Separation Anxiety DisorderSeparation Anxiety Disorder is a disorder in which a person experiences excessive anxiety when separated from home or from someone to whom the person is attached. The person shows excessive unwillingness to separate from major attachment figures or from home. The person may also experience an impairment in social, academic, and other important areas of functioning. Separation Anxiety Disorder most commonly occurs in a person before the age of 18. It is generally limited to preschool children and toddlers, and rarely found in adolescents.
If an infant experiences the disorder, it is possible that relapses of it can occur later in life. Many children undergo a certain amount of anxiety when separation is involved, but it is not until the anxiety impairs the child’s ability to function at school, at home, or with peers, that it is considered a disorder. Factors of Separation Anxiety Disorder include tiredness, minor or major illness, changes in the household routine, changes in the family (such as birth or death), or change in the caregiver.
Symptoms of this disorder include worrying about losing or harm coming to which the person is attached, refusal to go to school, nightmares, the inability to fall asleep that is long-standing and is not affected by a physician’s advice, and repeated physical complaints. Physical effects include trembling headaches, stomachaches, nausea, vomiting, and sweating. Separation Anxiety Disorder often occurs when a child is forced to make a transition in life and is placed into a new situation. The child often responds through temper tantrums and uncontrollable behavior.
Crying involved with separation anxiety is attributed to two things: crying do to fear that a parent or loved one will be gone forever, or crying because the loved one has returned, reminding the person of the feeling he or she got when the loved one originally left. There are many possible behavioral changes that are included in the diagnostic criteria of Separation Anxiety Disorder.
Possible behaviors shown by a person with the disorder include extreme amounts of stress when the person is separated from a loved one or home, worrying about losing or harm coming to the loved one, worrying about an event that could separate the person from a loved one, and refusal to go to a certain place in which the person will be separated from the loved one, for fear of permanent separation. Other behavioral symptoms include excessive fearfulness of being alone, reluctance to sleep in a place in which the loved one is not near, repeated nightmares involving separation, and persistent complaints of physical problems.
If three of these behaviors are observed in a period of no less than two weeks, than the person should see a physician about possible diagnosis. Prior to an appointment with a doctor, the parent of the child should make sure that the anxiety is not a result of bullying, in which the child would then pretend to be scared to leave home or separate from the parent. Treatment of the disorder may include individual psychotherapy, family education, and family therapy. Both the parent and the child would benefit from counseling.
The parents of a child with the disorder would need to develop a consistent morning plan to help support the child in going to school. Daily school attendance often leads to symptom relief. If persistent symptoms are involved, medication may be the only treatment. Imipramine can help stop Separation Anxiety Disorder. Antidepressant drugs also help reduce anxiety. There are a few prevention techniques that may help reduce the chances of a child developing Separation Anxiety Disorder.
The occasional use of a baby-sitter helps a child get used to not having parents around all the time. Preschool and contact with peers for children ages three to four also helps. In conclusion, Separation Anxiety Disorder is a mental disorder that can affect any child of any age, but usually in the earlier ages. A person with this disorder experiences excessive anxiety when separated from home or from someone to whom the person is attached. Counseling is the best possible treatment.