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A doctor will often start a patient on a low dose of an SSRI.
Over time, the doctor will carefully increase the dose until the
right level has been found. SSRIs can be very helpful to people
with GAD—but they are not magic. It can take time for SSRIs to
work. Often, kids start to feel better in a week or so, but it can
take up to six weeks for the medication to be fully effective.
I’m Not Hyper, I’m Worried!
Lots of kids have ADHD, which is short for
attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. (You can
read more about it in another book in this set.)
It’s natural for kids with ADHD to feel anxious.
But feeling anxious now and again does not
mean you have a disorder.
Sometimes it can be tricky to tell the
difference between ADHD and an anxiety
disorder. Someone with an anxiety disorder
might have trouble concentrating in school
because his worries are so distracting. On the
other hand, someone with ADHD might feel
anxious because she knows that she’ll get in
trouble for not concentrating in school. In the
first example, the ADHD symptoms are a result of the anxiety disorder. In the second
example, the anxiety symptoms are a result of the ADHD.
So you can see how kids with anxiety disorders are sometimes wrongly labeled as
having ADHD. This can be a real problem. ADHD is treated with specific drugs that
help kids stay focused and pay attention in school. But ADHD drugs can make an
anxious kid feel more anxious or “edgy.” It’s important to treat the right problem.
Both anxiety disorders and
ADHD can make test-taking
very difficult.