Abandonment fears are all to familiar to me. There have been times when I was ready to risk or compromise just about anything just to try to avoid being abandoned. A couple of those memories are pretty scary. Yes, therapy has helped with that immensely, although abandonment was not really specifically addressed as an issue. The way that it helped was I became more confident and independent, and didn't have to have someone else to depend on so much.

Where does it come from? I think that my parents taught me that I was not competent and didn't have the ability to do things on my own. They might not have done that on purpose, but my mother could not stand back and let me try anything, or let me live my own life and make my own decisions. She never could trust me enough to let go. Then, once I did break free of her control (went to college in a different state from where she was) it seemed like she just gave up on me completely. She didn't call or write - there was absolutely no support from my parents at all. Very little contact even, for over ten years, and although we are on good terms now we are not close and probably never will be.