children s health issues
Separation Anxiety Disorder
Treatment of Separation Anxiety Disorder
Behavioral therapy Psychotherapy is used to treat separation anxiety disorder. It involves teaching parents and caregivers to keep the goodbye scenes as short as possible and coaching them to react to protestations matter-of-factly. Individual and family psychotherapy is also useful. Enabling children to return to school is an immediate goal. It requires doctors, parents, and school personnel to work as a team. Helping children form an attachment to one of the adults in the preschool or school may help. When the disorder is severe, medications that can reduce anxiety, such as a type of antidepressant called a Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) (SSRI), may help. Children are prone to relapses after holidays and breaks from school. Thus, parents are often advised to plan regular separations during these periods to help children remain accustomed to being away from them. 