Normal and Abnormal Fear and Anxiety in Children and Adolescents

397 Pages·2007·1.7 MB·English

by  Peter Muris

NORMAL AND ABNORMAL
FEAR AND ANXIETY IN
CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
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NORMAL AND ABNORMAL
FEAR AND ANXIETY IN
CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
PETER MURIS
AMSTERDAM (cid:129) BOSTON (cid:129) HEIDELBERG (cid:129) LONDON
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Muris, Peter.
Normal and abnormal fear and anxiety in children and adolescents/ Peter Muris.
p. ; cm.—(BRAT series in clinical psychology)
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-08-045073-5 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-08-045073-3 (alk. paper)
1. Anxiety in children. 2. Anxiety in adolescence. 3. Fear in children. I. Title. II. Series.
[DNLM: 1. Anxiety Disorders—etiology. 2. Adolescent. 3. Anxiety—psychology.
4. Anxiety Disorders. 5. Child. 6. Fear—psychology. WM 172 M977n 2007]
RJ506.A58M87 2007
618.92'8522—dc22
2007006299
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-08-045073-5
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To my beautiful daughters, Jip and Kiki, who so far have developed without
serious anxiety problems
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Table of Contents
Preface ix
Introduction xi
1. Normal and Abnormal Fear and Anxiety in Children
and Adolescents 1
2. Genetically Based Vulnerability 31
3. Environmental Infl uences 61
4. Protective Factors 99
5. Maintaining Factors 129
6. The Aetiology of Childhood Phobias and Anxiety Disorders:
A Dynamic Multifactorial Model 163
7. Assessment of Fear and Anxiety in Children and Adolescents 193
8. Treatment and Prevention of Childhood Anxiety 225
Appendix Questionnaires 267
References 299
Index 373
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Preface
In the Behaviour Research and Therapy (BRAT) Series in Clinical Psychology, Craske
(2003) wrote her monograph “Origins of phobias and anxiety disorders: Why more women
than men?” in which she provided an excellent overview of current theories on the aetiology
of phobias and anxiety disorders. Although the emphasis of Craske’s book is mainly on
adults, it is also clear that she assumes that the foundation of these problems is already laid
during childhood. In the past decades, the research domain of childhood phobias and anxiety
disorders has made an enormous progress, as evidenced by a massive amount of empirical
articles in scientifi c journals.
This book provides an overview of the accumulating knowledge on the pathogenesis of
fear and anxiety in youths. The main target will be to give the reader an idea of the factors
that are thought to be involved in the development of abnormal fear and anxiety in children
and adolescents, and to integrate this knowledge in a comprehensive model. An additional
purpose will be to provide an update of current assessment methods as well as empirically
supported intervention strategies for fear and anxiety problems in young people. In the
Appendix, the reader will fi nd a number of instruments that can be employed for research
(and eventually clinical) purposes.
Admittedly, many good books have been published that deal with the domain of child-
hood fear and anxiety (see Weems, 2005). Most books are more predominantly concerned
with the phenomenology and treatment of various phobias and anxiety disorders in children
and adolescents (e.g., Essau & Petermann, 2001; Morris & March, 2004; Ollendick &
March, 2004) and only partially cover the aetiology of this type of child psychopathology.
Exceptions are the volumes edited by Vasey and Dadds (2001; “The developmental psy-
chopathology of anxiety”) and Silverman and Treffers (2001; “Anxiety disorders in children
and adolescents”), which both give an in-depth coverage of the multiple factors involved
in the origins of phobias and anxiety disorders in youths. However, having appeared more
than fi ve years ago, the fi eld seems ready for a new update of this rapidly expanding and
intriguing research area.
Peter Muris