ABC News
22 August 2001
Psychologists have long studied how panic disorders affect adults, but new evidence suggests an alarming number of children suffer from panic attacks as well.
Experts are now saying that anxiety disorders, including panic disorder strike an astounding 10 percent of America's children. Many of the symptoms of such disorders, such as refusing to go to bed, refusing to eat certain foods, and insisting on being left alone, have long been dismissed as difficult childhood behavior.
Panic attacks in children can be successfully treated with exposure therapy, in which patients learn to cope with their anxiety by voluntarily subjecting themselves to the source of their fears.
"We know the pain is temporary, that they're going to be feeling this anxiety short-term, and that we know the anxiety will come down," says Dr. Donna Pincus of the Center for Anxiety Disorder.
I Thought I was Going to Die
Until undergoing exposure therapy, 8-year-old Lindsey Marble was haunted by anxiety day and night. She is one of the youngest children in the country officially diagnosed with separation anxiety and panic disorder.
"It's basically the feeling that you would have if you were really in intense danger," says Pinkus, who is one of Lindsey's doctors. "There is really no actual threat there, but your body is reacting as if there is a threat."
Lindsey had her first panic attack a year ago while watching a television program about a family trapped by fire. "All of a sudden it felt like a knife was going through my heart," says Lindsey. "I thought I was going to die."
Lindsey's parents, Nancy and Mike Marble, were so alarmed they called an ambulance. The whole family began to feel trapped by Lindsey's panic disorder, which was often triggered by her fears of being separated from them.
"When you look in her eyes, it's kind of like a glossy look, and she's terrified," says her father. "And you try to tell her, and you get right in her face, and tell her [she's OK], and talk to her. And it kind of just goes in one ear and out the other."
Scary World
Lindsey's fears snowballed, and before long she could not stay in bed for more than a few moments at a time. Even though she had once loved popcorn, she came to believe that eating it would cause her to choke to death. She also became terrified of the swimming pool, and from the moment the school bus dropped her off down the street from her house, she was overwhelmed by irrational fear that she would never make it home.
"I run really quick because I feel someone's coming at me," says Lindsey. "People kidnapping me or killing me. I'm afraid someone's going to shoot me."
Doctors are not sure what originally brought on Lindsey's fears. Anxiety disorders can be inherited, or they can be brought on by trauma. New research shows it can be absorbed by children simply from observing the anxious behavior of those around them.
"If a parent gets very, very anxious in certain situations, or that person sees a spider and that produces a lot of fear in that parent, children learn from their parents," says Pincus. "Inadvertently, parents could be teaching their kids to be fearful."
Panic attacks commonly start small and multiply, as they did in Lindsey's case. Children will start with one worry, and suddenly there is no situation that does not bring about fear.
Successful Treatment
The exposure therapy taught Lindsey how to bring on the fear she had been trying to avoid including the nausea and shortness of breath that come along with it.
"We want them to feel anxiety," says Pincus. "We want them to feel very fully everything they're experiencing and not chase away the feelings."
After only a few weeks in therapy, Lindsey experienced a noticeable difference in her anxiety. She was able to overcome her urge to get out of bed repeatedly every night, and for the first time she could play on her computer alone in the basement.
Her progress inspired her to further overcome her fears. "[I felt] amazed at myself, excited, like I wanted to do it again and again," she says.
By the end of the therapy program, most of her fears were gone, including eating popcorn, swimming and sleeping at night. "Now the new Lindsey can do all the stuff that she couldn't do before," she says proudly.
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