How Do You Help A Child With Anxiety Over Germs?
A phobia is an overwhelming fear that grips the patient even though he may realize it is irrational. A phobia can have long lasting effects on a person and affect daily life to an unreasonable extent. Helping a child with a germ phobia is a little tricky. Most phobias deal with unreasonable fears of objects or situations that present little or no danger to the person. Children are being taught in school all about hand washing techniques and the power of germs to make them sick. Explaining that the obsessive fear is irrational does not make sense to them, but there are ways you can help the child to overcome these fears. Lead by example. Many children develop phobias by watching a friend or family member and their reaction to germs. Perhaps the mother or grandmother is a bit obsessed with cleaning or hand washing; the child needs to be shown how to keep things in perspective. Realize that to the child the fear is very real and can be debilitating if it keeps him from enjoying life. List
