As many as 1 in 5 children have persistent and excessive worry to the point that it manifests as general anxiety disorder, separation anxiety and social phobia, a psychiatrist researcher says.

That’s significant enough to trigger educational underachievement and increased rates of depression and substance abuse later in life, writes Graham Emslie, MD, chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, in an editorial published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Emslie is the first psychiatric researcher to demonstrate the beneficial use of antidepressants in children and is now on a mission to increase diagnosis and treatment for anxiety disorders in children and teens.

Anxiety disorders in children are frequently unrecognized because they may only report physical aches and may be unable to verbalize "worry" or "fear," Dr. Emslie says.

If your son or daughter seems worried, fearful or withdrawn on a consistent basis, seems socially withdrawn or avoids activities that include separating from you, talk to your healthcare provider to see if he or she should be screened by a mental health provider.