A A record 204,526 children a year are referred to NHS mental health services in England for anxiety, according to a Guardian investigation. Here, two young people who suffered from anxiety as children describe their experiences.
Rice
I remember first experiencing anxiety when I was 13. However, there were signs of anxiety when I was younger as well.
In elementary school I remember walking into school crying. A lot of my fear was that I would get in trouble and feel like I had done something wrong. That made me anxious at school.
I also had a lot of health anxiety for myself and my family and friends. Growing up, and still today, I feel a wave of anxiety when the phone rings because I’m afraid it’s the doctors saying (someone in my) family is dying.
I remember being afraid that my mother would fall asleep when she drove home after a long day at work.
I knew I needed help when I was 13. My fear of doing the right thing developed into a fear of hurting others.
I was afraid of spreading germs and dirt. I had a panic attack when I dropped some food on the floor, afraid someone would have an allergic reaction. This kept me awake for days.
My mother was really concerned about me and knew a private therapist. I was incredibly lucky to see a therapist so quickly because I was in a crisis. I am not exaggerating when I say that I am not sure I would be here if I had not had my therapist.
It was incredibly daunting to seek support. I was anxious and I remember dreading my first session. As a 13 year old boy, I found it hard to acknowledge that I needed support and it made me feel different and weird.
I used to play a lot of rugby in environments where mental health or anxiety wasn’t really talked about, so I didn’t really have role models who talked openly about mental health.
In the long run, seeking mental health support was the best decision of my life. The session allowed me to process what was going on and gave me strategies to deal with anxiety-provoking events.
Covid was incredibly hard and I felt really down at times. But my counselor helped me get out of that valley. Recently I also took the step to take medication.
Just like the first time I sought help, it was daunting because I felt like I had failed in counseling and let people down, but I am so glad I took that step.
If you are struggling, reach out to someone. There are people who truly care about you. If you are not struggling, reach out to your friends and family because you never know what someone is going through.
In society we have a big problem with the mental health of young people. It is so important that the government recognizes this and does something about it.
Chloe
I was about nine years old when I first started showing symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder.
I used to get panic attacks in situations that I found frightening. Because there was little understanding of mental health in young people, it was mistaken for a physical health problem. So I underwent several tests.
My anxiety was only formally diagnosed when I went to my GP for another problem and my brother brought up my self-harm. I was then referred to the child and adolescent psychiatric service (Camhs) which was supplemented by counselling through my school and medication.
Having always been branded as a ‘worrier’, I was unaware that my symptoms were those of a mental illness, particularly the panic attacks, which both I and healthcare professionals mistaken for a physical health problem.
If my self-harm hadn’t been noticed, I think it would have taken a lot longer for my mental health issues to be recognised. I didn’t even know I was struggling with it.
As a child I always saw it as something natural, because I didn’t believe that someone as young as me could suffer as much as I did.
It was vital that I received support at an early age so that I could attend mainstream education, however I believe that it would have been more effective in reducing my symptoms in the long term if this support had been recognised earlier.
Paddy and Chloe now volunteer for the charity YoungMinds, and hope that sharing their stories with the Guardian will encourage other young people to find the courage to talk about their own mental health.