They say that every person has their own fears. This expression is especially applicable to children. Fears are understood as a kind of negative emotions that are of a protective and adaptive nature.
Psychological fears in young children are caused by a lack of awareness of the outside world. They, as a rule, are called upon seeing unfamiliar objects and surroundings, strangers, etc. Such fears quickly pass and do not affect the child's behavior in the future.
Children's pathological fears have a pronounced and persistent character, they can not always be logically explained. They disrupt the behavior of children, interfere with communication and an adequate assessment of the surrounding reality. Children with neuroses who have suffered congenital and acquired brain diseases, birth trauma of the central nervous system, asphyxia, and epilepsy have an increased tendency to such fears.
Most often, children develop obsessive fears (phobias). For example, fear of the dark, thunderstorms, loneliness, confined spaces, heights, etc. At school age, there may be a fear of school, fear of death, suffocation. With delusional fears, children are afraid of ordinary objects or activities (for example, washing in the bathroom).
Fears are often accompanied by changes in behavior - excessive suspicion, can be combined with insomnia and other sleep disorders, hallucinations. Night fears arise in a dream and are accompanied by crying, motor excitement. It is not always possible to wake up children during this period. Such states continue for 5-20 minutes, then the child calms down. In the morning he does not remember this. Such dreams can be provoked by overwork, suffered the day before by fear (for example, by watching a scary movie).
Treatment of fears is primarily about eliminating their cause. They often respond well to psychotherapy.
