While we don’t need to know what causes anxiety, we absolutely need to know what maintains it. Unfortuantely, there are many traps that adults fall into that maintains – or even worsens – anxiety in children and teenagers. It is essential to identify and address these traps that keep anxiety going and what to do instead.
School refusal is a psychiatric crisis and when these students do not get the support they need, they are vulnerable to a whole host of social, emotional, psychological, and health risks.
While it can be hard for children and teachers to see children in distress, we don’t want to fall into the common traps that make anxiety stronger, like allowing children to avoid the things they’re afraid of and reassuring them that everything will be fine.
