Anxiety Disorders Center:  Separation Anxiety Disorder

Click here for information about our intensive outpatient therapy program for children and adolescents who have difficulty attending school.

Separation Anxiety Disorder is usually seen in children and adolescents. A person with this disorder becomes excessively afraid of leaving a loved one, usually a parent. Although many healthy children experience phases of development in which they do not want to leave their parents, Separation Anxiety Disorder persists for a long period of time and is characterized by extreme distress.

Common signs of Separation Anxiety Disorder include:

• Crying, clinging, or panicing when separated from parents
• Unrealistic worry that something bad will happen to parents while the child is away
• Unrealistic worry that he/she will never return home, or that his/her parents will never come back
• Difficulty sleeping alone
• Frequent stomach aches or headaches, particularly before and during school
• Refusal to go to school

Top