Cause, diagnosis, treatment, ... three questions about school phobia

INTERVIEW

Back to school is often accompanied by stress, but it is temporary.

On the other hand, 3 to 6% of children suffer from a phobia, a more lasting phenomenon that may require consulting a specialist to help the child overcome.

On Europe 1, Louis Vera, child psychiatrist details what you need to know about this disorder: what are its causes, its symptoms but also the ways to treat it.

How to identify a school phobia?

"The fear and the phobia will be distinguished because the phobic is anxious, he is afraid before being afraid. This will be characterized by anticipatory anxiety. He is afraid even before being stressed. The school phobic n he does not have a concrete object of which he is phobic ", he is afraid of school in general, explains Louis Vera.

"There is not a peak in frequency, but there are seasons. The shy person will trigger his school phobia around All Saints' Day. Those who have academic difficulties will trigger it around the February or Easter holidays" , specifies the child psychiatrist.

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The diagnosis can be difficult because "we are dealing with a healthy child on weekends and during school holidays" and not at all during the week.

“In general, parents don't understand anything about it,” emphasizes Louis Vera.

Among the warning signs are "stomach aches before going to school. Some will even throw up".

When the school phobia is proven "it can go really far."

The child psychiatrist thus observed children who were handcuffed to the radiator or hiding in their mezzanine so as not to go to school. 

What are the causes ? 

Different causes can explain this phobia.

Some are very classic according to the specialist, starting with "separation anxiety: when the child, teenager or even young adult is far from his relatives, whether parents or his brothers and sisters. ", says Louis Vera.

Separation anxiety is thus "a great cause of school phobia".

Likewise, "a learning disability can be a precipitating factor," he says.

Social phobia can also cause a school phobia to develop "if the young person feels uncomfortable in groups".

In some cases, autistic disorders can lead to teasing and be a source of school phobia, especially when they interfere with non-verbal communication.

More generally, harassment and humiliation by peers or teachers can have the same consequences. 

How to help the child to get better?

Encouraging the child to go to school "that's the right way to start off", considers Louis Vera.

When the child can no longer go to school, "it is imperative to consult because if we let it drag on too long this risks aggravating the school phobia. It must be considered as a therapeutic emergency".

Parents should therefore not consider the refusal to go to school as a whim. "In school phobia, the child does not act, it is very painful for him", warns the child psychiatrist.

Then, he must be taught to "manage his stress" and finally "he will have to treat the cause".

In the case of separation anxiety Louis Vera advocates behavioral therapy.

Two solutions then arise: "either we enter into a contract with the young person and after having taught him to manage his stress, he will go back to school completely overnight. Or he feels too much difficulty".

In this case, a gradual return to school is to be favored.

"Often he is greeted like a superhero by his friends and it goes superbly."

Changing schools is far from being the preferred solution.

It is carried out if there are identified factors of harassment, or if the young person asks to start from zero.

In most cases of school phobia, "the vast majority are doing very well", concludes the child psychiatrist.