Brain health · Sanctum

Anxiety and perfectionism as the headline

What everyone sees is the worry. The tummy aches before school, the redoing of work until it is perfect, the dread of getting anything wrong. The anxiety gets all the attention, and it is real, but it may not be the whole story.

For some children, especially girls, anxiety and perfectionism are how an unrecognised difference shows up. Working twice as hard to keep up, terrified of slipping, masking the struggle behind being good and being neat. The anxiety is genuine, and it is often sitting on top of something else.

Because the worry is so visible and so treatable-looking, that is where help goes, and the thing underneath, the reason keeping up takes so much effort, is never asked about. The child gets called sensitive or a worrier, and the bigger picture is missed.

We look at what the anxiety might be sitting on, not just the anxiety itself, because that is what changes the help that follows. None of this is a diagnosis. It is what we explore with you.

Written by Dr Asad RaffiConsultant Psychiatrist · Founder & Medical Director