Please or to access all these features

Mental health

Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you have medical concerns, please seek medical attention.

Adult separation anxiety- tips please

2 replies

BlankSpace1 · 25/07/2019 08:42

I'm 24, and I deal with separation anxiety from my partner.
I don't take medication for this cus it's not officially diagnosed, but I do take medication for other mental health issues and am going to be booking myself in for this as well.

For now though I'm just wondering if anyone else deals with this, do you have any tips? I am very aware, I encourage my partner to have time to himself or with his friends, I'm not possessive and I don't act obsessed or anything, I'm just really in love. But being apart makes me struggle, I'm instantly filled with way more anxiety and it's just for not seeing him for one day. I currently have stomach pains and it just doesn't get off my mind! I'm trying to distract myself, I have 2 young children who are home with me today so I'm trying to just do things with them, but then I feel guilty having this on my mind.. it's a viscous cycle!

OP posts:
interminablehellishwhatever · 25/07/2019 13:24

There's an Attachment Theory Workbook on amazon. It might be helpful for you to work through that and learn from some of the suggestions it offers for dealing with the impact of your own attachment style on your relationship.

Something you could do for yourself in the meantime is keep a brief journal listing the various fears and doubts that preoccupy you when you and your partner are apart. Then after a few entries, list some of the most powerful thoughts/beliefs and write some challenging ideas next to them. For example, if one of your fears is "he might have an accident while I'm not with him" you can challenge that with something like "he's an adult and he would know how to ask for help". There are all sorts of ways you could challenge just that one fear, and any challenges you write down help to reassure you in concrete ways.

One of the most difficult existential 'facts of life' that people with attachment disorders struggle with is that 'life makes us vulnerable'. A good therapist could help you to explore the difficulty you have in facing and living with that fact. It's likely that your early relationships didn't offer your fears of separation and loss enough 'holding' or 'containment' and hence you struggle to provide that for yourself now.

Orangecake123 · 25/07/2019 13:29

I found having an transitional object helpful- something that reminded me of the person and I felt better holding it. It could be a small soft toy, a stone or a jumper of his you could wear?

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.