Separation anxiety disorder (or simply separation anxiety) is a psychological condition in which an individual has excessive anxiety regarding separation from home or from people to whom the individual has a strong emotional attachment (like a mother).

Separation Anxiety Disorder is diagnosed if the following criteria are satisfied:

a) Developmentally inappropriate and excessive anxiety concerning separation from home or from those
to whom the individual is attached, as evidenced by three (or more) of the following:

(i) Recurrent excessive distress when separation from home or major attachment figures
occurs or is anticipated.

(ii) Persistent and excessive worry about losing, or about possible harm befalling, major attachment
figures.

(iii) Persistent and excessive worry that an untoward event will lead to separation from a major
attachment figure (e.g., getting lost or being kidnapped).

(iv) Persistent reluctance or refusal to go to school or elsewhere because of fear of separation.

(v) Persistently and excessively fearful (or reluctant to be alone) without major attachment figures
at home or without significant adults in other settings.

(vi) Persistent reluctance or refusal to go to sleep without being near a major attachment figure
or to sleep away from home.

(vii) Repeated nightmares involving the theme of separation.

(viii) Repeated complaints of physical symptoms (such as headaches, stomachaches, nausea, or
vomiting) when separation from major attachment figures occurs or is anticipated.

b) The duration of the disturbance is at least 4 weeks.

c) The onset is before 18 years of age.

d) The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, academic, occupational,
or other important areas of usual functioning.

e) The disturbance does not occur exclusively during the course of a Pervasive Developmental
Disorder, Schizophrenia, or other Psychotic Disorder and, in adolescents and adults, is not better
accounted for by Panic Disorder With Agoraphobia.

Separation anxiety is often characterized by some of the following symptoms:

a) Recurring distress when separated from the subject of attachment (such as the mother or home).

b) Persistent, excessive worrying about losing the subject of attachment.

c) Persistent, excessive worrying that some event will lead to separation from a major attachment.

d) Excessive fear about being alone without subject of attachment.

e) Persistent reluctance or refusal to go to sleep without being near a major attachment figure,
like a mother.

f) Recurrent nightmares about separation.

Research from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R), a nationally representative survey of U.S. households indicates lifetime prevalence estimates of childhood and adult separation anxiety disorders were 4.1% and 6.6%, respectively. Approximately one-third of the respondents who were classified as childhood cases (36.1%) had an illness that persisted into adulthood, although the majority classified as adult cases (77.5%) had first onset in adulthood.

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