Why a Closing Door Upsets a 15-Month-Old
Hannah wrote in about Ezra, fifteen months old, who is fine with caregivers and fine with his parents leaving the room — but loses it when a door closes, even a cabinet door. The obvious answer is separation anxiety, and the obvious answer doesn't fit. There's no published research on door-closing distress specifically, so this episode maps what every parent has seen onto four documented mechanisms: object permanence, barriers, autonomy and control, and transitions. The closest published analog is a 1975 Child Development study using a Plexiglas box, plus 1977 reactance research showing that…
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