Separation anxiety is by far the most common and distressing childhood anxiety. This dissertation aims to discover the specific causes and general solutions to separation anxiety. For this purpose, this paper analyzes different examples and points of view on separation anxiety in children mainly in their preoperational development period. This dissertation introduces the basic concepts needed to comprehend anxiety in children. Normal anxiety that most youngsters experience and anxiety disorder will be differentiated. In terms of typical separation anxiety symptoms, my main argument of this thesis is concentrated on these three picture books - "Silly Billy" by Anthony Browne, "Wemberly worried," and "Owen" by Kevin Henkes. These books narrate a story about a child who suffers from a mild form of separation anxiety symptom, yet this is a normal part of a child's development that can be easily helped and cured by parents, teachers, and others nearby. The main characters of these picture books are the focal point of analysis.
This paper concentrates on the preoperational period of children, namely the second stage of their cognitive development. This stage starts around two years old, as children start to talk, and lasts until about seven. With the increase in the mental ability of children, they develop anxieties; most of the time, separation anxiety proves to be the one that is the most widely spread. In general, separation anxiety is a particular phenomenon throughout children's development. It begins appearing around 1.5 years, and this symptom is intensified around 3-4 years old. It usually disappears around five years old. However, in some cases, it continues even after five years old. In each developmental period and stage, children feel anxious about being separated from their primary caregivers, their parents. This is very normal reactive behavior for them. Some symptoms appear as repetitive and sometimes excessive anxiety. Because they try to anticipate the danger.
This paper aims to analyze and discuss possible improvements and challenges in diagnosing and treating separation anxiety based on the picture books mentioned previously.