School phobia

The manifestations of anxiety or fear are both psychological and physical: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach or headaches ... School phobia affects boys as well as girls and its peak incidence is usually the beginning of adolescence , from the age of 12.

Diagnosis

The definition of to school encompasses a very heterogeneous group of children or adolescents, which is why it has been proposed the following diagnostic criteria:

• Serious difficulty going to school, with prolonged periods of school absenteeism.
• Serious emotional disorder characterized by excessive fear, irritability and repeated complaints about attending class.
• Parents are aware of the situation, they know that the child is not going to class due to an emotional problem. This differentiates the school phobia from the typical "steers" or the situations of parental negligence.
• The child does not present dissocial or criminal behaviors.

Keys to detect school phobia

The usual thing is that the symptoms appear gradually, with protests about school attendance, somatic complaints to avoid going to class until developing a total refusal to go to school. This progressive form of rejection is typical of adolescents. In young children, the onset of rejection of school is abrupt. Depressive symptoms (sadness, not wanting anything, inability to enjoy things or feelings of helplessness or insecurity) or manifestations of anxiety such as panic attacks at the possibility of going to school may be associated: crying, paleness, pain in tummy or other somatic complaints.

Symptoms related to school phobia improve during the day when the child stays home, on vacations, and on weekends. They may be more intense on school days in the mornings or on Sunday nights.

How is it treated

The treatment of school phobia covers several aspects:

• Information to the family and advice to parents: the first thing is to correctly diagnose and explain to the family the reasons for their child's behavior. The first objective to achieve is to get attendance to class as soon as possible, since delaying reincorporation usually chronifies the situation and makes healing more difficult. It is here that parents play a key role, since it is they who must avoid the prolonged absenteeism of their child. It is advisable that a father and mother are at home when it comes to going to school and that they accompany their child during the process of overcoming the phobia.
• Behavior modification techniques: you work with the child individually and also with the parents. Strategies and resources must be given to manage it and learn to relax.
• Psychotherapy: in individual sessions with a child psychologist.
• Pharmacological treatment: sometimes if the situation is very serious, treatment with psychotropic drugs can be used to reduce the level of anxiety in the early stages of treatment, when the child returns to school. Anxiolytics should only be used when all of the above have failed. In cases where depressive symptoms are important, antidepressant treatment can be considered.

If as parents we suspect that our child may be suffering from school phobia, it is advisable to consult a professional. Mapfre Health Insurance includes a Telephone Psychological Guidance service, through which a qualified team of psychologists will guide you in a personalized way.

• The beginning of adolescence is the time when there are more cases of school phobia, which manifests itself with excessive fear, irritability, repeated complaints about going to school ...
• Once detected and diagnosed, it is necessary to work with the child but also with the parents to give them resources to manage their anxiety.
• Having psychological guidance can be very useful in these cases to detect and treat this disorder. Many companies include this service in their health insurance coverage.