I have a very nervous 8 year old son. He doesn’t like to shower without someone present or sleep without a lot of reassurance. We have a night light, music or meditation and check on him regularly. He says he’s scared of his nightmares. Occasionally he has a bad dream but daily he is petrified of going down the hall to his bedroom or any room basically where there’s no light. He gets visibly distressed. Shakes, cries, hyperventilates etc. looking into a psychologist as I know it’s normal to have some amount of fear but this seems debilitating. Looking for others experiences and any advice on how I can support him to feel safer in his own home. Thanks in advance.
5 Replies
This sounds like a severe anxiety disorder, I would start with a GP and go from there. In the meantime take his fears seriously, validate them. If he's scared of a ghost get your house cleansed if he's scared of someone actually being in the house go through and check and educate him with what to do if there is someone in the house at the same time look up how likely it is that someone is there and compare it to something he's not scared of that he knows will never happen. A bit like when people are scared of flying but statistically more chance if having a car accident. Do you have a dog? Dogs can do wonders with this kind of thing as long as he's allowed to take it wherever he goes in the house and can sleep with it. For long term you could get a dog that's trained for anxiety.
He has anxiety, my son is the same.
This is anxiety. You have to treat the anxiety - you can make him comfortable but you can’t shape the world for him because it won’t make the anxiety go away m, it actually works the other way and he finds new fears and limits and his bubble just gets smaller and smaller.
Encourage healthy stretching of the boundaries, give what makes him feel safe in bucketloads, and get onto the psych for the bigger picture work asap.
Child psychologist asap get a care plan from your Dr. Poor little mite it must be terrifying for him.
Can he sleep on a mattress on your floor until his anxiety resolves or is treated? He will probably feel safer and sleep better.