ANXIETY & ENVY IN BABY'S EARLY DEVELOPMENT

Anxiety & Envy in Baby's Early Development

Anxiety & Envy in Baby's Early Development

Anxiety and Childhood Development

Health anxiety refers to anxiety regarding ones health. This anxiety is based on the misinterpretation of bodily sensations that are, in turn, believed to be indicative of a potentially serious disease. It is normal for people to experience minor forms of anxiety about their health. For example, one may experience an intense stomach-ache and worry that it might be due to an ulcer. Or, after feeling a sharp chest pain, one may be frightened of an impending heart attack (Asmundson, Taylor, Sevgur, & Cox, 2001a). In most situations the anxiety subsides as the symptoms lessen or, if a medical opinion is sought, upon reassurance that there is nothing physically wrong. Anxiety over bodily sensations may not necessarily be undue worry and can have an adaptive function in aiding early identification (e.g. by encouraging a visit to the family physician, or informing one's caregiver) in certain situations where the signs and symptoms are found to be indicative of a serious illness (Asmundson et al., 2001a). In other cases, the anxiety is excessive and can become associated with clinically significant limitations to ones functional ability. The most common forms of clinically significant health anxiety include illness phobia and hypochondriasis.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) suggests that, for the most part, severe health anxiety begins in adulthood. However, not much more is known about the course of the phenomena (Asmundson, Taylor, Wright, & Cox, in 2001b). Additionally, Campo and Reich (1999) indicate that the prevalence rate for severe health anxiety in children is unknown. This, in part, may be related to the lack of specific diagnostic criteria designated for children and adolescents (Fritz, Fritsch, & Hagino, 1997).

The only investigation that has examined adolescent attitudes surrounding illness was conducted by Eminson, Benjamin, Shortall, Woods, and Faragher (1996). These investigators examined the lifetime prevalence of physical symptoms as well as illness attitudes in a school population of 805 students (ages 11-16 years). The students completed the Somatic Symptom Checklist (SSCL; Eminson et al., 1996) as well as a modified version of the Illness Attitude Scales (IAS Kellner, 1987). Participants who endorsed an elevated number of symptoms on the SSCL scored significantly higher on 7 IAS sub-scales than low symptom scorers, indicating more distress about illness and more treatment experience. However, Eminson's et al. (1996) examination utilized IAS subscales that have been shown to lack factorial validity in recent investigations (e.g. Cox, Borger, Asmundson, & Taylor, 2000; Ferguson & Daniel, 1995). While the results may not be entirely generalizable due to problems with factorial validity, they do, at the very least, provide an indication that adolescents do experience significant health anxiety.

While little may be known about the occurrence of severe health anxiety in children and adolescents, Fritz et al. (1997) suggest that it is likely that precursors to adult somatoform disorders ...