Family doctor seeing more young patients with anxiety disorders
Freedom from a structured childhood is creating difficulty for young people, says Dr. Mike Simon
At least one doctor from Saint John said he is treating more youth for general anxiety disorder than ever before and the problem might get worse.
Dr. Mike Simon said children these days grow up with no needs and they are provided with a schedule that gets completely thrown off balance when they leave the home.
"They've never had this amount of freedom before," he said. "They don't learn the skills for the hard times."
Simon said the anxiety often begins in high school. He said he categorizes youth in groups of college students, high school students and those younger than that.
"You talk to teachers and how many times do parents come in when their kid has a bad mark or doesn't perform well … it's the teachers fault for marking wrong or marking harder," he said in an interview Information Morning Saint John.
He said it can even be found in younger children.
"It's difficult to develop a plan when they are so young,"
Relearning the rules
Simon said the first thing to do is to understand where the anxiety is originating from.
He said many of these kids do not have the tools to deal with problems they might face.
"They haven't failed on their own and dealt with the repercussions," he said.
Simon said they have to relearn these tools.
"It's like a dam holding back water, you get stronger and stronger."
If it's not fixed
Simon said many of these kids feel a loss of control which develops into anxiety.
"It's materialism," he said.
He said these kids are not developing the fundamentals that used to be instilled in kids before social media.
"Thirty years ago, I didn't see as much of this stuff," he said.
He said if the problem is not fixed, it will get worse. Simon said parenting is not a democracy.
To fix it, Simon said, getting the message out and talking to parents is the key.