I’ve been a victim of separation anxiety all of my life. I still hear stories from my grandparents and aunts about how I wouldn’t even let them hold me when I was younger because I couldn’t bear the thought of being away from my mother for that long. I always giggled and smiled back at them, awkwardly avoiding the thought that I might still be that way. I knew when I started college I would be a bit homesick at first, but I thought it would fade away quickly. Tons of people go to college and they all seem fine, right? I went through the six weeks of summer session and still found myself lying in my dorm room bed upset that I wasn’t at home even as fall semester rolled around. One night during my last week of summer session, I decided to look up Separation Anxiety and try to figure out how to fix my emotional uneasiness. However, the results had my feeling more uncomfortable than ever:

If you can’t see it due to the pixelation, all of those results contain the word “child” or “baby” in them. I started to believe that there was something wrong with me, being a 17 year old girl reading about a disorder that seems to only affect children. So, that’s why I’ve decided to do this blog, to figure out if separation anxiety can affect an individual at all ages or simply the youngest ones, as well as the causes and treatments available.

The first study I found was a longitudinal examination between separation experiences and development of separation anxiety at the ages of 3, 11, and 18. The results found that vicarious learning in the middle childhood was the variable most strongly related to separation anxiety at the age of 11. This means that what was happening earlier in life affected how severe the separation anxiety would get. However, this study did not answer my questions about whether this disorder goes away for everyone or if it’s possible for all ages so I kept looking.

According to the Textbook of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, separation anxiety symptoms usually peaks between the 9 and 13 months of age then return around 4 or 5, when beginning school. If untreated, it can persist into adulthood. There are also some biological factors: genetics and psychological processes. Also, as one can assume, the home life and way that a child is raised can affect the degree of separation anxiety as well.

Conclusion: Separation anxiety can affect a person at any age. The severity of it, however, usually tends to fade over time. I believe that I was just experiencing extreme homesickness, not to confuse the two, because of such a large life change that I was going through. If you are experiencing this as well, I greatly recommend joining a club or getting involved in some way–there is bound to be some organization that you fit perfectly in!