Tips to tackle back-to-school blues

Mental health support crucial for children and teenagers grappling with anxiety, experts say

- NICOLE IRELAND

The worst thing parents can do, mental health experts agree, is allow a child to stay home from school because they're anxious.

It’s normal for kids and teens to get butterflies in their stomachs as the first day of school approaches, but those who struggle with chronic anxiety may need extra support, mental health experts say.

Dr. Daniel Chorney, a child and adolescent psychologist in Halifax, recalls a patient who had many of the typical warning signs of an anxiety disorder that came to a head at back-to-school time.

The 11-year-old girl “was anxious about most things in her life — something we call ‘behaviourally inhibited’ — meaning she was cautious or hesitant to try most new things, enter new situations, or meet new people,” said Chorney, who did not reveal the girl’s name to protect her privacy.

She cried every day the week before school, had daily stomach aches and no amount of reassurance from her parents was enough.

The morning of her first day, she rejected the outfit laid out for her but froze while trying to pick another, “worried that others would make fun of her choice,” Chorney said.

She cried for most of the ride to school and refused to get out of the car once they arrived, relenting only when teachers came out to greet students.

Though she continued to go to school, she remained anxious and was still calling and texting her parents in October.

Her case shows common signs of both generalized anxiety and social anxiety, said Chorney, who is on the scientific advisory committee of Anxiety Canada.