Separation And Attachment Anxiety Therapy Edgbaston Birmingham

Resolving both individuals and couples separation and attachment issues. Releasing negative thoughts and emotions which ultimately create unhelpful fears and behaviours . Enabling clients to take back control of abandonment issue with integrated therapy.

Separation Anxiety
Separation anxiety is the fear or distress that can happen to both children and adults when they think about separating from home or from the people they've become attached to.
Definition
Separation anxiety refers to excessive fear or anxiety about separation from home or an attachment figure. The diagnosis is now categorized as an anxiety disorder that can be present at all stages of life.

Separation anxiety is a normal stage in an infant's development. It helped keep our ancestors alive and helps children learn how to master their environment. It usually ends at around age 2, when toddlers begin to understand that a parent may be out of sight right now but will return later. The key feature of separation anxiety disorder, however, is when the anxiety exceeds what might be expected give a person's developmental level.

Children with separation anxiety disorder may cling to their parents excessively, refuse to go to sleep without being near a major attachment figure, be reluctant to attend camp or sleep at friends' homes, or require someone to be with them when they go to another room in their house. Children also commonly experience physical symptoms when separation is anticipated or occurs, such as headaches, nausea and vomiting. Adults with this disorder may be uncomfortable when traveling independently, experience nightmares about separating from attachment figures, or be overly concerned with their offspring or spouse and continuously check on their whereabouts.

When separation does happen, children may seem withdrawn, sad, or have difficulty concentrating on work or play. Depending on the age of the person, they may have a fear of animals, monsters, the dark, burglars, kidnappers, plane travel, or other situations that are perceived as dangerous. Some people become severely homesick when separated from attachment figures, regardless of their age. The experience of separation anxiety disorder is often frustrating for family members and can lead to resentment and conflict in the family.

Separation anxiety disorder is the most prevalent anxiety disorder in children. This condition is equally common for males and females.
Attachment Anxiety
One of the challenges of being human is to achieve a balance between conflicting desires for independence (individuality and freedom) and the desire for intimacy and acceptance by significant others. The need for affiliation is rooted in our attachment system. Attachment is an inborn system that motivates an infant to seek proximity to a caregiver, especially in dangerous and uncertain situations.
The attachment system plays an important role in emotion regulation allowing individuals to deal with distressing events. When individuals (infants, children, or adults) are threatened or challenged, the attachment system becomes activated and triggers efforts to alleviate distress and restore felt-security. In response, the attachment figure provides comfort and reassurance, thereby allowing distressed individuals to regain a sense of calm.

A sense of felt security provides confidence that one is worthy of others’ love and that significant others will be responsive /supportive when needed. This sense of security is a resilience resource in times of need and a building block of mental health and social adjustment. Secure people perceive themselves as valuable, lovable, and special. They feel understood, validated /accepted by their attachment figures.

Repeated interactions with the attachment figures are mentally formed as “if-then” strategies for stress management: “If I turn to my partner, then I will feel safe. ” As a result of conditioning, the person providing the comfort becomes a cue for a sense of safety /relief. That is, simply thinking about the attachment figure, even in the absence of the attachment figure’s actual presence, one feels calm and safe.

But when a person’s attachment figures are unreliable or rejecting, the person may become chronically insecure with respect to close relationships. An insecurely attached individual doubts the availability and support of others and worries about one’s social value. Consequently, they adopt different strategies for dealing with threats and negative emotions. These insecure styles (patterns) of behaviors are known as defensive avoidance and anxious attachment.

Avoidant style involves denying attachment needs, suppressing attachment-related thoughts and emotions. An avoidant person distrusts relationship partners’ goodwill and tries to maintain emotional independence and distance. The avoidant individuals feel trapped when they are too close to others.

In contrast, a person high in attachment anxiety worries that a partner will not be available in times of need. An anxious person makes insistent attempts to obtain reassurance and love from others, partly because of the person’s self-doubts about his or her worthiness. Anxiously attached people are preoccupied with rejection fears. These fears may motivate them to use sex, which is a prominent route for seeking proximity, to serve their unmet attachment needs (e. g. , achieving intimacy, approval, and reassurance).

Early attachment interactions are thought to shape people’s attachment patterns later on in adult life. For example, a secure adult has a similar relationship with their romantic partner, feeling secure and connected, while allowing themselves and their partner to move freely. On the other hand, a loss of a romantic partner such as divorce may trigger depression among people high on attachment anxiety, because their anxiety relates specifically to separation and abandonment. Those who suffer from panic attacks often have a history of childhood separation anxiety. The sudden arousal of the social separation can lead to panic attacks. The panic attacks and separation anxiety make one feel as if the center of one’s comfort or stability has been abruptly removed.

Fortunately, research shows that a person’s attachment system, along with his or her sense of security, can be changed for the better. For example, a relationship partner who acts as a reliable security figure can restore a sense of felt-security and help the person function more securely. Effective treatment via reflective awareness and cognitive re-appraisal can facilitate neuroplastic changes in the patient’s non-conscious mind and increase capacity for secure attachments.
With Clinical Hypnotherapy, I will help you to break down the walls of this self-created prison – with rapid results.

You will achieve all that you desire, no more living in the shadows of life.
You’ll release your mental block, laugh more often and become the person you knew you could always be.
You will grow greater self–confidence, create opportunities, express yourself, realize your ambitions, goals and dreams… become the person you always knew you could be.
Become the Person You Always Knew You Could Be.
Call Stuart: 07825 599340
stuart@hypnotherapy4freedom.com
www. hypnotherapy4freedom.com