What Are the Symptoms of Separation Anxiety?

Separation anxiety refers to the anxiety, anxiety, or unpleasant emotional response caused by the separation of loved ones from their loved ones.

Chinese name: Separation anxiety
Foreign name: Dissociative Anxiety

Applied discipline: psychology
Application range: Developmental psychology

Separation anxiety concept

That is, when infants and young children have close emotional relationships with one another and want to be separated from one another, they are sad and painful to show that they refuse to separate. It is a type of anxiety disorder in infants and young children, which often occurs in preschool age.

Separation Anxiety Performance

John Bowlby observed the baby's separation anxiety into three stages through observation:

Rebellion phase-crying, kicking and making noises;

Disappointment stage-still crying, intermittent, less noisy movements, ignore others, dull expression;

Transcendence stage-accept the care of outsiders and start normal activities, such as eating and playing with toys, but when you see your mother, you will have a sad expression.

Separation of causes of anxiety

Great changes in the separation anxiety environment

When children enter the kindergarten from the family, the environment has changed drastically, which is called the "psychological weaning period".

(1) Changes in living rules and habits

The kindergarten has a relatively fixed daily life schedule, when to eat, when to wash, when to go to class, and when to get up, and the rules of children's lives at home do not necessarily match this. In some families, life is more casual, and everything is centered on the wishes of young children. Some young children even have some bad habits and habits, such as staying up late at night and sleeping late in the morning. Some young children are energetic and have no habit of taking a nap. . According to a survey, some young children are reluctant to come to the park because they are afraid of taking a nap in the kindergarten. Therefore, at the beginning of admission, young children are not accustomed to a fixed living system. In addition, the kindergarten diet and drinking water are different from those at home. Some young children develop bad eating habits of picky eaters and partial eaters at home, and are reluctant to eat some food when they reach kindergarten. Some children never drink boiled water at home, and the water provided in kindergartens is boiled water.

(2) The relationship between adults and young children

At the beginning of the kindergarten, the teachers and friends they met were unfamiliar faces, which easily made them feel unsafe. Since kindergartens are collective education, the teacher-student ratio is 1:15 or 1:20. That is to say, an adult is responsible for taking care of 15-20 young children, which is very different from the environment of children at home. Young children cannot get the meticulous care and care of one-to-one or even several-to-one like at home. For example, many children need to accompany and coax when they sleep at home, but they need to fall asleep alone in kindergarten. At the beginning of the day, children feel that they have lost their affection and warmth. In addition, children in the kindergarten will inevitably be in a competitive environment, such as how to get teachers' attention and care for themselves, how to occupy their favorite toys, and so on. As a result, some young children may feel overwhelmed at the beginning of admission.

(3) Unfamiliar activity room environment

When a toddler enters the activity room for the first time, the environment of the activity room is completely new and fresh to him. Whether it is the placement of tables and chairs or the equipment of the Union washroom, it is different from home. While making the toddler curious and fresh, it will also cause him panic and anxiety. For example, if a toddler uses a seated urinal or a toilet bowl when defecation at home, while a kindergarten uses a squat type, the toddler may feel uncomfortable and cause psychological pressure.

(4) Increase in requirements

In kindergarten, teachers require children to have a certain independence and self-care ability, including: eating by themselves, wearing strippers, going to bed by themselves, being able to control urine, obeying certain rules, and so on. These requirements can make young children feel a challenge and stress.

Separating factors from anxious families

Parental upbringing is an important factor in how fast children adapt. Practice has proved that children who are not spoiled, pay attention to the cultivation of children's independent ability, encourage children to explore new environments and play with new partners, families have shorter adaptation periods and fewer emotional problems. Children in doting families who have arranged everything need longer adaptation periods. There are even some children who have emotional and physical problems due to huge environmental differences and transitions. For example, a child may experience night terrors, nightmares, diarrhea, or illness due to excessive crying and emotional upset.

Separating anxiety from personality and experience

Studies have shown that young children who have been separated from their parents before entering the school are more likely to adapt to kindergarten life. Extroverted, lively and bold children are more likely to adapt to kindergarten life than introverted, quiet and timid children.

Effect of separation anxiety

Anxiety can cause a child's physical stress response, and prolonged anxiety can easily reduce the child's resistance. Newly-entered children are often prone to colds, fevers, and stomachaches. Patients are entangled with their parents all day, constantly asking their parents to pay attention to themselves, and sometimes worrying about accidents in their parents, or worrying that accidents may separate them from their parents. Fear of being abducted if you leave your parents. Because of this, the child was unwilling to go to school or nursery, cried after arriving at school or nursery, did not take the initiative to associate with other children, and even showed physical symptoms such as headache, abdominal pain, and nausea. The course of disease can last for years. Separation anxiety is a negative emotional experience when a child leaves the mother. The closest person disappears from sight, and the child becomes uneasy at once: where is the mother? I'm looking for mom! Children use shouting and crying to express their anxiety and call on their mother to appear. Most children show this separation anxiety from seven to eight months, and some children even earlier.

The emergence of separation anxiety is related to the child's sense of insecurity. At first, the appearance of this anxiety was of special adaptation significance. Because it urges the child to find someone close to him, or to send a signal calling for his mother's presence. This is an effective way for children to seek safety.

However, because anxious children will focus all their attention on finding loved ones. Sometimes, they even show that they do not eat, drink, or play. These behaviors, which usually attract the attention of the closest ones, have become a method he uses to call his loved ones. Of course, other activities may not get in their sight.

When the baby reaches the age of kindergarten, separation anxiety becomes more and more important. Many babies are afraid of going to kindergarten, they will resist by not getting up, pretending to be sick, or crying.

Separation anxiety countermeasures

In order to stabilize the emotions of newly enrolled children as soon as possible, help them to pass the anxiety period of admission, adapt to new living conditions and educational conditions, and ensure that normal education is carried out as soon as possible, new enrollment education should do the following:

(1) Cooperate with homeland to strengthen the preparation work of small class children entering the garden.

Kindergarten is the first time that children enter a more formal collective living environment, which plays a decisive role in cultivating their social adaptability. The relationship between teachers and children and the class atmosphere will have a significant impact on children's psychology, of which teachers are the key. Before the child enters the park, parents can consciously bring more children to the kindergarten, be familiar with their surroundings and teachers, often bring the children to the kindergarten to see, talk, play, and let them observe the game activities of other children in the kindergarten And so on, parents can let the children play, let the teachers hug, kiss and let the children get familiar with the new voice, so that they like the teachers and children in kindergartens and kindergartens. After entering the park, the teacher should take the initiative and warmly welcome the newly-entered children, hug, kiss, touch, and ask, call the child's milk name, express that he likes him the most, and make the child feel warm and safe . In short, the teacher should use a love to warm the hearts of the children, care for them in life, support them in spirit, and make them feel that the teacher is amiable and lovely like a mother.

Professor Chen Yanmei of Beijing Normal University pointed out that children's home habits and work schedules and their independent living ability also affect their separation anxiety. Toddlers' attachment to their parents is largely due to their ability to meet their physical needs, such as eating, drinking, pulling, and scattering. Because of this, the child gradually develops the emotion of attachment to his parents. Therefore, before the child enters the garden, parents should give guidance on life skills, such as requiring him to sit at the table and eat by himself, and ca nt walk around while eating. Instruct your children to try to take off their own pants, lift their pants, wash their hands, sleep on their own, know their belongings, etc. after urinating. Consciously cultivate children's independence and their simple ability to take care of themselves, so that children feel like they have grown up, rather than a "little baby" who cannot do everything.

In addition, kindergartens need to be in close contact with the family in order to understand the personality and lifestyle of young children, and to provide correct guidance. This requires kindergartens to pay attention to home visits. Home visits can eliminate children's unfamiliarity with teachers. Teachers can also understand children's personality characteristics and living habits, which is more convenient for teaching in the future. As parents, they should also actively cooperate with kindergartens, change the randomness of children's family life, formulate a rest time system similar to that of kindergartens, cultivate children's good living hygiene habits, improve children's interpersonal communication skills, etc., reduce the differences in home life, and make children more Adapt to kindergarten life and relieve separation anxiety of young children. In short, a proper solution to the problem of children entering a kindergarten can not only enable small class children to quickly establish a normal order and carry out educational activities; but also enable children's physiology and psychology to develop steadily in the new environment.

(2) Different treatment according to the personality characteristics of young children.

Since each child's individual characteristics and education and environment are different, so that the performance of their separation anxiety is also different, then we should also prescribe the right medicine according to their respective characteristics. For example, a irritable child, we can adopt a cold treatment method. When he is in a hurry, the teacher must not be in a hurry. You can leave him aside and give him a few toys. After he calms down, use friendly words. Praise him in front of the whole class and encourage him. Another example: It is important for a volatile child to let him do something. The teacher must give him new stimuli and let him participate in different game activities to keep his curiosity and freshness in the new environment.

(3) Design a variety of game activities, use literary works and literary forms to shape the mood and set an example.

Play is the nature of young children, and it is the most unique and basic form of activity. Some psychologists refer to games as "the leading activities" of young children. Mr. Chen Heqin, a well-known pre-school educator in China, once said, "Children are born to be active and play games as their lives." This is because games are indeed of great significance in the lives of young children. It is linked to the thrill of function, which can relieve tension and bring great joy to children. Therefore, at the beginning of school, teachers can design some novel and interesting game activities. This can not only eliminate the sense of strangeness and fear between children and teachers, and ease children's separation and anxiety, but also make children feel fresh about the new environment. This method is most effective for fluctuating children.

Literature and art are the most infectious and one of the children s favorite activities. Appreciation of artistic works and literary performances will inspire and educate children, such as: "Happy to Kindergarten", poem "Friends in Kindergarten" More ", the song" I love my kindergarten "and so on, these literary works are all for children to be educated and inspired.

As the saying goes: "The role model is the best teacher." For those crying children, teachers should insist on positive guidance, and positively educate crying children to learn from those who do not cry. Some young children will stop crying in order to get praise from the teacher. At this time, the teacher should follow the temptation and step by step to gradually eliminate the feeling of separation and anxiety so that they can adapt to the new environment and new life as soon as possible.

Crying and emotional instability are common among newly arrived children, but how do we try to make children stabilize their emotions quickly and eliminate anxiety and go to kindergarten happily? The "Outline" states: "Kindergartens must prioritize the protection of children's lives and the promotion of their health. Establish a correct concept of health. While attaching great importance to their physical health, they must attach great importance to their mental health." Rapid but imperfect physiological characteristics, naive, pure but vulnerable psychological characteristics, lively activities but lacking self-protection activities, etc., we should put child health education first in the kindergarten work, emphasizing "both mind and body ". In this way, the children will quickly adapt to the collective life of the kindergarten, and there will be lively, cute, innocent smiling faces before us. ^[1]