Attachment Disorder: Traits and Symptoms
Attachment disorder affects all aspect of a child's functioning. A child may display some combination of the following primary symptoms:
Behavior: oppositional and defiant, impulsive, destructive, lie and steal, aggressive and abusive, hyperactive, self-destructive, cruel to animals, irresponsible, fire setting.
Emotions: intense anger and temper, sad, depressed and hopeless, moody, fearful and anxious (although often hidden), irritable, inappropriate emotional reactions.
Thoughts: negative beliefs about self, relationships, and life in general ("negative working model"), lack of cause-and-effect thinking, attention and learning problems.
Relationships: lacks trust, controlling ("bossy"), manipulative, does not give or receive genuine affection and love, indiscriminately affectionate with strangers, unstable peer relationships, blames others for own mistakes or problems, victimizes others/victimized.
Physical: poor hygiene, tactilely defensive, enuresis and encopresis, accident prone, high pain tolerance, genetic predispositions (e.g., depression, hyperactivity).
Moral/Spiritual: lack of faith, compassion, remorse, meaning and other prosocial values, identification with evil and the dark side of life.
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What Can Cause Attachment Disorder?
Listed below are situations and experiences that place children at high-risk for developing attachment disorders:
Parental/Caregiver Contributions:
Abuse and/or neglect
Ineffective and insensitive care
Depression: unipolar, bipolar, postpartum
Severe and/or chronic psychological disturbances: biological and/or emotional
Teenage parenting
Substance abuse
Intergenerational attachment difficulties: unresolved family-of-origin issues, history of separation, loss, maltreatment
Prolonged absence: prison, hospital, desertion
Child Contributions:
Difficult temperament; lack of "fit" with parents or caregivers
Premature birth
Medical conditions; unrelieved pain (e.g., inner ear), colicky
Hospitalizations: separation and loss
Failure to thrive syndrome
Congenital and/or biological problems: neurological impairment, fetal alcohol syndrome, in utero drug exposure, physical handicaps
Genetic factors: family history of mental illness, depression, aggression, criminality, substance abuse, antisocial personality
Environmental Contributions:
Poverty
Violence: victim and/or witness
Lack of support: absent father and extended kin, isolation, lack of services
Multiple out-of-home placements: moves in foster care system, multiple caregivers
High stress: marital conflict, family disorganization and chaos, violent community
