84. Anxiety: When is it normal? When does it need treatment?

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Anxiety is a normal human emotion.  So, how do you know when it’s developmentally typical and when it has crossed the line into something that needs treatment? 

In this episode, Dr. Fallucco walks through a practical approach pediatric clinicians can use to recognize clinically significant anxiety that requires treatment.  

We talk about Screening, Taking a focused history of Anxiety, and determining whether the anxiety needs treatment.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Who to screen for anxiety—and when to keep anxiety on your radar during ADHD, depression, or unexplained physical/behavioral evaluations
• Why the SCARED-5 is a practical anxiety screening tool for pediatric primary care
• Simple questions you can ask after a positive screen to better understand what a child is worried about
• The four questions that can help you distinguish developmentally typical anxiety from clinically significant anxiety: Is it proportional? Is it developmentally expected? Is it causing distress? Is it impairing the child or family?
• How anxiety may look different in younger versus older children, including behavioral symptoms, physical complaints, irritability, and avoidance
• When to consider treatment—and why CBT is an important first-line intervention for many children with anxiety

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On-demand CME Course online at:  Pediatric Mental Health CME Toolkit - Cracking the ADHD Code: Essentials for Pediatric Clinicians.