Anxiety is a normal emotion and common experience, and it represents one of the most basic of human emotions. At one time or another, all of us are likely to feel “stressed out,” worried, fearful in certain situations, and concerned about what other people think. In general, anxiety serves to motivate and protect us from harm or unpleasant consequences.

For many people, however, constant or excessive anxiety disrupts their daily activities and quality of life; for others, panic, which seems to come out of nowhere, can cause terrible physical symptoms, such as faintness, chills, and even extreme chest pains. Anxiety disorders are so common that more than 1 in every 10 Americans will suffer with one at some point in their lives. Fortunately, anxiety disorders can be treated, generally with short-term, effective, and costefficient methods (source: www.abct.org).

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Depression is a common psychological problem, experienced by many people at some time during their lives. One member of most families has experienced an episode of depression severe enough to require formal treatment. Depressed mood is costly to individuals and society as a whole, both economically as well as in terms of quality of life.

The primary feature of depression is a sad mood state, which, in its most severe form, is experienced as a feeling of helplessness, hopelessness, and despair. When people experience depressed mood, it is common for them also to experience a decrease in social activities, problems with relationships, and an increase in crying or “a desire to cry even if you cannot get the tears out” (called dry tears depression) (source: www.abct.org).

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Everyone experiences stress. Stress can come from anywhere: day-to-day activities, relationships, work, life changes, illness, even from fun events.

Everyone reacts differently to it. Many people don’t even know they are stressed until they begin to experience serious symptoms. Symptoms can be psychological, physical, or both.

Symptoms can include irritability, lack of concentration, worrying, minor headaches, eating too much or too little, not sleeping well, lower back pain, rashes, an upset stomach or ulcers, migraine or tension headaches, high blood pressure, and chest pains, to name a few. Stress can also make physical problems worse, lower your resistance to disease, and affect how well your body responds to sickness and how well you recover from minor setbacks.

Stress affects us all in one way or another. Some people deal well with their stress. Some people have learned to identify their stressors (those things that cause people to feel stress) and deal with them appropriately. Unfortunately, many of us do not deal effectively with the stressors in our lives (source: https://www.abct.org/fact-sheets/stress/).

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OCD is understood to involve the frequent experience of obsessions, compulsions, or both. Most people who experience OCD have both obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are unwanted or distressing thoughts, images, or urges. Compulsions are defined as repetitive behaviors or thoughts (e.g., having a “good” thought to cancel out a “bad” thought) people feel driven to do to reduce distress. Often compulsions are intended to reduce distress related to obsessions (e.g., repetitive washing in response to concerns about germs and disease). While periodic negative thoughts are a common experience for all people, OCD is defined by the related significant distress and life interference that results from these thoughts (source: https://www.abct.org/fact-sheets/obsessive-complusive-disorder/.)

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Most people experience stressful events, but when the event is exceptionally stressful it may be called trauma or a traumatic experience. Certain events— such as a home lost in a fire or even a community in the midst of a flood, a terrible injury in a car wreck, or the loss of family members in a plane crash—are traumatic for most people. The threat of serious injury to yourself or loved ones can also be traumatic. What usually makes an experience traumatic is a sense of horror, utter helplessness, serious injury, or the threat of physical injury or death. In some instances, the survivor of trauma may witness a horrifying event rather than being directly injured or threatened with injury (source: https://www.abct.org/fact-sheets/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/).

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Though military personnel and veterans can experience the full range of mental health conditions, research suggests they are more likely to be diagnosed with mood and anxiety disorders, including depression, panic, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as anger-related disorders. Approximately 25% to 50% of military personnel with these mental health conditions first experienced the onset of the condition prior to joining the military. Though mental health conditions, in general, are associated with increased risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors, among military personnel, depression, PTSD, and alcohol use problems seem to have the strongest relationship with suicide risk. Research also suggests that mental health conditions that are first experienced after joining the military (as compared to conditions first experienced before joining the military) may have a relatively stronger association with suicidal behavior (source: https://www.abct.org/fact-sheets/military-veterans-mental-health/)

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Many children have fears and worries, and may feel sad and hopeless from time to time. Strong fears may appear at different times during development. For example, toddlers are often very distressed about being away from their parents, even if they are safe and cared for. Although fears and worries are typical in children, persistent or extreme forms of fear and sadness could be due to anxiety or depression. 

Anxiety: When a child does not outgrow the fears and worries that are typical in young children, or when there are so many fears and worries that they interfere with school, home, or play activities, the child may be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder (source: https://www.cdc.gov/).

Not all children experience child traumatic stress after experiencing a traumatic event, but those who do can recover. With proper support, many children are able to adapt to and overcome such experiences. Mental health professionals trained in evidence-based trauma treatment can help children and families cope with the impact of traumatic events and move toward recovery.

Effective treatments like trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapies are available. There are a number of evidence-based and promising practices to address child traumatic stress. Each child’s treatment depends on the nature, timing, and amount of exposure to a trauma (source: https://www.samhsa.gov/).

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effective therapies for trauma

Children sometimes argue, are aggressive, or act angry or defiant around adults. A behavior disorder may be diagnosed when these disruptive behaviors are uncommon for the child’s age at the time, persist over time, or are severe.  Because disruptive behavior disorders involve acting out and showing unwanted behavior towards others they are sometimes called externalizing disorders (source: www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth).

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Body-focused repetitive disorders (BFRD) are when a child causes harm to themself through a habit. This can happen when the behavior occurs often or produces physical and/or mental health problems.

Examples of these disorders include:

• Constant hair pulling
• Skin picking
• Nail biting
• Cheek biting
• Thumb sucking

Most cases of repetitive actions are common, harmless habits and are considered only body-focused repetitive behaviors. Treatment for body-focused repetitive behaviors is only indicated when the behaviors cause significant physical or mental distress for the child (source: effectivechildtherapy.org).

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Obsessions are repeated thoughts, urges, or images that cause a lot of worry or distress. Children and adolescents with obsessions may be able to avoid some obsessive worries with effort. Common obsessions include thoughts about uncleanness, safety, doubts, a need to have things in a specific order, or aggressive, sexual, or scary images (e.g., about causing harm).

Compulsions are behaviors or thoughts that a child acts on repeatedly, usually in response to an obsession. Children act on compulsions to reduce distress, or avoid a feared situation or outcome. Common compulsions include hand washing, putting things in order, praying, and asking adults for reassurance (source: https://effectivechildtherapy.org/).

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