Long Term Effects of Childhood Separation Anxiety

In an acute stressor, the immune system is heightened. But is suppressed in a chronic stressor. In this situation the cortisol levels rise, and weaken the immune system. This weaken system can make the human body more susceptible to serious disease, infections

Most parents know and understand the struggle of sending their toddler off to school for the first time. Separation anxiety in children normal and happens often especially in situations such as, being sent off to school. In Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model, one of the important points made was how within the microsystems, communications between where and who the child spends most of their time with is essential. It was stated that, the amount of quality relationships between the places the child spends the most time in is an important factor in development. To apply this to the situation of helping to ease separation anxiety associated with going to pre-school, the parent should establish a relationship with the teacher before school starts.

Separation anxiety is very common as children grow and develop. They may fear those few moments during daycare drop-off or that initial first meeting with a new babysitter. These children will often times grow out of this anxiety after they become familiar with their surroundings and caregivers. But, if they continue having these separation anxiety induced outbursts, even after they have been with a trusted caregiver for a time, parents and primary caregivers often worry about the well-being of their child and their child’s development. They may believe that their child has acquired a Separation Anxiety Disorder (SAD). I selected this topic because I work with multiple toddlers in a center and their parents have expressed some minor worry towards whether or not their child suffers with SAD or if this anxiety is causing them delays. I would love to be able to know some minor details about this broad topic and refer them to the website and articles that I found helpful when writing this report. This topic is important because it is has many symptoms that are similar to regular and developmentally appropriate separation anxiety. When a child suffers from SAD, it is something that needs attention by a pediatric professional in order for it not to affect the child later in life.

Today, the exact cause of Separation Anxiety Disorder is unknown (According to an article by Psychology Today). Although the exact cause is unknown, we do know of some risk factors. According to various articles, kids that come from very united families are more likely to develop SAD if separation from a parent occurs or a traumatic event such as, physical assault occurs. Boston Children’s Hospital says that, “…a child can also inherit that parent’s anxiety…” and that “…anxiety may be learned from family members and others who are noticeably stressed or anxious around a child.” Those are only some ways a kid might end up developing SAD. Various articles also suggest that a factor that seems to be common in kids with Separation Anxiety

Children experience separation disorder in a more severe form than infant Children may develop physical complications when separated. Children sometimes get an upset stomach, nausea, or vomiting. Symptoms include hyperventilating headaches and diarrhea. Behavioral symptoms that a child might exhibit when they have anxiety include hesitancy or refusal to separate from the caregiver. The children may start begging, whining, and crying. Having tantrums if confronted with separation is normal. They may refuse to go to school or even refuse to sleep alone. Teen’s experience separation anxiety quite frequently. when separated from their cell phone, or friends. Signs of separation disorder included the constant worry of where the phone is located. They worry about battery life. Adults become paranoid and expect the worst. They begin to hyperventilate some get headaches and become very anxious.

Viewed from an evolutionary standpoint, in early times stress caused the stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system resulting in an outpouring of the hormones epinephrine, norepinephrine, and glucocorticoids that were essential to the life-preserving fight or flight reactions of primitive man (Anthony 1988). However, the nature of stress for the individual today is different. It is only occasionally and unexpectedly that one is confronted with overwhelming, life-threatening stresses. Present stresses arise from everyday stresses of work, finances and school. The problem is that the body still continues to respond in the same fashion as primitive times. This makes the large release of hormones very harmful. They can cause an increase in blood pressure, damage muscle tissue, lead to infertility, inhibit growth, damage the hippocampus and suppress the immune system (Carlson 1994). It is therefore, important that individuals learn to control the stresses in their lives. The more detrimental coping behaviors will cause a larger change

Stress is known to negatively impact health. Psychological responses, such as mood, emotion and coping, influence the way we perceive stress and the impact it has on the physiological response (Chida & Hamer, 2008). Past studies have used the hormone cortisol to test the stress response(Dickerson &

Separation anxiety disorder involves excessive anxiety concerning separation from home or attachment figures, usually parents.

Cortisol is vital in maintaining bodily homeostasis. Some roles of cortisol include, maintaining blood pressure, slowing down the immune system 's inflammatory response and helping the body to respond to stress.

Separation protests in infancy have shown to be a fascinating subject for researchers and parents alike. The belief that attachment figures are seen as a source of security, and that separation is stressful during infancy, was strengthened when research was conducted on activity in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) system. Research on the HPA system has shown that mothers appear to buffer cortisol elevations, the hormone that is released in response to stress, when an infant is a fearful or stressful situation.

The patient is a 28-year-old, Armenian female who arrived on time for her evaluation appointment. Mrs. Muradyan requested to have her 4 year –old daughter be present during the evaluation, to prevent her child’s anxiety symptoms intensifying while being separated from her. It appears that the child’s recent separation from her father may have triggered her to develop symptoms of separation anxiety, which explains and validates the child’s fear of being separated from her mother and always needing to be with her to avoid wondering if something bad is going to happen and “she is not going to be able to see her mother like she is unable to see her father.”

His mother states that he would cry and refuse to sleep at night when in order to stay home and avoid school. He continues to sleep in his mother’s room as a result of his fear of being alone. On observation, he continued throughout the interview to run to his mother and hug her, before returning to play with his sister. The patient gets scared of being a lone and needs constant reminder that his mother is okay. His anxiety has been ongoing for about 3 years now according to his mother. The patients mother believes that his anxiety may be the reason why he appears shy at school and friendly with family. According to DSM-5 (2013), he meets the criteria for separation anxiety.

Maternal separation can have great effects on children in several ways. Being separated from the parent for a great amount of time leads children to develop anger, anxiety, resentment, difficult parental relationships, and other issues in their daily lives. Due to difficult parental relationships, it can also cause issues with other relationships. A study was done by Kalinichev et al. (2002) to compare female and male rats that were maternally separated, handled, or undisturbed as neonates in anxiety-like behaviors, in response to startle-inducing auditory stimuli and elevated plus-maze. It was discovered that having experience with maternal separation leads to a long-lasting rise in anxiety-like behaviors that occurs in a type of sex-dependent manner. Due to this separation and stress that these rats faced, the males and females were less likely to explore the plus-maze. For humans, lengthened lack of contact between a mother and her child can result in great shortfall in maternal attachment. Children who experience this type of separation are most likely to develop insecure attachment styles, anger, and resentment. Above all, maternal separation between a child and mother can affect their attachment, behavior, and mood if not treated.

SAD is one of the most commonly diagnosed anxiety disorders among children. It is completely normal for adolescents, especially in very young adolescents, to experience some degree of separation anxiety. In comparison, separation anxiety disorder is excessive worry or anxiety that goes beyond the expected amount for the child's developmental level. SAD is characterized by excessive anxiety concerning separation from home or from those to whom a child is attached. While some tend to believe that this anxiety disorder is more common among females than males, it has been determined that SAD occurs at approximately the same rate in males and females (Eisen & Schaefer, 2005). Separation Anxiety Disorder is not permanent. It can be cured; however children with SAD are at higher risk for the development of other anxiety disorders and depression not only in adolescence, but in adulthood as well. Studies have shown that children who are diagnosed with SAD are much more likely to have are much more likely to develop panic disorder, bipolar disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and several others later in life. Studies have also shown that children diagnosed with SAD have similar symptoms that occur among them. Primary symptoms include excessive worry about potential harm to self or major attachment figures, frequent nightmares about separation, physical ailments such as nausea, headaches, stomach pains, as well as

High degrees of cortisol also can decrease ones bone density, leading to osteoporosis and diminished muscle cells, which will slow along your metabolism, and it might also enhance your blood pressure as well as other problems.