Signs & Symptoms of Anxiety*

• Pounding heart, chest pain, rapid heartbeat, and blushing
• Rapid, shallow breathing, and shortness of breath
• Dizziness, headache, sweating, tingling, and numbness
• Choking, dry mouth, stomach pains, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea
• Muscle aches and pains (especially neck, shoulders, and back), restlessness, tremors, and shaking

• Unrealistic or excessive fear and worry (about past and future events)
• Racing thoughts or mind going blank
• Decreased concentration and memory
• Indecisiveness 
• Irritability
• Impatience
• Anger
• Confusion
• Feeling on edge
• Nervousness
• Sleep Disturbance
• Vivid Dreams

• Avoidance of situations
• Obsessive or compulsive behavior
• Distress in social situations
• Phobic behavior
• Increased use of alcohol or other drugs

* According to American Psychiatric Association. (2000)

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental  Disorders, fourth edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association

The symptoms are similar in both adults and youth.  Some anxiety symptoms are particularly common in youth.  These symptoms include worry in general, but particularly worry about what others think of them, fear in social situations, and anxiety about past imperfections.

• An unusually sad mood
• Loss of enjoyment and interest in activities that were previously enjoyable
• Lack of energy and tiredness
• Feeling worthless of guilty when they are not really at fault
• Thinking about death or wishing to be dead
• Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
• Moving more slowly or sometimes becoming agitated and unable to settle
• Having sleeping difficulties or sleeping too much
• Loss of interest in food or sometimes eating too much
• Changing eating habits, which may lead to either weight loss or gain
• Avoid spending time with friends altogether
• Spend more time with friends who appear to be depressed
• Become ostracized from their usual social group, wither because they continually refuse invitations or friends find the individual difficult to spend time with
• Use alcohol or other drugs to deal with emotional symptoms

• Complain of tiredness, even if they are sleeping more than usual
• Having difficulty doing household chores, either forgetting to do them or not doing them thoroughly
• Withdraw from family, spending a great amount of time in their bedroom
• Snap at family members, behave irritably, or pick fights with parents or siblings
• Avoiding discussing important future events, such as decisions about further education or work opportunities

• Show a decline in school grades because they do not complete work, do not do as good a job as they used to do, or miss school
• Fail to engage in classroom discussions or struggle to understand and communicate
• Snap at or start fights with other students or engage in vandalism
• Struggle to work effectively in the morning do better in late afternoon classes

These symptoms can all have an impact on school achievement.  Some may result in disciplinary responses.  Teachers may also notice that a student chooses topics such as depression, suicide or self-injury to write about in health or social science classes or as the subject for creative writing or art.

* According to Kelly, CM., Kitchner, B.A., & Jorm, A.F. (2010)

Youth Mental Health First Aid: A manual for adults assisting young people. 2nd ed. Melbourne, Australia: Orygen Youth Health Research Centre

If a young person is clinically depressed, they would have five or more of these symptoms (including at least one of the first two general symptoms) nearly everyday for at least two weeks.

Many major symptoms of depression in youth and adults are also symptoms of depression in very young children.  Children younger than age 12 with depression may show aggressive behaviors, be more fearful of new people and challenges, or show delays or regression in important developmental milestones