Can medication help? | Fear of loss

Can medication help?

Basically, drug therapy of fear of loss should always be the last resort and other therapeutic approaches, such as changes in everyday life or psychotherapy, should be perceived beforehand. Most of the drugs used for the treatment of fear of loss are approved for the treatment of anxiety disorders, to which fear of loss can be attributed from a certain level onwards. It is important that a drug therapy should always be accompanied by a psychotherapeutic therapy, usually a behavioral therapy, as only this can treat the cause of the anxiety.

Medications used in the treatment of anxiety disorders are various antidepressants, special anxiolytics (anxiolytics), such as buspirone or benzodiazepines. What they all have in common, however, is that they can only suppress the symptoms and have no curative effect. Here is an overview of the different antidepressants: Antidepressants – What drugs are available?

Duration

The duration of loss fears can be very variable.This depends on the one hand on the traumatizing experience that led to the development of the fears, but also on the target object of these fears and a possible treatment. Fears of loss, for example, which began in childhood and project themselves onto the partner, can last for several decades if left untreated. However, if fears of loss are not strongly developed, they can also recede within a few years because the expected loss has not occurred. Therefore, the basic duration of the fears is very difficult to describe and cannot be predicted for the individual patient.

Fear of loss in the child

The development of fear of loss is a very common problem in children. However, the extent of this fear can vary greatly and it is important to differentiate between “normal” and excessive fear of loss. For example, children at the beginning of kindergarten almost always complain about separation from their parents.

However, this behavior usually lasts only a few days or weeks. However, if this fear is permanent and ultimately leads to the termination of kindergarten attendance, there is a suspicion of excessive fear of loss. These fears are usually due to very early experiences that traumatize the child, such as the loss of a parent through divorce or death.

As a compensatory reaction, excessive fears of loss regarding another caregiver develop. The therapy of these fears can prove to be quite difficult. This is due to the fact that the children’s fears of loss come true almost daily, even if only for a few hours, for example when attending kindergarten. Therefore, at this point, a very slow weaning from the caregiver is usually necessary to reduce the fears. Nevertheless, it makes sense to treat fears of loss, which are already recognized in childhood, as early as possible in order to prevent their impact on personality development.