National Mental Health Association
Physicians and parents can use a few simple rules to judge whether a child’s fears are normal participants in a meeting of the National Mental Health Association in Charleston, S.C., learned.
Normal phobias, such as the fear of strangers or fear on the first day of school, will fade away after a few days or more, said a University of California child psychiatrist. But true anxiety disorders actually prevent the child from functioning and do not subside with time, he said. About 70% of four year-olds have simple phobias that they will outgrow, he added.