Separation anxiety disorder is a condition in which there is intense fear. It is caused when a person is separated from a place or a person that provides some emotional attachment and security, including a parent, sibling, or home. Separation anxiety disorder symptoms can affect children’s mental health a lot, and it can also affect adults and interfere with their daily functioning and overall health. There are different causes and reasons why separation anxiety disorder is common nowadays. We can recognize it as a disease by reading its symptoms. The following are the most common symptoms of separation anxiety disorder that their patients claim: they feel these symptoms after they have been diagnosed with separation anxiety disorder.
Symptoms
- A lot of stress and anxiety appear when a person is away from home or loved ones.
- Constant excessive worry about losing a loved one, including parents and children, and fear that they lead to illness.
- Distress and constant worry that something bad is going to happen.
- Fear that someone is going to get kidnapped causes separation from their parents or their loved ones, refusing to go away from home because of separation in fear.
- Refusing to sleep away from home without a parent or loved ones.
- Not wanting to be home alone without parents, frequent complaints of headaches and stomach aches, separation from a parent or loved one anticipated, and constant worry that his loved one is going to die.
Separation anxiety disorder can be treated with medication. Psychotherapy, or a combination of both medicines, can help reduce the anxiety and panic associated with separation, while psychotherapy can help the person cope with their fears and learn to manage their emotions.
What Are The Treatments That Help With Separation Anxiety Disorder?
Medication
Medications are always helpful for separation anxiety disorder because all the types of medicine, including benzodiazepines and other medications that help for the treatment of anxiety and other mental health disorders, are useful for the treatment of separation anxiety disorder as well because in this disorder the person always fears and tense about the situation so there are medicines available that include benzodiazepine that release the amount of GABA in the brain which helps the person to reduce the amount of anxiety that he feels a lot.
It Helps To Calm Down Anxiety
Medication helps the person to calm down and reduce fear of a person in these situations where he finds it difficult to control his emotions, fear of losing his loved ones, and fear of separation. That is where these medicines are really helpful, but as you know, these medicines are temporary solutions and not a permanent solution for the treatment of separation anxiety disorder.
Harms Of Using Medicines For SAD
There are some risk factors attached to using medicines. Also, there are different types of side effects you can face while using these medicines. They also provide temporary relief, so that is why they are not a permanent solution for the treatment of SAD. You can use the following methods if you want to treat this disorder permanently:
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is one of the most common ways to treat any psychological health situation because, in psychotherapy, there are different associated therapies, including talk therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy, which help a person deal with his cognitions and emotions, control his body, and also his thoughts.
Different Psychotherapies
Different types of psychotherapies are now available to help people with a separation anxiety disorder because all these happen in our brains due to thoughts. When we can control our emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, it will be very easy for us to manage the overall symptoms of separation anxiety; first of all, there is a need to understand why it happens and how to control it, and then use CBT to recover.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive-behavioral is one of the most common therapies for the treatment of all psychological disorders, causing all psychological disorders to start from negative and bad thoughts. When we know how to deal with and control negative thoughts, it will be very easy for us to understand what is going on and why this disorder is happening. So, first of all, people, people with a psychological disorder of separation anxiety are treated in cognitive behavioral therapy. They have to improve their cognition; first of all, it helps improve their emotional balance.
How To Change Thoughts From Negative To Positive Using CBT For SAD?
When they have a negative thought that their loved one is going to die, they have to replace it with positive and realistic thoughts that everything is going to be alright and everything will be okay. So, it is a practical therapy in which a person replaces his thoughts with positive thoughts instead of negative thoughts, and at a time when the practice of these thoughts creates a neural pattern in the brain and generates positive feelings in the patient, That is why it helps the patient a lot for the treatment of this, and in this therapy, the patient improved their behavior, cognition, and overall thought activity, which will help the patient to improve his overall mental health and permanently recover from separation anxiety disorder symptoms.