Separation Anxiety Disorder Causes, Symptoms, Signs, Treatment, Diagnosis, and Prevention on MedicineNet.com

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Separation Anxiety Disorder

Medical Author: Roxanne Dryden-Edwards, MD
Medical Editor: Melissa Conrad St�ppler, MD

Tips for Choosing a Pediatrician

Medical Author: Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD
Medical Editor: Jay W. Marks, MD

Tips for Choosing a Pediatrician The following questions and points to consider can help guide your selection of a pediatrician:

What is the provider's educational background? Children's doctors may have specialized training in pediatrics or family medicine. Pediatricians have completed specialized training in pediatrics following graduation from medical school, while family physicians have experience and training in treating all family members for routine illnesses, preventive medicine, and checkups. Almost all practicing physicians in the U.S. are board certified, meaning they have passed a proficiency examination in their field of training. They may be certified in either pediatrics or family medicine.

Is the doctor in good standing? A Web site run by administrators of several state medical licensure boards known as Administrators in Medicine can provide information about disciplinary actions taken or criminal charges filed against physicians in some states. Individual state medical licensing agencies also have Web sites that will be able to give you more information about how to determine whether a doctor is in good standing in his/her state of practice.

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What are the symptoms and signs of separation anxiety disorder?

To understand separation anxiety disorder, it is important to first recognize the normal difficulty that infants and toddlers have with strangers and in separating from parents and caretakers. Infants show stranger anxiety by crying when someone unfamiliar to them approaches. This normal stage of development is connected with the baby learning to distinguish his or her parents or other familiar caretakers from people they don't know. Stranger anxiety usually starts at about 8 months of age and ends by 2 years of age, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Separation anxiety as a normal life stage first develops at about 7 months of age; once a baby understands that his or her caregivers do not disappear when out of sight (object permanence). That leads to the baby developing a true attachment to those adults. Normal separation anxiety is at its strongest at 10 to 18 months and gradually subsides, usually by the age of 3 years. Normal separation anxiety may result in parents having trouble with their babies at bedtime or other times of separation, in that the child becomes anxious, cries, or clings to the caretaker.

In addition to the child's temperament, factors that contribute to how quickly or successfully he or she moves past separation anxiety by preschool age include how well the parent and child reunite, the skills the child and adult have at coping with the separation, and how well the adult responds to the infant's separation issues. For example, children of anxious parents tend to be anxious children.

Separation anxiety disorder is a mental health disorder that begins in childhood and is characterized by worrying that is out of proportion to the situation of temporarily leaving home or otherwise separating from loved ones. Four percent to 5% of children and adolescents suffer from separation anxiety disorder.