eMedicine Specialties > Pediatrics: Developmental and Behavioral > Medical Topics
Anxiety Disorder, Separation Anxiety and School Refusal: Follow-up
Updated: Dec 3, 2008
Follow-up
Further Outpatient Care
- Weekly individual and family behavioral therapy, including cognitive-behavioral methods, is recommended to practice overcoming resistance to normal separation as well as to practice communicating differently as a family.
- Play therapy can be extremely helpful, especially for children who have had to undergo medical procedures or surgery.
Deterrence/Prevention
- Psychoeducation with the family so that the child is rewarded for developmentally appropriate actions and does not receive secondary gain from the symptoms of school refusal or separation anxiety disorder
- Preparation of children before medical or surgical procedures to help them feel less helpless in the situation
Complications
- Truancy
- Major depression
- Substance abuse or dependence
Prognosis
- The prognosis is good with early detection and treatment involving the family of the child.
Patient Education
- Note that prevention of separation anxiety and school refusal begins with professional recognition of excessive attachment disorder and dynamics. Such prevention begins during yearly checkups in the pediatrics office, with discussions of healthy separation techniques. Educate families regarding healthy ways to deal with the inevitable stresses that occur in families with children and healthy ways to deal with sibling rivalry.
- Recommend support for parents who may also have concurrent mental health or substance abuse issues. Address family violence prevention. Address any parental issues related to a sense of loss or feeling of abandonment or loneliness once the child or adolescent returns to a normal level of functioning and no longer requires the intense level of interaction with the parent or parents.
- For excellent patient education resources, visit eMedicine's Anxiety Center and Mental Health and Behavior. Also, see eMedicine's patient education articles Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Hyperventilation, and School Refusal.
Miscellaneous
Medicolegal Pitfalls
- Medically necessary homebound school instruction is not recommended in this situation because it may prolong the child's symptoms and increase the severity of symptoms because of secondary gain increases. The child must return to school as quickly as is medically and socially possible.
- Return to other normal duties should be recommended gradually to prevent the child and family from intensifying anxiety and prematurely dropping out of treatment. School attendance, however, is not negotiable.
- Prevention of school anxiety and refusal includes the following activities:
- Trials of brief separations between parent and child before the first day of school
- Visitation to a new school or classroom before classes start
- Positive preparation for the first day of school
- Procurement of school supplies
- Arrangement of suitable familiar transportation arrangements to get to school
- The possibility of setting up, in advance, phone time to call home to prevent undue anxiety
More on Anxiety Disorder, Separation Anxiety and School Refusal |
| Overview: Anxiety Disorder, Separation Anxiety and School Refusal |
| Differential Diagnoses & Workup: Anxiety Disorder, Separation Anxiety and School Refusal |
| Treatment & Medication: Anxiety Disorder, Separation Anxiety and School Refusal |
Follow-up: Anxiety Disorder, Separation Anxiety and School Refusal |
| References |
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References
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Further Reading
Keywords
school phobia, separation anxiety disorder, excessive anxiety, severe distress, tantrums, nightmares, extreme homesickness, psychosomatic symptoms, clinging behavior, daycare, depression, suicide, truancy, skipping school, school refusal, learned helplessness, transient developmental fears, posttraumatic stress disorder, anhedonia, insomnia, feelings of worthlessness, occult serologic streptococcal infection, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, mitral valve prolapse, asthma, depressive-spectrum disorders, diabetes mellitus, Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever
Follow-up: Anxiety Disorder, Separation Anxiety and School Refusal