The Harvard Mental Health Letter, published by Harvard Medical School, is reliably the best eight pages of solid information and state-of-the-art advice I know of in my field. Their advertising blurb is flat-out true:

For nearly two decades, this uniquely positioned newsletter, Harvard Mental Health Letter, has delivered information, current thinking and debate on mental health issues that concern professionals and laymen alike. In the ever-changing and complex field of mental health care, the newsletter has become a trusted source for psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and therapists of all kinds.

The December 2004 issue had a summary of our current understanding of children’s fears and anxieties. The article reviews the different diagnoses used to describe anxiety: generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder (also called social phobia), obsessive-compulsive disorder (which is usually considered to have its roots in anxiety), panic disorder, separation anxiety, simple phobias, and post-traumatic stress disorder. It talks about the causes of childhood anxiety (both genetic and environmental), and outlines various treatment methods.

The article comes to mind now, at the start of the school year, because of a sidebar on school refusal: reluctance to go to school, or resistance or avoidance tactics to avoid going to school. Kids may fear school, or they may fear leaving home. There may be good reason to fear things that are happening at school – like bullying. The beginning of the school year is one of the commonest times for school refusal to emerge.

If your child is resisting going to school right now, should you worry about it? As with so many of the decisions we parents get to make, this one isn’t an easy call!

Some references that may be helpful:

The standard medical / diagnostic view is essential background. Here’s
a parental information sheet from the American Family Physician, and a more technical version of the same information, designed for MDs: also from the American Family Physician – for MDs, and the language is a bit technical, but a good general review, similar to the one in the Harvard Mental Health Letter.

Here’s a link to Children Who Won’t Go To School, from the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Here’s a common sense review with a good list of possible reasons for school refusal, from the South Austrailia Children, Youth and Women’s Health Service. (Don’t you love what the Internet can give us?)

Finally, here’s a publication on the topic from The National Association of School Psychologists which may be helpful to your child’s school if they seem unsure how to be helpful.