Anyone else with seperation anxiety, or had it as a kid? My parents are discussing ideas to make this coming summer more interesting for me, and while there are camps and stuff that sound like tons of fun, I think I'd be too scared to go. There's a week-long camp I'd love to go to, and my friend might be able to go with me, but I'm still somehow afraid of the idea. I feel so stupid - I'm a freshman in high school, and I can't even go to camp. I haven't gotten into this with my parents at all - they think I'm over all the seperation anxiety from when I was younger, because now I'm fine at bedtime and all, and it doesn't bother me if they go away for a couple days and I stay with my grandparents. But somehow this is different...I don't know why... Sorry for the rant, just wondering if anyone has experienced something like this and has an opinion. I'm assuming that by then my panic attacks will be figured out (I haven't had a full- blown one in several weeks now, just anxiety over having another one), so I'm not even really thinking about that aspect of it. It's just this darn seperation anxiety, which is I guess related... Thanks for letting me rant! Katy

I thought it was just me being dependent on people but its actually separation anxiety! I have the least number of panic attacks also when my partner is home. I spend all day in some state on anxiety waiting for him to come home which is when I relax. I also had issues with separation at a young age where I hated being alone because for some reason as soon as I was on my own I started to feel sick! I always have huge problems with dizziness and a MASSIVE fear of fainting when I'm on my own - does anyone else get this?

Thanks for sharing your story...I guess no matter what happens with my friends, I'm grateful for everything they've done for me so far. Hopefully I'll be able to transfer some of my need for them to other people, ideally the pyschologist, and give them a break until I can be a better friend. Or maybe one of these days I'll figure out how to be more independent in general...

Katy, To make a long story short, they were felt like i was depending on them too much and got some new friends. I then began to feel like they had this new life that i wasnt a part of and went into a depression. I did continue to talk to them, but things werent the same until years later. I went thru a period where i became very attached to a boyfriend and he seemed to be the only one who understood where i was going thru. So i kind of replaced them with him. Now 6 years after the fact, they are both my best friends still, even though things have been hard since they went away to college. Now that we're all graduating and going in our own directions, things are kind of strained. But in the end, i know that they were 2 of the only people who stuck by me when times were at their worst, when they could have easily walked away like everyone else did... and for that, i am truely greatful :)

Wow this is kind of weird cause that is basically my story !

Dee - Wow, I feel so much better knowing I'm not the only one with this reaction to panic attacks! It's interesting that you mention writing, because lately I've been writing long rambling e- mails to my friends when I'm not allowed to call them (their parents and my parents have agreed I shouldn't be calling them about this, so I can pretty much only call about homework or something). They haven't been checking e- mail very much (I'm not sure if they've just been busy or if that's banned, too), so in effect I'm writing the e-mails even though I know they won't be read, at least for a long time. It makes me feel like I'm talking to them, even if they don't actually read the e-mail. And also, as you said, then I have a record of my thoughts and feelings to look back at later - I actually gave the psychologist copies of some of the e-mails I'd sent earlier, because I could express what I was feeling much better in writing, when it was actually happening. I guess I'll keep trying to talk to the psychologist, and try to leave my friends alone for a while. What ended up happening to your friends? Did you drive them away, like everyone says I'm going to end up doing? Just curious to see how things turned out for you...I can't believe how much your story is like mine... Thanks, Katy

Dee this is so weird that you mentioned this. I read along time ago that children with Seperation anxiety could suffer anxiety and Panic attacks as adults. When I was little I couldnt stand leaving my mother, I would scream and cry and throw up all over the place. So after reading this I called my mother and she said " You do know you have seperation anxiety" we took you to a doctor about that when you were little. I thought I had one of those AH HA moments so the other day while I was talking to my doctor and she was telling me its not my fault and that I was probably born with these tendenceys I told her about he diagnosis as a small child. She said seperation anxiety in children are a normal part of growing up its all part of the natural development and that allot of children have this. So my ah ha moment was taken away, I still believe that it holds some truth, how could it not?

First of all i can definately relate to a lot of what you're going thru. MY panic attacks started when i was 15 also. I didnt want to tell my parents bc i was honestly afraid of what they would think of me. I didnt want them to think that it was their fault bc of bad parenting etc. When i got put on home instruction bc of the attacks, the only 2 people in the world who were there for me were my 2 best friends. My parents tried so hard to reach out to me, and my father would get so angry and even put a hole in the wall bc he hated seeing me the way that i was. One thing that i found comfort in was writing. Every time i wanted to talk to one of my friends and they werent there or i knew that i was getting on their nerves, i would write in a little journal i made. Even now i look back at it and read about all the feelings and emotions that i was going thru at the time, and it helps me bc i can see how far i've come. It's nice to have support and people to lean on, and you definately need it to get thru this. Getting thru it alone isnt easy. But dont make your friends resent you bc of all the things that you are putting on them. A psychologist is there to listen... take advantage of that.

Finally someone else with that reaction to panic attacks! I'm 15, and I had seperation anxiety from about 2nd or 3rd grade through 6th. Then it kind of went away, although I still wasn't thrilled about sleeping away from home. But about two months ago, when my panic attacks started, I was really reluctant to tell my parents for some reason. I told my two best friends, and through their brilliance figured out it was panic attacks just by internet research. They tried to get me to tell my parents, but for some reason I really couldn't, and didn't really know why. Finally they suggested I tell any adult, and I decided to tell one of my teachers who I knew would listen and not immediately run tell my parents if I didn't want her to. She was great, but agreed my parents had to know (obviously, although at the time for some reason it didn't seem obvious), and volunteered to tell them for me. To make a long story short, I agreed and she told them, and they took me to a psychologist, who hasn't been a huge help so far, but who hopefully will become more helpful the more I talk to him. Right now I haven't had a panic attack in a couple weeks, I've just been anxious about having another one, but I've been very upset about everything that's come with the panic attacks - to get back to the point of this post, the seperation anxiety. For some reason, I've become so attatched to my two best friends in this that I've ended up driving them crazy over the past two months. They've much more comforting to me than my parents in all this, and I can't figure out why, especially given the seperation anxiety. It was like they have become the attachment figures. In fact, the Friday before my parents found out about this (they found out that Monday), I couldn't leave my friend to go home from school, and ended up inviting him over for dinner and convincing my parents to let him stay for several hours to avoid having to leave him. It was exactly the way I'd felt about my parents years ago. But over two months, my friends' patience is wearing thin, because it's hard for them to see me so upset and anxious, and they have gotten sufficiently upset over this to miss homework assignments and things lik

I can somewhat relate to that. My panic attacks are LEAST when I am around people. It is the alone times that I fear the most. When I am at church, especially on Wed nights, I dread going home because I feel safe around a group of people but going home means being alone (most of the time when the hubby and kids are in bed) and those are the hours I dread.