Separation anxiety disorder is a mental health disorder that begins in childhood and is characterized by worrying that is out of proportion to the situation of temporarily leaving home or otherwise separating from parents or loved ones. Four to five percent of children and adolescents suffer from separation anxiety disorder.
The causes are likely to be a predisposition to a combination of both environmental and genetic factors. Children with a family history of anxiety or whose mothers were stressed during pregnancy with them appeared to be more at risk of developing this separation anxiety disorder.
* The anxiety may take the form of an unrealistic, preoccupying worry about possible harm befalling major attachment figures, or fear that they will leave and not return.
* An unrealistic worry that some untoward event such as the child being lost, kidnapped, admitted to hospital or killed will separate him/her from their attachment figure.
* Persistent refusal to go to school due to fear of separation rather than fear of school events.
* Reluctance to go to sleep without being near a major attachment figure.
* Repeated nightmares about separation
* The occurrence of physical symptoms (nausea, headache, stomachache etc) on occasions that may involve separation from a loved one.
Counselling rather than medication is the preferred choice of treatment. Behaviour modification therapy and cognitive therapy focuses on positive reinforcment and rewarding the child for the independent small steps they take in overcoming their anxiety.
If psychotherapy is unsuccessful or the child's symptoms are extreme, medication may be considered.
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