Childhood Separation Anxiety

Childhood separation anxiety can cause anxiety attacks in children due to a psychological condition causing excessive fear and anxiety of separation, loss, or anxiety of feeling abandoned by a close loved one such as a parent to whom the individual has a strong emotional attachment that contributed to ones sense of safety, security and companionship.

Anxiety attacks in children may become more recognizable if you correlate the changes taking place in their life with the behaviors they are exhibiting. In some aspects childhood separation anxiety is normal as they take steps to enter the world and leave the safety of their parents and home.

If the child is kept secluded from interaction with others this causes anxiety when the mother chooses to leave the baby for a period of time when returning to work or simply going shopping for a matter of hours. The child has no reassurance that the mother will return and at this stage does not have any concept of time. This is evident when the baby cannot be satisfied and will cry endlessly. It is important that the child be introduced to a variety of stimulus and multiple individuals at least after a couple of months of growth to lesson or dissolve this anxiety.

As the child ages childhood separation anxiety can even manifest itself and interfere with the child’s ability to go to bed in a room by themselves where they may feel detached from the safety of the parent. This anxiety attack in children can also produce nightmares of separation as the child is fearful of being alone or abandoned.



This anxiety, until overcome, will prevent an overnight stay at grandma’s house or in any other situation that may require the child to be away from home for a night. It is advisable for the adult to use techniques such as sitting to read to the child before leaving the room, leave a small nightlight on or assure the child that you are right outside the door. Communication is best to resolve these anxieties before they escalate.

There may be times when you can take the child to the school and get them to feel more at ease in this environment. The same may be done with riding a bus. If you have city buses available to you it is possible to take a ride and discuss how it will be on the first ride to school, this allows them to attach some form of normalcy to taking a trip on a bus.

When determining a diagnosis of childhood separation anxiety the health care professional will look at the following symptoms, frequency of occurrence and the length of duration of these episodes.

Anxiety attacks in children associated with childhood separation anxiety may be referred for counseling if they are in an acceptable age range. This will help the child talk out their fears and resolve their insecurities and also to share techniques with the parents to help reduce the feelings of these anxieties and ease the child into independence. Behavior modification may also be used in counseling to attempt to alter the way the child views what is causing their anxieties.

As a parent you may want to get a wealth of information to cover different situations and how to help your child cope with their ever changing and growing life. There are books available to help you learn what to look for and how to help your child Helping Your Child Overcome Separation Anxiety or School Refusal is a Step-by-Step Guide for Parents to give them knowledge of what to
expect as well as how to deal with their child’s anxieties.

There are many books made for children that the parent can read and discuss with the child to open the communication and lesson the fears. Some of these are listed below if you click on the link it will let you read more of what the book is about.

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