Separation Anxiety is a normal emotion in children aged 8 to 24 months. It resolves as children develop sense of abject permanence and realize their parent will return. Some children will continue to present this symptom long past this time, or the anxiety may resolve and come back and may be severe enough to be considered a disorder.
Separation Anxiety Disorder is a persistent intense and developmentally inappropriate fear of separation from a major attachment figure such as mother. Children who are affected by this disorder will desperately try to avoid separations. They often have exaggerated fear that the attachment figure has been harmed and may never come back to them, they may refuse to sleep, eat and will cry a lot. Children with this disorder will desperately try to avoid separation by wailing and pleading with such desperation that mother is unable to leave the child. Behavior therapy is the treatment of choice, but SSRI can be used in severe cases.
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