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A doctor will often start a patient on a low dose of an SSRI. Over time, the doctor will carefully increase the dose until the right level has been found. SSRIs can be very helpful to people with GAD—but they are not magic. It can take time for SSRIs to work. Often, kids start to feel better in a week or so, but it can take up to six weeks for the medication to be fully effective.

I’m Not Hyper, I’m Worried!

Lots of kids have ADHD, which is short for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. (You can read more about it in another book in this set.) It’s natural for kids with ADHD to feel anxious. But feeling anxious now and again does not mean you have a disorder. Sometimes it can be tricky to tell the

difference between ADHD and an anxiety disorder. Someone with an anxiety disorder might have trouble concentrating in school because his worries are so distracting. On the other hand, someone with ADHD might feel anxious because she knows that she’ll get in trouble for not concentrating in school. In the first example, the ADHD symptoms are a result of the anxiety disorder. In the second example, the anxiety symptoms are a result of the ADHD. So you can see how kids with anxiety disorders are sometimes wrongly labeled as having ADHD. This can be a real problem. ADHD is treated with specific drugs that help kids stay focused and pay attention in school. But ADHD drugs can make an anxious kid feel more anxious or “edgy.” It’s important to treat the right problem. Both anxiety disorders and ADHD can make test-taking very difficult.