How to Help a Child With Anxiety Over Germs

A phobia is an overwhelming fear that grips the patient even though he may realize it is irrational. A phobia can have long lasting effects on a person and affect daily life to an unreasonable extent. Helping a child with a germ phobia is a little tricky. Most phobias deal with unreasonable fears of objects or situations that present little or no danger to the person. Children are being taught in school all about hand washing techniques and the power of germs to make them sick. Explaining that the obsessive fear is irrational does not make sense to them, but there are ways you can help the child to overcome these fears.

Instructions

• 1

  Lead by example. Many children develop phobias by watching a friend or family member and their reaction to germs. Perhaps the mother or grandmother is a bit obsessed with cleaning or hand washing; the child needs to be shown how to keep things in perspective.

• 2

  Realize that to the child the fear is very real and can be debilitating if it keeps him from enjoying life. Listen to the child's fear with an open mind -- voicing his trepidations and facing his fear can take away the power of the phobia.

• 3

  Educate the child about health practices that can be used to avoid germs and getting sick, such as good hand washing skills, using antibacterial gels when appropriate, using a tissue when coughing or sneezing and other common sense techniques.

• 4

  Support the child when the phobia becomes too consuming; never belittle the child's feelings, according to mayoclinic.com. Teach the child relaxation techniques such as visualizing the germs going down the sink drain and telling himself repeatedly, "I have done all that is needed."

• 5

  Teach positive ways of coping with the phobia. Tell the child to rate the fear on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the least fearful and 10 being the most, according to kidshealth.org. Your child will soon realize that this fear is not as bad as he thought.

• 6

  Seek the help of a professional if the phobia keeps the child from being able to function on a daily basis without undue stress. The child's pediatrician can prescribe medication to help the child with the anxieties, or the doctor may feel the child needs to speak with a psychologist. Do not let irrational fears rule the child's life.