Separation Anxiety Can Be an Adult Issue

The term “separation anxiety” brings to mind children shedding buckets of tears when their parents leave for work or when they are left at preschool. It is something that some children outgrow. However, some grow up with it and some adults develop it later in life. This is called adult separation anxiety, or ASA.

Yes, that’s right: ASA or ASAD (Adult Separation Anxiety Disorder) is for real. If you don’t pay attention to its symptoms because you are afraid or ashamed, your life can get worse without treatment. Know too that there are 20,207,408 other American adults (6.6 percent of the population) who will experience it during their lifetimes.

Understanding ASA as an Emotional Condition

You may not believe it, but the percentage of children affected by separation anxiety is less (4.1 percent of the American child population) than the percentage of adults who experience ASA. Unresolved juvenile separation anxiety may not be outgrown. It is widely held that 77 percent of those with ASA had early symptoms when they were children.

Despite these statistics, ASAD was not recognized as a diagnostic emotional condition until later in the 1990s, with the groundbreaking contribution of Vijaya Manicavasagar (1997) at the Liverpool Hospital in NSW, Australia.

The Manifestations of ASA

ASAD has symptoms similar to those of childhood separation anxiety: fear of being alone, fear that something bad is going to happen to a loved one, and full-blown panic attacks when the separation happens. According to Manicavasagar (1997), the symptoms of ASA include “extreme anxiety and fear, when separated from major attachment figures; avoidance of being alone; and fears that harm will befall those close to them.”

ASA or ASAD could be the reason for certain seemingly unreasonable behaviors, such as excessive jealousy, extremely strict parenting, being stuck in bad relationships (both romantic and friendships), and “mooching” or inability to move out of the family home.

Act on ASA/ASAD with a CCS Therapist

If the mere thought of being away from a person can make you cry, lose sleep, and think of the worst scenarios, you may be experiencing adult separation anxiety. Don’t get bothered if there are people who think otherwise—ASA or ASAD is for real. Rather than allow it to wreak havoc on your relationships, family, and career, take the most positive step available to resolve your fears: call Carolina Counseling Services – Fayetteville (West), NC Office.

ASA/ASAD can make you overly possessive, jealous, strict, and panicky, and disrupt your thinking and your emotions. If you want to get over the extreme anxiety gripping you, make that call and let one of the independently contracted therapists with Carolina Counseling Services – Fayetteville (West), NC Office work with you to ease your symptoms and resolve the anxiety.

Related Articles: