how early could anxiety issues arise?

Jen - Sorry you and your daughter are going through this. I know it must be torturous to watch her suffer like that. It is possible for children her age to experience anxiety and I would like to recommend that you get her to a child psychologist or other mental health professional who specializes in working with children as soon as possible. It will be best for her in the long term to get this addressed as soon as you can so that the anxiety does not generalize to other situations/settings.

Rick Wirtz

Before I would jump to the anxiety conclusion, I would bring it up with her pediatrician. She may just be reacting in a way that is approprioate for her cognitive level of development, but seems strange. Anxiety typically occurs as a result of an incident that is emotionally stressful to the person... I would think that she is a bit too young to have a full blown anxiety disorder. The nail biting could be a transition from thumb sucking; the clenching jaw could have to do with the alignment of her teeth or some other dental related issue; and the uncontrollable crying could be a tantrum. Good Luck!

Hi Jen,

I agree with the first answer that it could be related to anxiety, but behavior like this may also result from a number of physical maladies, so I have some sympathies with the second answer.

My view is that you first need to rule out the physical before you consider the psychological. Therefore my first port of call would be the doctor. Meanwhile, you might like to consider when this behavior first started, what situations it occurs in and what happens when it occurs/what stops it. I think all this information will help during any consultation you have, medical or psychological.

I suspect this isn't the case but if the behavior is very recent and unexpected, or if it is accompanied by raised temperature or rashes etc you need medical help quickly