Regular readers of this column must be familiar with my imaginary friend the Doctor. I often ask him to work out different kinds of behavioral problems with young children. Well, the Doctor has done it again! This time, it’s what many mental health professionals call separation anxiety.
The child in question is a 5 year old male. His mother attended a talk I gave recently and told me this story. She got her permission and I give it to her. She only asked me to rename his son, so for our purposes he becomes Georgie.
For some time, Georgie has had problems with her mother’s separation. For example, every time she took him to the preschool program, Georgie had a major meltdown. Like, Selection subjectHe became hysterical and generally acted as if he was certifiable.
Shortly before Georgie’s fifth birthday, Georgie’s mom read my column. She immediately decides to ask the Doctor to call her home.
In the afternoon following one of Georgie’s work meltdowns over being taken to the preschool program, his mom sat him down and told him that he had told the doctor about his problem. According to her, her doctor was concerned and told her that Georgie was throwing “Don’t leave me!” Because he didn’t get enough sleep.
Mother said to Georgie. He said the days I had a seizure when I took you to school I had to go to bed early right after dinner to get the sleep I needed. You had a seizure when I took you to school this morning, so you have to go to bed early tonight. “
As promised, Mom put Georgie to bed early. After about 45 minutes of howling, screaming, crying and pleading, he fell asleep. I entered. Since then, Georgie has had no separation issues.
It’s safe to say that if Georgie’s mother had sought help from a mental health professional, it’s quite possible Georgie would have been diagnosed with separation anxiety disorder. You may have taken Georgie to talk or play therapy to (probably) help you work out any “problems” you may have.
No one knows how long and expensive this process took and whether it was successful.
John Rosemond is a family psychologist and author of 18 best-selling books on parenting and family issues. His nationally syndicated newspaper column is one of the industry’s longest-running lifestyle columns (since 1976) and is published in more than 200 of his newspapers nationwide. His website is johnrosemond. com and parentguru.com.
