All people face separation in one way or another in their lives.

The process of suffering is necessary as a mechanism for compensating pain, but what happens if sadness does not go away, melancholy settles in an abandoned person, and negative thoughts visit them more and more often?

Depression from separation can be a very serious problem for human health. In fact, it is considered one of the main causes of suicide worldwide, so it is imperative to combat this phenomenon.

Scheme of Separation in Children

According to psychoanalysts, anxiety caused by separation (or loss of an object of affection), is a feeling that we experience from early childhood. Therefore, babies cry when they are separated from the main caregiver (the object of affection), which is normally found in the development of children.

However, in certain situations, there may be separation schemes that will play a decisive role for the child in the future, in adulthood. For example, the birth of younger siblings, the death of one of the parents or a decrease in attention can cause a feeling of loss, abandonment and loneliness in a child.

Separation in Adulthood

If a child has experienced this kind of experience, it is possible that some of its consequences will manifest in adulthood. So, in their emotional relationships, they are likely to show anxiety, excessive jealousy, fears and insecurity.

A person experiences difficulties in establishing a long-term relationship, which leads them to think that it is impossible to have a successful relationship and that sooner or later they will not be able to form a couple.

One of the most distinctive characteristics of their love relationships is the idealization of their significant other, overestimation of their significant other due to a sense of their own inferiority. Possessive behavior and extreme dependence are also characteristic of such people.

Depressive Disorder Caused by Separation

The breakup of a close relationship entails a natural process of suffering, a stage at which people compensate for the painful feeling of losing the object of affection. The time required to overcome this suffering is relative and will depend on the individual.

So, if the mentioned process of suffering has been delayed for a long time or poses a problem for human health, it is likely that we are dealing with a clinical picture of a depressive disorder caused by separation.

Such a depressive state prevents a person from overcoming their grief and ending suffering in a natural way, generating extreme helplessness. In the most severe cases, such a clinical picture can turn into severe depression .

Depressive disorder caused by separation creates a general state of sadness for most of the day, with significant changes in sleep patterns, obsessive anxiety, aggression and low self-esteem in most cases.

A person experiences cognitive disorders, which increase negative feelings, blocking his ability to think rationally, make decisions and do their daily business in a normal routine. Compulsive behavior and self-loathing are also common.

Learn to Overcome Emotional Separation

Acceptance is the starting point in overcoming the suffering caused by emotional separation due to the loss of the object of affection. This first step is to accept the fact that your partner has left and will never come back.

Any person is capable of overcoming this stage, and it is important for anyone who suffers from separation to realize this. Support from relatives and friends is crucial at this stage.

As soon as a person was able to accept the situation as it is and overcome the feeling of separation, the process of learning begins, which will allow them to return to normal life and become receptive to new experiences.

This stage involves changing certain negative thoughts to other, positive ones that will allow them to appreciate themselves.

Importance of Professional Help

If depressive symptoms are much more severe and significantly affect a person’s quality of life, it is necessary to consult a specialist to resolve this case.

There are two ways to treat depression: pharmacology and/or psychotherapy.

a mental health specialist will determine the advisability of pharmacological treatment in each specific case.

Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) usually serve as first-line medications in the treatment of depression. However, selection of a specific drug depends on the patient’s medical history, including the severity of the depressive picture, heredity, their reactions to past treatment, if any, and others. In this sense, to select the most appropriate pharmacological treatment, a pharmacogenetic test can be of good help in certain cases.

During the first days of treatment with antidepressants, some patients may experience uneasiness or anxiety, so it is advisable to conduct close monitoring by the closest relatives.

For his part, a professional psychologist can choose a special psychotherapy, which will help overcome a dead-end and painful situation. To do this, the specialist will assess the patient’s daily life and their connections. The efforts of a professional psychologist are aimed at identifying and disabling the protective mechanisms that a person uses in their separation scheme.

Depression caused by separation can be a turning point in anyone’s life. The successful passage of a period of suffering is essential to overcome this situation, because otherwise it can develop into severe depression, requiring the intervention of a highly specialized professional.