All children with the disorder have acute onset of OCD symptoms or eating restrictions. But they also have a debilitating and baffling set of other neurological symptoms with similarly sudden onset. To be diagnosed with PANS they must have two of the following seven criteria:

• Separation anxiety, panic, other forms of anxiety
• Behavioral regression: Kids suddenly acting much younger than they should for their age, such as reverting to baby talk.
• Emotional lability: These children can be severely depressed, even suicidal
• Irritability, aggression and /or severely oppositional behaviors
• Deterioration in school performance: Sudden decline in math and reading competence, memory and concentration; increase in hyperactivity
• Motor or sensory abnormalities: Their handwriting and drawing deteriorates dramatically (also linked to regression), and they may be distressed by noise or light
• Somatic symptoms: These include sleep disturbances, betwetting and other changes in urinary frequency or intensity