Anxiety and worry

We all have a worry creature inside us. Its job is to try to keep us safe and protect us from danger. Worry and anxiety mean well and are trying to help.

Sometimes, though, the worry creature can grow too big and loud. When that happens, it can feel overwhelming and start to affect how we think, feel and act.

The good news is that you are not alone.

Did you know? Around five children in every classroom experience a mental health difficulty. It is very common, and there is lots of help and support available.

What is anxiety?

Anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness, uneasiness or fear. Everyone feels anxious from time to time.

A small amount of anxiety can actually be helpful. For example, if you feel nervous before a test, sports match or performance, anxiety can help you stay focused, motivated and alert.

However, when anxiety becomes very strong, happens a lot, or stops you from doing things you enjoy, it can become difficult to manage on your own.

How anxiety might affect you

When your worry creature gets bigger, you might notice changes in:

Your body

You might:

  • Have a racing heart
  • Feel shaky or restless
  • Get butterflies in your tummy
  • Feel hot, sweaty or dizzy
  • Have headaches or tummy aches
  • Find it hard to sleep

Your thoughts and feelings

You might:

  • Think about things that could go wrong
  • Find it hard to stop worrying
  • Find it hard to concentrate

You might feel:

  • Worried
  • Scared
  • Nervous
  • Angry
  • Upset

Your actions

You might:

  • Avoid things that make you feel worried
  • Need lots of reassurance
  • Stay very quiet
  • Become irritable or angry
  • Find it difficult to join in with activities you usually enjoy

Remember

Everybody worries sometimes, and everybody feels anxious from time to time. These feelings are a normal. If your worry creature is getting too big, it is important to talk to someone you trust, such as:

  • A parent or carer
  • A teacher
  • A school nurse
  • A friend
  • A health professional

Activities that can help younger people

My worry creature A4 print out sheet

Use maths and numbers

Run through a times table in your head

Count backwards from 100

Choose a number and think of 5 ways you could make the number for example 6+7=17, 20-3=17, 8x2+1=17

Bubble breathes

Imagine you are blowing the biggest bubble you can

Take in a breathe and imagine you have a pot of bubble liquid

Slowly and gently blow bubbles into the room

Hot Chocolate breathing

Pretend you are holding a warm mug of hot chocolate. Take in a deep breath through your nose and smell the treat. Then breathe out through your mouth to cool it off. Repeat!

Pick up and touch items that are near you

Are the things you touch hard or soft? Heavy or light? Warm or cool? Focus on the texture and colour of each item. Challenge yourself to think of specific colours, such as crimson, burgundy, indigo or turquoise instead of simple red or blie.

Dragon Breathing

Sit up straight. Breathe in cool blue air. Stick your tongue out and breathe out angry red fire.

Notice your body

You can do this sitting or standing. Focus on how your body feels from head to toe, noticing each part. Can you feel hair on your shoulders or forehead? The weight of your shirt? Do your arms feel loose or stiff at your side? Can you feel your heart beat?

STOP!

Stop! Don’t act immediately

Take a deep breathe

Observe what is happening, what am I responding to?

Pull back and put it in perspective.

Fact or opinion? What’s the bigger picture? What would someone else do? Practice what works – what is the best thing to do for me, for others and for this situation.

5-4-3-2-1

Working backwards from 5, use your senses to list the things you notice around you (pay attention to the things you might not always notice).

5 things you can hear

4 things you can see

3 things you can touch

2 things you can smell

1 thing you can taste

Think in categories

Choose 1 or 2 categories such as ‘musical instruments’ ‘ice cream flavours’ or ‘mammals’. List as many things from each category as you can.

 

Supporting a child with anxiety

What is anxiety?

  • Anxiety is a normal emotion. It helps us cope with difficult, challenging or dangerous situations.
  • Anxiety is common. There are times when we all feel worried, anxious, restless or stressed.
  • Anxiety becomes a problem when it stops a child from enjoying things they like to do, starts to affect their school, work, family relationships, friendships or social life.

Often there is a reason for feeling anxious such as:

  • Facing a difficult exam.
  • Saying something to someone they may not like.
  • Having to go somewhere new or do something scary.

Sometimes there may not be an obvious reason for feeling anxious. Anxiety can be caused by the way we think about things.

What is self-help guided CBT? 

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is based on the idea that how we feel and what we do are due to the way we think. CBT is one of the most effective ways of helping children with anxiety problems.

CBT assumes that a lot of anxiety problems are related to the way we think. Because we can change the way we think, we can learn to control our anxious feelings.

  • Thinking in more positive ways can help us feel good.
  • Thinking in more negative ways may make us feel fearful, tense, sad, angry or uncomfortable

Teaching children to understand their thoughts is important. Children with anxiety tend to:

  • Think in negative and critical ways.
  • Overestimate the likelihood of bad things happening.
  • Focus on things that go wrong.
  • Underestimate their ability to cope.
  • Expect to be unsuccessful.

Self-help guided CBT is a practical and fun way of helping children to:

  • Identify these negative ways of thinking.
  • Discover the link between what they think, how they feel and what they do.
  • Check out the evidence for their thoughts.
  • Develop new skills to cope with their anxiety.