Reactive Attachment Disorder: Theoretical Perspectives and Treatment Implications
Attachment allows children the secure base necessary to explore, learn and relate, and the well-being, motivation, and opportunity to do so. Attachment is important for safety, stress regulation, adaptability, and resilience. The neurobiological consequences of trauma, abuse, and emotional neglect can leave children behaviorally disordered, depressed, apathetic, slow to learn, and prone to chronic illness. Compared to securely attached children, children with attachment disorder are significantly more likely to be aggressive, disruptive, and antisocial. Reactive attachment disorder (RAD) is a condition where a child doesn’t form healthy emotional bonds with their caretakers (parental figures), often because of trauma, emotional neglect, or abuse at an early age. Children with RAD have trouble managing their emotions. Children with reactive attachment disorder are believed to have the capacity to form attachments, but this ability has been hindered by their early developmental experiences. There’s no standard treatment for reactive attachment disorder, but it should involve both the child and parents or primary caregivers.
CMHC 699, Capstone
Mindi Barta
Siefke 100
2 – 3 PM