attachment disorder
Impaired caregiver bonding
Attachment disorder refers to conditions in which children fail to form healthy emotional bonds with caregivers, typically resulting from early neglect, abuse, or disrupted care.
The term covers a spectrum from inhibited behavior—emotional withdrawal, resistance to comfort—to disinhibited patterns where children approach strangers with inappropriate familiarity.
The adopted child was diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder.
Though rooted in clinical psychology, the phrase sometimes appears loosely to describe adults with difficulty forming close relationships.
Reliable attachment figure
- safe havenProtected place of shelter
- separation anxietyDistress from being apart
- mentalizationUnderstanding behavior through thoughts
Act of leaving permanently
- orphanageInstitution housing parentless children
- foster careSupervised substitute parenting
- institutional careProfessional supervision in facilities
- abuseCruel or violent treatment
parental rejection · separation · emotional neglect · unmet needs
Curative mental treatment
- play therapyPsychotherapy using games
- EMDRTrauma therapy using eye movements
- reparentingProviding oneself missed care
- therapeutic relationshipPatient-practitioner trust bond
caregiver training · trust-building · co-regulation · healing · intervention · mental health professional · child psychologist · residential treatment
State of being severed
- emotional unavailabilityInability to engage emotionally
- clingy behaviorExcessive need for closeness
- distancingCreating space or separation
- codependencyExcessive emotional reliance on another
Identification of illness
- DSM-5Psychiatric diagnosis guidebook
- symptomsIndicators of disease
- assessmentFormal evaluation of worth
- RADIterative software methodology
developmental delay · failure to thrive · emotional dysregulation · behavioral problems · comorbidity · differential diagnosis
secure base
Reliable attachment figure
- safe havenProtected place of shelter
- separation anxietyDistress from being apart
- mentalizationUnderstanding behavior through thoughts
abandonment
Act of leaving permanently
- orphanageInstitution housing parentless children
- foster careSupervised substitute parenting
- institutional careProfessional supervision in facilities
abuse · parental rejection · separation · emotional neglect · unmet needs
therapy
Curative mental treatment
- play therapyPsychotherapy using games
- EMDRTrauma therapy using eye movements
- reparentingProviding oneself missed care
therapeutic relationship · caregiver training · trust-building · co-regulation · healing · intervention · mental health professional · child psychologist · residential treatment
disconnection
State of being severed
- emotional unavailabilityInability to engage emotionally
- clingy behaviorExcessive need for closeness
- distancingCreating space or separation
diagnosis
Identification of illness
- DSM-5Psychiatric diagnosis guidebook
- symptomsIndicators of disease
- assessmentFormal evaluation of worth
RAD · developmental delay · failure to thrive · emotional dysregulation · behavioral problems · comorbidity · differential diagnosis
- attachmentsecure base, safe haven, separation anxiety, clinging, cling
- attachment issuesRAD, fear of abandonment, abandonment trauma
- Mental Disordersschizophrenia, depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD
- traumaabuse, abandonment, abandonment trauma, acute stress, amnesia
- attachment traumamaternal bonding, mother-child bond, separation anxiety, abandonment, emotional neglect
- child welfarechild protection, child welfare, foster care, child services, foster home
attachment disordermental health
Emotional and cognitive well-being
emotional health · wholeness · well-being · health · adjustment
attachment, disorder, attach, attached, attaching, attachments, detach, detached, detachment