children s health issues
Separation Anxiety Disorder
Symptoms of Separation Anxiety Disorder
Children with separation anxiety disorder experience great distress when separated from home or from people to whom they are attached. Dramatic scenes commonly occur during goodbyes. Goodbye scenes are typically painful for both parent and child. Children often wail and plead with such desperation that the parent cannot leave, prolonging the scene and making separation even more difficult. If the parent is also anxious, children become more anxious, creating a vicious circle. After the parent has left, children fixate on being reunited. They often need to know where the parent is and are preoccupied with fears that something terrible will happen to them or to their parent. Some children have persistent, excessive worries that they will lose the parent through kidnapping, illness, or death. Traveling by themselves makes these children uncomfortable, and they may refuse to attend school or camp or to visit or sleep at friends’ homes. Some children cannot stay alone in a room, clinging to a parent or shadowing the parent around the house. Difficulty at bedtime is common. Children with separation anxiety disorder may insist that a parent or caregiver stay in the room until they fall asleep. Nightmares may disclose the children’s fears, such as destruction of the family through fire or another catastrophe. Children often develop physical symptoms, such as headaches or stomachaches. Children usually appear normal when a parent is present. As a result, the problem may seem less severe than it is. The longer the disorder lasts, the more severe it is. 