Attachment theory and reactive attachment disorder: theoretical perspectives and treatment implications.
OBJECTIVE
Attachment theory and reactive attachment disorder (RAD).


OBJECTIVE
To highlight current perspectives on attachment theory, RAD, and treatment implications using a case study of an 8-year-old patient with RAD.


METHODS
Selected multidisciplinary literature related to attachment theory and RAD.


CONCLUSIONS
The literature provides a body of work that substantiates the importance of early attachment relationships to human development and highlights gaps in our knowledge related to treatment of children with RAD. The quality of early attachment relationships is correlated with future personality and brain development. Attachment disturbances are associated with psychopathology in childhood and adulthood. Although evidence for the effective treatment of children with attachment disorders is minimal and inconclusive, the two major perspectives, developmental psychology and neuropsychoanalysis, offer guidelines for practice.
Hardy
Lyons T
LT
University of Virginia School of Nursing and Virginia Treatment Center for Children, Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, USA. lth2e@virginia.edu
D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology; D002665:Child Psychiatry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009769:Object Attachment; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory; D011582:Psychological Theory; D002666:Psychology, Child; D019962:Reactive Attachment Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D012307:Risk Factors