Many Kids Suffer Panic Attacks

March 6 -- Though Lindsey Marble is only 8 years old, her suburban home has become a world of terror where irrational fears rule her life.

She is scared to go to sleep, to swim, even to eat her favorite foods — symptoms that can easily be dismissed as simply difficult childhood behavior.

But Lindsey is not putting up a fight just to stay up past her bedtime. She is one of the youngest children in the country officially diagnosed with separation anxiety and panic disorders.

"It's basically the feeling that you would have if you were really in intense danger," said Donna Pincus, a therapist at Boston University's Center for Anxiety Disorders. "There is really no actual threat there, but your body is reacting as if there is a threat."

Psychologists have long studied how anxiety disorders affect adults, but new evidence suggests an alarming number of children suffer from them as well. According to Pincus, one of Lindsey's doctors, anxiety disorders strike an astounding 10 percent of Americans under 18.

Causes: Genetics, Trauma, Copying Adults

Lindsey had her first panic attack while watching a television program about a family trapped by fire. "All of a sudden it felt like a knife was going through my heart," said Lindsey, who said she thought she was going to die.

Her father, who called an ambulance, recalled "a glossy look" in Lindsey's eyes. "She was terrified."

Lindsey's fears snowballed, and her growing fears trapped her. She was afraid to go to bed. Then she panicked at the thought of eating or swimming. And from the moment the school bus dropped her off after school, she was overwhelmed by irrational fear that she would never make it the short way down the street to her home.

"I run really quick because I feel someone's coming at me," said Lindsey. "People kidnapping me or killing me. I'm afraid someone's going to shoot me."

Doctors are not sure what originally brought on Lindsey's fears. Anxiety disorders can be inherited, or they can be brought on by trauma. New research shows it can be absorbed by children simply from observing the anxious behavior of those around them.