ADHD and Anxiety

Our daughter recently came down with the shingles.  Shingles is rare in children under the age of 10, so we had to ask ourselves what could have triggered it, since her immune system isn't suppressed in any way.  The only thing that we could come up with is that our cat has recently been ill (she told us she was really worried about him).  It kind of hurts, as a parent, to realize that your child has literally worried herself sick.  And yet, this is what our daughter did.

Anxiety is a common comorbidity of ADHD.  That is to say, people with ADHD suffer with anxiety more commonly than the general population.  In fact, a recent study found that about 38% of children with ADHD also have anxiety.

Anxiety disorders can take many forms.  In pediatric ADHD the most common forms seem to be generalized anxiety (worrying about everything), social phobia (worrying about what people think of you), and separation anxiety (child has difficulty separating from parent).

Unfortunately, the treatment of anxiety with ADHD is still in experimental stages.   In some cases treatment of ADHD with ADHD medications can help the anxiety.  Experts also treat anxiety separately with traditional anti-anxiety therapies, such as talk therapy, book therapy, and medication.  Clinical trials on this subject are actively recruiting subjects.