Learning to Deal With Separation Anxiety
Separation anxiety disorder is one of the more commonly experienced anxiety conditions. It typically affects children and young adults but can also affect grown men and women as well. People who have separation anxiety experience recurrent excessive anxiety which results from separation of someone in their life.
Most of the time it is a parent that causes the separation anxiety, so when they leave the child the child begins to feel the anxiety coming on.
There are a few obvious signs that usually appear when a person is experiencing this anxiety, and this includes fear or worry leading to impairment of functioning which is frequently accompanied by somatic symptoms such as headaches or stomachaches.
The Details
Separation anxiety is a developmentally normal characteristic when it occurs in infants and young children, but when it affects adults it can cause serious problems in their day to day living. Researchers have already discovered that children who develop this anxiety condition may have altered sensitivity to endocrine influences, such as maternal cortisol, but there are many other possible causes of the condition as well.
A few of the other possible symptoms of separation anxiety include subjective feelings of anxiety, unrealistic worries about the safety of others, a reluctance to fall asleep if not near the primary attachment figure, and homesickness, just to name a few.
Treatment
Of course one of the most important issues on the topic of separation anxiety involves the treatment that is available. Typically the first step would be to try and talk to the person and see if they can convince them to get over the feelings of anxiety.
The next step would most likely include cognitive-behavior therapy, which has been shown to be very effective at treating all types of anxiety disorders.
The only way you will be able to determine which specific treatment is going to be best suited for you is by talking about your condition with your doctor. They will do a proper assessment and diagnosis and from this be able to decide on which treatment is going to offer you the best possible results.
Keep in mind that something like an anxiety disorder often will take time until you feel relief, so you should not expect immediate results. Sometimes none of the treatments will work, and doctors will have to figure out another approach that may not be able to completely cure your anxiety but at least relieve it enough for you to be able to live normally.
