Reference no: EM133451112

Anxiety can be disruptive to the life and the mind of the sufferer. With an early onset (median age of onset is 6 years old), anxiety disorders are chronic, disabling conditions that can negatively impact youth's life at home and school, and can put youth at risk for adult psychiatric disorders. Over 95% of youth living with anxiety experience at least one somatic symptom including headache, stomachache, head cold or sniffles, sleeplessness, or feelings of drowsiness or sleepiness

Even prior to the pandemic, the Public Health Agency of Canada has found that as many as 25% of youth (15 to 24 years) meet the criteria for a psychiatric disorder in Canada (PHAC, 2011). The most commonly diagnosed condition in Canada are anxiety disorders, which affects approximately 10% of children and adults across the country (Crawley, et al. 2014). Gubberman (2011) also noted that adding to the range of how anxiety is experienced is that comorbidity in diagnoses is common. Comorbidity among the anxiety disorders themselves is frequent as is the cooccurrence of depression.

As a counsellor, who is working with an adolescent client who presents with anxiety and a family history of depression, do you think knowing when the symptoms first appeared could reveal some interesting data? And how could a counsellor go about obtaining that information other than asking directly on an intake questionnaire?