Todd Cardin Reports on Separation Anxiety

Mental health answering owner educates staff on anxiety disorders.

(PRWEB) June 30, 2006 -- Todd Cardin of Specialty Answering Service has been meeting with coworkers at his Philadelphia based Mental Health On Call Answering Service (http://www.mentalhealthoncall.com/todd_cardin.html) to inform them on matters of anxiety disorders. These are issues that may often have to dealt with by answering service operators when speaking with certain types of callers. Today he touched on separation anxiety.

Although separation anxieties are normal among infants and toddlers, they are not appropriate for older children or adolescents and may represent symptoms of separation anxiety disorder. To reach the diagnostic threshold for this disorder, the anxiety or fear must cause distress or affect social, academic, or job functioning and must last at least 1 month. Children with separation anxiety may cling to their parent and have difficulty falling asleep by themselves at night. When separated, they may fear that their parent will be involved in an accident or taken ill, or in some other way be“lost” to the child forever. Their need to stay close to their parent or home may make it difficult for them to attend school or camp, stay at friends’ houses, or be in a room by themselves. Fear of separation can lead to dizziness, nausea, or palpitations.

Separation anxiety is often associated with symptoms of depression, such as sadness, withdrawal, apathy, or difficulty in concentrating, and such children often fear that they or a family member might die. Young children experience nightmares or fears at bedtime.

About 4 percent of children and young adolescents suffer from separation anxiety disorder. Among those who seek treatment, separation anxiety disorder is equally distributed between boys and girls. In survey samples, the disorder is more common in girls. The disorder may be overdiagnosed in children and teenagers who live in dangerous neighborhoods and have reasonable fears of leaving home.

The remission rate with separation anxiety disorder is high. However, there are periods where the illness is more severe and other times when it remits. Sometimes the condition lasts many years or is a precursor to panic disorder with agoraphobia. Older individuals with separation anxiety disorder may have difficulty moving or getting married and may, in turn, worry about separation from their own children and partner.

The cause of separation anxiety disorder is not known, although some risk factors have been identified. Affected children tend to come from families that are very close-knit. The disorder might develop after a stress such as death or illness in the family or a move. Trauma, especially physical or sexual assault, might bring on the disorder The disorder sometimes runs in families, but the precise role of genetic and environmental factors has not been established.

Todd Cardin stressed that this in no way will give his operators skills to treat the patients. This is only meant to give operators tools to better understand the callers who may be in need. For more information contact Todd Cardin http://www.mentalhealthoncall.com/todd_cardin.html

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