Dr. Roxanne Dryden-Edwards is an adult, child, and adolescent psychiatrist. She is a former Chair of the Committee on Developmental Disabilities for the American Psychiatric Association, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and Medical Director of the National Center for Children and Families in Bethesda, Maryland.
Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.
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
most commonly at its strongest at 10-18 months of age and gradually subsides, usually by 3 years
of age. 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.
Approximately 4%-5% of children and adolescents suffer from separation anxiety disorder.
Medical Author: Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD
Medical Editor: Jay W. Marks, MD
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 pediatricsfollowing
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.
Anxiety is a feeling of apprehension and fear characterized by physical symptoms. Anxiety disorders are serious medical illnesses that affect approximately
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