The Anxiety chapter guides professionals through the complexities of anxiety in children, including epidemiology, screening, and differential diagnosis. Topics cover anxiety’s presentation across age groups, distinctions from developmentally appropriate worries, and approaches tailored to neurodiverse and medically complex patients. Treatment sections review evidence-based nonpharmacological and pharmacological options, along with specialized strategies for conditions like OCD and epilepsy. This chapter equips clinicians with the knowledge to support children facing a range of anxiety-related challenges, fostering long-term well-being.

The Anxiety Chapter spans 35 topics across five levels of instruction. Levels 1 and 2 provide foundational knowledge beneficial for medical professionals and allied professionals, including educators, social workers, therapists, and psychologists.

Levels 3 to 5 shift to a more clinical focus, offering advanced insights geared toward medical doctors and sub-specialists.

The table below outlines the complete chapter content.

Chapter Editors

Joyce Harrison, MD serves as staff psychiatrist at the Psychiatric Mental Health Program at Kennedy Krieger Institute, with special interest in infant and preschool psychiatry. She is the Project Director for Kennedy Krieger Institutes Network for Early Childhood Tele-education (KKI-NECT), which provides tele-consultation for pediatric primary care providers in rural and underserved areas. She also serves as an assistant professor of psychiatry at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Harrison’s research interests focus on infant and preschool mental health training and interventions, school and community-based services, and behavioral health integration into primary care.

Nadia Ziam, MD is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Her expertise is centered around Child Psychiatry and Pediatrics.

Content, Featured Experts, and Learner Groups

Level	Neurodevelopmental Topic Content	Featured Expert	Learner Group(s)
Level 1	1.1 Epidemiology of Pediatric Anxiety	Joyce Harrison, MD	Allied professionals Medical Professionals Sub-Specialist Professionals
	1.2 A Primer on Common Anxiety Disorders	Joyce Harrison, MD
	1.3 Generalized Anxiety Disorder	Aime Bettencourt, Ph.D.
	1.4 Separation Anxiety Disorder	Aime Bettencourt, Ph.D.
	1.5 Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder	Marco Grados, MD, MPH
	1.6 A Primer on Less Common Anxiety Disorders	Joyce Harrison, MD
	1.7 Distinguishing Anxiety from Developmentally Appropriate Worries	Nadia Ziam, MD
Level 2	2.1 Presenting Symptoms by Age	Lauren Burton, MD	Allied professionals Medical Professionals Sub-Specialist Professionals
	2.2 Screening and Assessment	Raghad Alkhafaji, MD
	2.3 Differential Diagnosis	Bradley Grant, DO
Level 3	3.1 Anxiety in Neurodiverse Patients	Amy Keefer, PhD, ABPP	Medical Professionals Sub-Specialist Professionals
Level 3	3.2 Anxiety in Medically Complex Patients	Nadia Ziam, MD	Medical Professionals Sub-Specialist Professionals
Level 4	4.1 Review of the Evidence	Hal Kronsberg, MD	Medical Professionals Sub-Specialist Professionals
	4.2 Nonpharmacological Approaches	Aime Bettencourt, Ph.D.
	4.3 Medications	Marco Grados, MD, MPH
	4.4 Medications and Therapy in OCD	Marco Grados, MD, MPH
	4.5 Treatment Considerations in Neurodiverse Populations	Roma Vasa, MD
	4.6 Treatment Considerations in Medically Complex Patients	Nadia Ziam, MD
	4.7 Treatment Considerations in Patients with Epilepsy	Jay Salpekar, MD, FANPA
Level 5	5.1 Natural History and Outcomes/Long Term Follow-Up	Joyce Harrison, MD	Medical Professionals Sub-Specialist Professionals

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