Answer to Question 1
For children with GAD, worrying can be episodic or almost continuous. The worrier is unable to relax and may experience physical symptoms such as muscle tension, headaches, or nausea. Common symptoms of GAD include irritability, difficulty concentrating, and a lack of energy, difficulty falling asleep, and restless sleep (Comer et al., 2012; Layne et al., 2009). In other anxiety disorders, anxiety converges on specific situations or objects, such as separation, social performance, animals or insects, or bodily sensations. In contrast, the anxiety experienced by individuals with GAD is widespread and focuses on a variety of everyday life events (Andrews et al., 2010).
Answer to Question 2
Young children with SAD may have vague feelings of anxiety or repeated nightmares about being kidnapped or killed or about the death of a parent. They frequently display excessive demands for parental attention by clinging to their parents and shadowing their every move. Often, they are reluctant to sleep separated from their parents, and they try to climb into their parents' bed at night or sleep on the floor just outside their parents' bedroom door (Allen et al., 2010). Older children with
SAD may have difficulty being alone in a room during the day, sleeping alone even at home, running errands, going to school, or going to camp. They may also have specific fantasies of illness, accidents, kidnapping, or physical harm.