Attachment Disorder in Adults- Part 1
An attachment disorder is a type of mood or behavioral disorder affecting a person's ability to form and maintain relationships.
These disorders typically develop in childhood. They can result when a child is unable to have a consistent emotional connection with a parent or primary caregiver.
There is no formal attachment disorder diagnosis for adults, but they can experience attachment issues. These can stem from untreated or undiagnosed attachment disorders in childhood.
The Fundamentals: Attachment theory
Attachment theory deals with how people form emotional bonds. The way that a person learns to form and maintain relationships primarily stems from their initial interactions with a parent or primary caregiver during childhood.
Psychologists initially study and categorized different types of attachment that can develop during childhood. Researchers later developed the Adult Attachment Interview to distinguish the types in adults. The questions assess the type of easy relationship that an adult had with their primary caregiver.
Types of attachment in adults are similar to those observed in children. They include:
Secure: An adult with secure attachments likely had a positive emotional bond with their primary caregiver. They are comfortable in their relationship and have low relationship anxiety.
Avoidant or dismissing: Adults with these attachments are uncomfortable with closeness and value independence in their relationship. As a child, their caregiver may not have been attuned to their needs.
Anxious or preoccupied: Adults with these attachments crave intimacy and do not feel secure in their relationships. A child may develop this attachment style if their caregiver has intermittent or unpredictable availability.
Disorganized: Adults with this attachment style may have intense or chaotic patterns of relationships, marked by seeking closeness and then pushing people away, for example. It may develop in response to childhood trauma or abuse.
Types of attachment disorder:
-Reactive attachment disorder
-Disinhibited social engagement disorder
- Reactive attachment disorder:
RAD is typically a trusted source of early childhood maltreatment or neglect.
American academy of child and adolescent psychiatry notes that children with RAD may:
- Have low levels of interaction with other people
- Show little or no evidence of emotion during social interactions
- Have difficulty claiming down when stressed
- Seem unhappy, irritable, sad, or scared when engaging in everyday activities with their caregivers.
If the child does not receive adequate treatment, the symptoms of RAD may manifest or continue into adulthood. Possible symptoms of the disorder in adults include:
- Difficulty reading emotions
- resistance to affection
- Difficulty showing affection
- Low levels of trust
- Difficulty maintaining relationships
- A negative self-image
- Anger issues
- Impulsivity
- Detachment.
Disinhibited social engagement disorder:
DSED may develop in response to social neglect and lack of consistent attachment to a primary caregiver during the first 2 years of life.
Children in care often demonstrate symptoms of DSED. These may include:
- Hyperactivity
- Minimal social boundaries
- Extreme sociability
- Readiness to approach and engage with strangers
If a child with DSED does not receive adequate treatment, the issue can manifest continuing into adulthood. An adolescent or adult with DSED may display:
- Hyperactivity
- An extreme trust in people that they do not know well
- A lack of awareness of social boundaries
- A tendency to ask intrusive questions to people that they have just met
- Other behaviors that show a lack of inhibition
Signs and symptoms:
- Uncertainty about their true identity
- Discontinuity in their sense of self
- Related changes in behavior, consciousness, and memory
- A feeling of disconnectedness from
- Memory loss relating to personal information or everyday events
- Reduced ability to feel physical pain.
Attachment disorder and adult relationships:
An attachment disorder that develops in childhood may affect relationships in adulthood, and more research into this area is necessary.
A person with an attachment disorder may have difficulty trusting others or feeling safe and secure in a relationship. As a result, they may have difficulty forming and maintaining friendships and romantic partnerships.
Complications:
Untreated childhood RAD or DSED can cause the following during adulthood:
- Low self-esteem
- Emotional impairment
- Difficulty in social situations
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Problems with substance use trusted source
