Panic attacks are a type of anxiety disorder that can occur at any time in a person’s life, including childhood. The trigger is different for everyone. It might be caused by a traumatic incident or it might occur suddenly, seemingly without provocation. A very shy child might be bullied at school and begin dreading going to school. Those feelings may escalate into fear and before you know it, the child is having full-blown panic attacks.

There is a high probability that people who suffer from panic attacks as adults also suffered from them as children. Unfortunately, many parents are dismissive of their child’s symptoms simply because they do not recognize them for what they are. Even health professionals may mistakenly diagnose a child as being “high strung” or mislabel them as having Attention Deficit Disorder. The danger of a wrong diagnosis is that the physician will prescribe drugs, rather than delve further into the child’s psyche. While these medications may have a positive physiological effect on the child, panic attacks are predominantly psychological in nature, and drugs will not alter the child’s thought processes nor address the child’s fears. Read More→