Host: We are now going to discuss school Phobia with Dr. Les Linet, MD, Psychiatrist. Dr. Linet.
Dr. Les Linet: School phobia essentially is avoidance of going to school. It's not school refusal; school refusal might involve the child leaving home and not going school and going playing hockey, but school phobia children are afraid going to school. They want to be home base, they often don't say they are afraid, they often say, I have a tummy ache, headache and they stay home. They are perfectly comfortable at home. They are truly afraid.
I saw a boy who explained kind of metaphor what he was experiencing, he said that it was like there was an evil wizard in the school. And I think that's a rather lovely way of putting it because he wasn't giving rationalizations, he wasn't saying the teacher is mean, the school is too hard, the other kids are nasty. I have stomach ache, he was able to say that he was afraid, but he was also telling me that he knew there was nothing to be afraid of. And see, kids with school phobia do know this, that's why they say, I have stomach ache, they know they can't explain really why they are afraid. They are afraid because their nervous system is sending them signals of danger. Very often there is a family history of panic disorder in children school phobia. Basically there is a strong genetic component and it has in nervous system going to school is the thing that is hard for children to do if they are anxious because they have to leave the safe environment.
Host: First and most important patch to be aware of if kid does not go to school, you must go to the school, speak to their guidance, with Vice Principal in-charge of these kind of situations and they can be aware that the kid has a phobia getting help for the proper counsel of trying to get to go to school, get them involved because we don't make an effort that parents could have a big problem, couldn't they?
Dr. Les Linet: Yes, and a mistake sometimes made is to provide home schooling. The idea in that instance is the child gets in education, but for long the child is out of school the hard it is to get back. So that is not the treatment I would advocate. Such children should be treated and the prognosis is actually very, very good between school phobia, but you do need to get the child back to school.
Host: Can the parents get in trouble if the kid doesn't go to school?
Dr. Les Linet: Yes, it's not illegal to be gorephobic. I am afraid you are not referring adult, but it's against the law to not go to school. We have compulsory education here in United States. So parents not only do -- as a parent want to take care of the child take care of problems, but you are going to be in legal trouble, potentially you can be in legal trouble if you don't do something about this.
Host: What is a psychiatrist, that person, if a child has school phobia, how would you process from?
Dr. Les Linet: It has an excellent primary system either without medicine or with medicine. There are cases though that are difficult. This is always the case and sometimes one has to use medicine because the child is such distress trying to get to school. There was an interesting study done several years ago in which children were in two groups; a procedural group and a medication group, and in both groups they were also involved in talking treatment and the parents were instructed to get the child back to school to do whatever they had to, to get the child back to school not just to bring them to the doctor. In the non-medication about half the children after three weeks or so were back at school.
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