Balance Training: A Simple Yet Effective Way to Treat Anxiety in Children

Is your child a worrywart? Does he tend to get excessively anxious over situations other children find manageable? What is he afraid of? The vacuum cleaner? Jack-in-the-box? Other children or adults? Are his worries not diminishing with age? Are they causing him, you, and your family a considerable amount of distress?

Anxiety in children is not a new phenomenon. We all know a niece, nephew, or child of a friend who tends to be the shy and quiet type, who is rarely seen out of his cocoon.

Anxiety is believed to be the most common mental health disorder diagnosed in childhood. According to current estimates, between 5-20% of children are diagnosed with some form of an anxiety disorder.

What treatments are being used?

1). Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of talk therapy that has been scientifically shown to be effective in treating anxiety disorders. CBT teaches skills and techniques to your child that she can use to reduce her anxiety.

The child learns to identify and replace negative thinking patterns and behaviors with positive ones. He also learns to separate realistic from unrealistic thoughts and receives “homework” to practice what is learned in therapy.

2). Antidepressants and antianxiety medications are also often-times used to help treat anxiety disorders in children. Medication can be a short-term or long-term treatment option, depending on how severe your child’s symptoms are and how he or she responds to treatment.

3). A combination of talk therapy such as CBT and medication. This approach is currently considered the “gold standard” for the treatment of anxiety in children, as a major research study found that a combination of CBT and an antidepressant worked better for children ages 7-17 than either treatment alone.

Balance: The factor being overlooked

There is a well-established connection between anxiety and balance dysfunction in both adults and in children. Various studies show that individuals diagnosed with anxiety disorders also have diminished balance control, and individuals primarily diagnosed with balance disorders show increased levels of anxiety.

Like the chicken and the egg, it is unclear which is causative of the other, but a strong connection between anxiety and reduced balance control is clear.

What does this connection mean for clinicians and caregivers?

Dr. Orit Bart, professor of occupational therapy (OT) at Tel Aviv University, collaborated with a group of psychologists to examine this issue. The researchers recruited a group of children 5-7 years of age who had both anxiety disorders and reduced balance control.

The children were provided with 12 weekly sessions of occupational therapy focusing on various balance training exercises.

The sessions lasted 45 minutes each and consisted of: 15 minutes of flexor and extensor muscle-tone training, 15 minutes of maneuvers requiring balance maintenance in different body postures, and 15 minutes of activity involving vestibular stimulation in different head and body positions.

Here is what the researchers found:

1). The children who received the balance training treatment showed significant improvement in their balance control skills, while the children who did not receive this treatment (control group) actually deteriorated in this skill area.

2). The children who received the balance training treatment reported reduced levels of anxiety, and the children’s parents also reported reduced levels of anxiety in their children.

3). The children who received the balance training treatment scored higher on a measure that tests how children perceive their level of competence on any given task. Additionally, these children also scored higher on a test that measures self-acceptance in children. This indicates that interventions including balance training may increase a child’s self esteem.

The researchers explain: Cognitive behavioral therapy in youth shows great promise for reduction of symptoms and functional impairment associated with anxiety disorders The evidence base for the effectiveness of CBT in youth has some significant limitations, particularly as related to treating the very young children, under the age of seven.

When treating, and working with, children, an emphasis should be placed on active participation in treatment. Children are doers. They learn and develop by touching, moving, experimenting, and, then, again touching, moving, and experimenting.

The researchers outline various explanations as to why balance training exercises helps children with anxiety. While those theories are beyond the scope of this current post, the benefits children always derive by using their bodies therapeutically cannot be discounted as playing a positive role.

So, who’s up for some tightrope walking?

Please stay tuned for an upcoming post on incorporating balance training activities into your child’s daily routine.

Related posts:

1. Children with ADHD and DCD Should also be Evaluated for Mood and Anxiety Disorders
2. There Is No Need to Cry Over Spilled Milk, But We Can Stop the Flow
3. Finding a Balance Between Expectations and Child’s Ability

Tagged as: Anxiety, Balance Exercise, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Physical Activity