Night fears in a child: causes, symptoms, consultation with a psychologist and pediatrician, treatment and prevention of repeated fears

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Night fears in a child are classified by experts as a widespread group of sleep disorders. Many parents have encountered their manifestation in their baby at least once in their lives. Most of all, children are afraid of bad dreams, darkness, the absence of a mother, and loneliness.

Children's night terrors are most common between the ages of 3 and 13. According to available data, up to 50% of babies suffer from such an unpleasant phenomenon. Night fears are most pronounced in a 3-year-old child. What are the reasons for such an unpleasant phenomenon and how to eliminate it once and for all?

When does this happen?

Night terrors should be distinguished from nightmares. The second of them come to a person during the active phase of sleep, that is, in the second half of the night. That is why, after waking up, he continues to remember their content. The opposite picture is observed with night fears. They come during the slow phase, almost immediately after the baby has fallen asleep, and therefore are not remembered.

Rising with night terrors in a child occurs with chaotic movements and screams. After that, the baby does not calm down for another 15-40 minutes. During the activation of night fears in children, Komarovsky (a well-known pediatrician) indicates that the child continues to sleep. That is why he does not recognize close people. And in the morning the baby is not able to remember what happened.

Psychologists believe that a child's night terrors are an absolutely natural phenomenon. It is due to the completion of the process of formation of the central nervous system. And only in the case when attacks of night terror in children are repeated often, parents need to contact a specialist with their child. Consider the causes of this unpleasant phenomenon in children of different ages.

1 to 3 years old

Sleep of babies in this age period, as a rule, is very deep. Those stories and pictures that come to them during a night's rest are simply erased from memory. That is why, after waking up, the crumbs do not remember their dreams. Because of this, no attacks of night terror in children at this age are observed. Sometimes it's hard for the little one to fall asleep. But at this age, it is associated with a too active day, full of impressions. In addition, such children practically do not distinguish a dream from reality. They sometimes wake up and cry only because they are not able to give themselves an explanation for the change in the situation, which can be caused, for example, by the fact that the baby, after playing in the sun, was suddenly left alone in a dark room. But after the children find their mother near them, they quickly calm down and immediatelyfalling asleep.

3 to 4 years old

The first nightly fears in a child appear at a time when his brain completes the process of its formation. At this time, the separation of reality and dream occurs in babies.

At 3-4 years old, a child's night terrors are associated with his fear of the dark, as well as with the violent activity of fantasy. In his imagination, the brain of a little man draws pictures of shadows that begin to be seen, for example, as a terrible fairy-tale monster. It crawls out from behind the closet and is ready to grab the baby with its huge furry paw. It is unlikely that the child will be able to fall asleep.

5 to 7 years old

During this period of a child's life, his socialization takes place. Night fears in children at the age of 5-7 years are associated with this process. This is the period when kids begin to actively seek and defend their own place in society. The recognition of others becomes extremely important for them. The child may be worried about a quarrel with friends. He is also worried about thoughts, for example, about tomorrow's performance at a festive matinee, etc.

Starting from the age of 5, a child's nightly fears are often associated with experiencing a conflict situation with his mother. To prevent them, all negative aspects must be settled by all means. Otherwise, it will seem to the baby that his mother has stopped loving him and will never love him again.

At this age, kids are worried about the performance of those still minimal social functions that are assigned to them at this time. Among themjoint games, performing simple housework, etc. In case of any failure during these simple processes, it is possible to have a negative impact on the baby's psyche. This will definitely affect his sleep.

7 to 9 years old

If night fears in children at the age of 6 are associated with adaptation in society, then after entering school, new anxieties and phobias arise. They are shaped by their new surroundings and learning.

Night fears in children of 7 years old are caused by the fact that at this age schoolchildren are not yet able to fully control their own emotions. And this is especially evident during a period of severe congestion.

Anxious thoughts about school torment children, usually up to the age of 9. In the evening, the child begins to rethink the whole day he lived. And sometimes he is not always able to cope with surging emotions, especially when heavily loaded.

That is why it is important for parents to notice the first signs of overwork in their child in time and plan his day taking into account individual characteristics and age.

About this period, children begin to realize that life on earth is not eternal. This awakens in them the fear of death. They may be afraid, for example, that they will fall asleep in the evening and not wake up in the morning. The fear in the child also arises because of the likelihood that the parents will die and he will be left alone. Recognizing such fear is often quite difficult. The thing is, kids don't like to talk about it. But it should be borne in mind that psychologists consider this phenomenon to be quite normal.

Somewhat changing symptomsfears in children at the age of 9. In this age period, more significant and global reasons lead to anxiety. In addition to the fear of the death of their own and their parents, schoolchildren are afraid to be alone in a world full of strangers and evil people. Also, these children have fears because of the likelihood that they will not be able to adapt in society, as well as because of their lack of self-confidence. At the age of 9, the child begins to fear catastrophes, wars, violence, etc.

Adolescence

High school students experience night terrors due to other problems. Their experiences are associated with the fear of passing exams, the correct choice of a future profession, etc. In addition, in adolescence, young people go through puberty, and guys sometimes worry about the complexity of relationships with girls, and vice versa. Children between the ages of 12 and 16 are often anxious about their own social status.

Besides this, teenagers strive everywhere and in everything to prove themselves only from the best side. The possibility of failure breeds fear in them. Self-doubt does not allow such children to communicate normally with their peers.

When does this end?

As you grow up, some childhood fears are replaced by others. All this indicates the passage of the natural stages of development of the psyche of the baby. However, many parents are still interested in knowing when night terrors and nightmares disappear in children. Experts say that it is impossible to give an exact age, since everything is purely individual.

If the parents are rightrespond to such phenomena, then by the age of 9-10, most children can sleep peacefully in a separate room. However, sometimes this period is prolonged. Night terrors can be present in the life of a child up to 12 years of age or more. All this can develop into real phobias. And here the child will certainly need the help of a specialist.

The nature of fears

Night fear will never arise in a child just like that. It is due to a number of factors and reasons, including:

• difficult course of pregnancy;
• heredity;
• pathology of childbirth;
• transferred severe pathology;
• surgeries, especially if performed under general anesthesia;
• lack of close emotional relationship with mom;
• psychic trauma;
• an excess of impressions;
• neuropsychic overload;
• unfavorable family atmosphere;
• nervous state of parents, frequent conflicts between them, as well as aggressive behavior with children.

The main sources of fear in babies are certain events in their lives, such as:

• moving to another place of residence;
• conflict on the street, at school and in kindergarten;
• transition to a new children's educational institution;
• the birth of a second child in the family;
• parents' divorce;
• death of loved ones.

Modern television is also a colossal source of negative information with its criminal chronicles, programs about violence, incidents and disasters.

Symptoms of fears

Not every child who is afraid of the dark will complain to adults. Sometimes children are embarrassed to tell their dads and moms about it. That is why psychologists advise parents to pay attention to the mood of their offspring, as well as to such symptoms:

• reluctance to go to bed;
• please leave the lights on in the room;
• difficulty falling asleep even when the baby is with mom.

Sometimes it seems to parents that there is some kind of obstacle that does not allow the baby to relax. In fact, it is the reason why the child cannot pass the nap stage. If this happens, then he will continue to sleep peacefully until the morning awakening.

Going to the doctor

How to rid a child of night terrors? As a rule, parents themselves can help their children. However, in certain cases, fathers and mothers should immediately contact a specialist. Medical consultation needed:

• with prolonged bouts of night terrors;
• inadequate state of the child, when he starts to twitch and talk incoherently;
• strengthening negative phenomena.

Parents should be wary in other cases as well. For example, with convulsive readiness of children during night fears or with nervous tics, rolling their eyes, sticking out their tongues, sudden head movements, twitching of the shoulders, asthma attacks, etc. The manifestation of the symptoms described above is the reason for an urgent visit to a doctor for diagnosis and appointment treating children for night terrorsdrugs, as well as classes with a psychologist.

Identification of the problem

In preschool children, as well as in elementary school students, anxiety can be detected using one of the methods proposed by child psychologists. The most popular of them is the diagnostics carried out according to the system of M. Panfilova and A. Zakharov. It's called "Fears in the Houses".

The child is invited to draw two houses. One of them should be drawn in black pencil, and the second in red. When the drawings are ready, the specialist invites his little patient to play a game. Its condition is the resettlement of all fears in the houses. The scariest of them should be placed in the black house, and the non-scary ones in the red one. During classes, the specialist must constantly monitor the child in order to assess the number of drawings that will indicate the worst fears. This will allow the psychologist to decide on the further course of the classes and what correction methods will be most effective in this case.

The specialist can ask the child to draw a lock on the door of a black house. This will allow the little patient to understand that he is safe, because all his fears are locked up.

Correction of the psyche

In order to save a child from night fears, it is necessary first of all to establish contact with him. This will allow the specialist to identify the signs and causes of the problem. Parents need to help their children overcome anxiety. What methods are recommended for this?

1. Play therapy. The advantage of this technique is that the child does not fully understand what is happening. He just plays with his parents or with a psychologist. The task of adults in this case is to create such conditions that they cause fear in the baby, and then you need to help him cope with the negative situation.
2. Drawing. This method of diagnosing and further correcting fears is considered the most effective among both preschoolers and students of educational institutions. During drawing classes, children transfer their experiences and emotions to paper. At the same time, the specialist must identify the fear visualized by the patient and designate it in a humorous form. This will fix the problem.
3. Sand therapy. This is one of the methods of art therapy. It allows you to relieve tension, as well as identify and deal with the child's fears.
4. Puppet therapy and fairy tale therapy. When using these techniques, the specialist needs to come up with a plot according to which the selected character overcomes his fear in one way or another to suppress it.

In addition to the above methods of eliminating fears, psychologists can use various trainings. Classes with tests and questionnaires will be no less effective.

For older children, conversations are more suitable. But they should be carried out only if the child is open to contact with a specialist. In this case, the doctor can apply the following techniques and methods:

1. Interpretation. It allows the child to eliminate his fears when suggestingrationalizing negative thoughts.
2. Responding. The main purpose of this technique is to create an artificial environment during which negative emotions are expressed.
3. Desensitization. With the help of these exercises, the mechanism for eliminating fear is developed by periodically meeting with it.
4. Container. Identification of the causes of the negative phenomenon and the elimination of some of their signs will be much easier if the patient's parents participate in the course of therapy. The specialist will give them the necessary advice that will allow them to eliminate fear in the child as efficiently and as quickly as possible.

Drug therapy

Treatment with drugs can eliminate many of the symptoms that torment the child. But it should be borne in mind that such therapy is secondary. The main task in eliminating the negative phenomenon is the correction of the psyche.

Doctors prescribe pills only to relieve depression, tension and other manifestations of asthenia. In such cases, the child is recommended vitamins, calcium preparations, mild antidepressants, nootropics, as well as sedatives (with strong excitability) and tranquilizers (with hyposthenia). Taking medications should be combined with physiotherapy and individual work with a psychologist.

Fixing results

How to make sure that night terrors never come back to the child? To do this, parents need to create a favorable atmosphere in the family and spend more time with the baby (especially if he is 3-5 years old). WhereinIt is very important that children constantly feel their own safety. Joint cognitive and entertaining games can help with this. In addition, it is important for parents to stop intimidating children, using this technique as a method of education. After all, it is often because of this that night terrors arise.

Dads and mothers also should not assure their child that there is nothing to be afraid of. Psychologists consider this approach to be wrong. The child must be taught to overcome difficulties. Total control and overprotection can cause new phobias.

Thematic Literature

Specialists in the field of child mental he alth often rely on the recommendations and explanations given in Alexander Zakharov's book Day and Night Fears in Children. In this work, for the first time in world and domestic practice, the main causes of the emergence and further development of anxiety were considered. The author cited statistical data on the extent of occurrence of daytime and nighttime fears in children, indicating the influence of various factors on them, the most important of which are family relationships. The book is written from the point of view of a child psychologist and pediatrician. Parents will also benefit from reading it.