Anxiety is an issue that is all too common in young people, say local psychologists.
"This is the biggest growing issue I see," said Susan Grinder, a registered psychologist and school counsellor with Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools.
"In the schools I would say 70 per cent of my clients are children and teenagers with anxiety."
The Canadian Mental Health Association has found that anxiety disorders affect five per cent of the population. Young people most often experience separation anxiety, social anxiety and performance and test anxiety.
Anxiety is the anticipation of a future threat while fear is the emotional response to a real or perceived imminent threat. Both are normal to a certain degree, explained Thomas Holmes, a registered psychologist with the Sturgeon School Division.
The issue is when normal fears and anxiousness don't fade away but start interfering with daily life.
"There is a high prevalence of fear and anxiety in childhood. Our brains are developing, we're learning to deal with emotions, it's a developmentally appropriate response," said Holmes, "but we know now that anxiety can have severe effects long term."
Holmes said research in the field over the last decade has focused heavily on families, because "anxious parents make anxious children."
Grinder said anxiety is intergenerational. Stress and anxiety that parents undergo trickles down as their smart and highly sensitive children pick up on it.
Both psychologists note there are multiple factors behind why children and teenagers are more anxious than ever before – one of them being that more people are recognizing and reporting that they have a problem.
Another factor is increasing expectations on youth.
"We live in a society where people are having fewer children and they want their children to succeed," said Grinder, noting kids are inundated with homework and extracurricular activities, making them "overly busy."
"I think 50 years ago children were able to regulate emotions more easily because they had more time."
"We know that children learn how to manage difficult feelings through play and many of our children aren't getting to play in a traditional way," added Holmes.
More time and more help
Grinder and Holmes are both advocates of working through anxiety problems in individual, group and family therapy.
Making mental health resources easier to access would also help.
One mother, who wished to remain anonymous, wants more trained counsellors and psychologists in schools.
Her 12-year-old daughter has been suffering from severe anxiety since Grade 4 – anxiety that makes her sick to her stomach.
Finding a junior high school to attend next fall was made all the more difficult because of the mental health supports her daughter needs.
"There is a need for better trained counsellors and making them available in more schools," she said. "Your kid isn't always going to come to you to tell you (their problems)."
Holmes is an executive member of the board for provincial school counsellors.
He said some school divisions don't have counsellors – who are not necessarily a registered psychologist, but may be a teacher with extra training. In many rural areas, schools become the mental health community service providers.
Last Friday the province announced that an additional $28 million will be invested into mental health supports for children and youth.
The money will go to establish permanent funding for mental health capacity building projects such as mentoring programs and life skills training in schools.
Funding will also go to develop residential treatment beds for youth in the Calgary and Edmonton regions as well as counselling services.
