The Role Of Separation Anxiety In Children

Childhood anxiety is quickly becoming the most challenging of all childhood problems. As the root of most problems, anxiety covers a long range of stressors that spread quickly if not treated or relieved early in life. Anxious feelings in children varies from children of all backgrounds. All people feel anxious at one point or another, and it is only when children are affected daily and unable to be calmed when people should become concerned. Many times, children are feeling overwhelmed and cannot express themselves or struggle to understand his/her feelings. Social and emotional development then plays a big part when facing concerns like anxiety in a young childhood environment. Teachers and caregivers need to take a step back and focus on what the child needs rather than what he/she can do to make children calm down. Through interventions, patience, and caring teachers, a young child does not need to be known as "The Child Who is Anxious", he/she can just be a child.

The baby or child forms an attachment with care giver. The care giver will be his/her secure base for exploration in the world. The baby or child developed schema of object permanence and believe the care givers are there according to Jean Piaget (1954). At this stage, separation anxiety is displayed according to the baby’s temperament when the baby is separated from care giver or being handled by strangers. At this stage, the pattern of attachment between baby and care giver is important for social and emotional development of a child.

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.

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.

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.”

but are quickly soothed upon reunion. The anxious-ambivalent and disorganized infants are characterized with thrilling anxiety during separation and strive for closeness to their attachment figure upon reunion.

Separation anxiety disorder (SAD) is one of the most common anxiety disorders in preadolescent children and can cause serious distress in a child’s life. Having separation anxiety disorder in childhood can significantly increase the chances of internalizing problems and other anxiety disorders. Unfortunately, because separation anxiety is common in children it is hard to determine if the behaviors the children are displaying are atypical. Although there are various types of treatment options for SAD, parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) can be extremely helpful particularly in the school system as teachers can adopt the same techniques using teacher-child interaction therapy (TCIT). Therefore, the child is not only receiving treatment at home, their treatment is consistent at school. PCIT has proved to be an efficient and popular treatment for SAD, which will be outlined and confirmed in this paper through analysis of PCIT and TCIT.

The client’s mother referred her son to the agency because he was suffering from anxiety. He was resisting going to go to school and becoming distressed when his parents tried to leave him at home.

There are several treatment options for separation anxiety disorder in children. The golden standard treatment of separation anxiety and other anxiety disorders is cognitive behavioral therapy, also known as CBT (Ehrenreich, Santucci, & Weiner, 2008). There are a couple of goals for this approach that involve both the child and parent (James, James, Cowdrey, Soler, & Choke, 2015). These researchers state that one of the goals is for the child to be able to recognize their own anxious feelings and their physiological responses when they experience anxiety. Another goal is for the child to have an ability to identify and control their thoughts during experiences that are anxiety-provoking for them. Therapists want children with separation

Children with separation anxiety disorder may be unable to stay or go in a room by themselves and may display "Clinging" behavior, staying close to or "Shadowing" the parent

Treatment for separation anxiety disorder normally will include therapy, medication, or both. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most common form of therapy that is used to treat separation anxiety disorder. CBT helps children and parents to learn ways to change negative thoughts and behaviors. Therapists can also help and show parents to understand how their behavior (more less an enabling behavior) may even increase their child’s anxiety (for example, letting their child to skip school). Seeking medical advice is very important. It is best to get medical advice if you are concerned that your child has separation anxiety disorder, because if it is left untreated, the anxieties can grow bigger and only get

Separation Anxiety (DSM-IV-TR code 309.21) is a disorder that occurs during infancy and childhood. The anxiety must be present for 4 months before the age of 18 and cause distress to the child’s daily life. Separation Anxiety diagnosed in children of the ages 6 and younger is early onset. Excessive high levels of anxiety characterize it when the child is separated from his primary caregiver or home. Anxiety is a normal reaction when a child is away from their parents, but a child with separation anxiety reacts in a manner that’s not age appropriate. Children with separation anxiety becomes highly disturbed when leaving the place, figure, or person they’re attached to because they believe harm will come to them when they are away. While away

An Article of Children’s reactions to divorce and separation. States “You should expect some changes in how your children behave and how they feel, but how they react immediately after the separation does not necessarily predict how they will adjust to the situation several years later”. The changes you will expect to the child are disrespect, stubborn, curious and more emotional. The child will get a long time to adjust to a broken

Sometimes, marriages and relationships do not work out in each others favor. In some situations, the two have a child, and can cause the child stress, regardless of age. Having to be separated from both of their parents can cause depression or separation anxiety. Children can be unaware of what is actually going on between the two depending on their age. If they are older, they tend to have an idea of why the parents are separating. It might take a toll on the child going through court to see who gets custody of him or her. Children could go through separation anxiety, negative approaches on their future, and coping poorly with the problem.

This paper examines the various symptoms of Separation Anxiety Disorder among children and adolescents, the refusal of children diagnosed with Separation Anxiety Disorder to go to school, and the treatments that are used to treat this disorder. Studies have shown that Separation Anxiety Disorder is the third most common anxiety disorder among children. Symptoms are fairly easy to recognize, but must be addressed quickly. Refusal to go to school is one of the most significant consequences of this disorder. Treatments are being made available to children who suffer from this disorder and advances in research are being made.