Is lifetime separation anxiety a manifestation of panic spectrum?

Separation anxiety has long been of interest in psychiatry. The term refers to both a phenomenon of normal psychological development and to the symptoms of a common childhood psychiatric disorder, classified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM- IV), and the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Edition (ICD-10), as separation anxiety disorder. Available epidemiological studies suggest a prevalence rate of this disorder of about 4%. Treatment studies using cognitive behavioral therapy and/or medication are reported in the literature. There is also evidence that symptoms of separation anxiety may occur in adulthood, though this is far less widely known. We consider childhood and adult separation anxiety to be a component of panic spectrum, described in other papers of this issue. A small and somewhat confusing literature addresses the question of outcome of childhood separation anxiety disorder, with support for a weak association between childhood separation anxiety and adult panic disorder. We believe there is a suggestion of a stronger association of the childhood condition with persistence of a similar syndrome of adult separation anxiety. Symptoms of adult separation anxiety may be a manifestation of panic spectrum, as we suggest. Such symptoms may represent a separate, specific clinical entity, or symptomatic separation anxiety may occur as a manifestation of a range of Axis I disorders, and may respond to treatment of these disorders. In any case, we urge researchers and clinicians to begin to attend to the possibility that adult psychiatric patients may suffer from clinically significant symptoms of adult separation anxiety.