours and returned to their daughter sleeping in her darkened room. The babysitter reported to problems and said that the girl enjoyed playing games and proudly went to bed.
Relevant Topic:
- Behavior Problems of Children
- Immature Behaviors
- Insecure Behaviors
- Habit Disorders
- Peer Problems
- Antisocial Behaviors
- Other Problems
