Question:
What are the symptoms of attachment disorders?
Indiscriminate Friendliness
Children with attachment disorders may be indiscriminately friendly with strangers; walking up to them and showing intimate affection or asking to go home with them. They may proclaim to love the person and tell the stranger their real caregiver is abusing them. It is important to warn others to prevent them from feeding into the problem.
Hyperactivity/Impulsivity
Children with attachment disorders often display many of the same symptoms as attention deficit disorder (ADHD). They may be fidgety, impulsive, and have difficulty concentrating. Therefore, they may experience difficulty in school.
Eating Disorders
Children with attachment disorders often have eating disorders. As children, they may hoard or stuff food, or eat until they are overly full. They may also develop anorexia nervosa, or bulemia. They may starve themselves or become obese.
Lying
Children with attachment disorders often lie for no apparent reason or gain, simply for the pleasure of lying. This is most likely caused by the child's distorted sense of what is right and wrong, and the instinctive drive that anything is okay for the sake of the self.
Mood Swings
Children with attachment disorders often have unpredictable mood swings, going from happiness to anger in seconds. Their moods may also not match what is actually happening, for example, they might laugh as something tragic happens, or might become very sad over something that should have caused happiness.
Poor Hygiene
Children with attachment disorders often have poor hygiene. They may resist taking baths or brushing teeth unless forced to. They may not care if they wear the same clothes day after day or if their clothes are dirty. They do not see the necessity of washing their hands to prevent the spread of germs or in simple grooming tasks, such as brushing the hair.
Manipulation
Children with attachment disorders often manipulate those in their environment, sometimes for something they want or need, but often just for the sake of manipulating another. They are often know to tell one adult one thing, and then tell another adult another as a way of setting them up against each other. They may play one adult against another just for the sake of the thrill of watching what happens as their drama unfolds.
Fascination with Blood & Gore
Children with attachment disorders are often fascinated with blood and gore, becoming spellbound as they watch gory movies on television. They often get "stuck" on stories about others being hurt. They may even resort to torturing a pet or other animal.
Lack of Respect for Authorities
Children with attachment disorders often have a lack of respect for authority. This includes parents, teachers, police officers, and others in charge. This lack of respect comes from the distorted perception that no adult can be trusted and that the child must fend for him or herself.
Poor Relationship and Social Skills
Children with attachment disorders often have difficulty initiating and sustaining relationships with others. This is because of their lack of trust and respect for others, and their innate need to protect themselves from others.
Whiny and Clingy
Children with attachment disorders may become excessively clingy and whiny, demanding of constant adult attention. They may perceive themselves as helpless and constantly call on another to help them as if they were a victim.
Aggression
Children with attachment disorders are often aggressive. They may fight for something they want or need, or simply are aggressive for the sake of being aggressive. Often the aggression is linked to inability to control anger, or to feelings that everyone is out to get them.
Obsessive Compulsive Behavior
Many children with attachment disorders exhibit obsessive compulsive behavior, needing their environment to be predictable and orderly in order to function. They may become very agitated if their order is disrupted and may actually show symptoms related to Autism or PDD, such as lining objects up, or requiring objects to be in a certain order.
Lack of Trust
The key feature of attachment disorders is a lack of trust in the environment. The child believes that no one can be trusted to take care of his or her needs, and that the child must do anything within his or her power to perserve the self.
Sabotaging Placement
Children with attachment disorders that have been placed in foster care or an adoptive home will often sabotage the placement by displaying some excessive behavior that causes the foster or adoptive parent to give the child back. This is because the child cannot risk loving or being loved by someone for fear that that someone will go away.
Fire setting
Many children with attachment disorders develop a fascination with fire. They can be at risk, both to themselves, and to others, and they often do not think of the consequences of their actions, nor do they care if they inflict harm on others. Even their immediate family.
Bedwetting
Children with attachment disorders often wet the bed. Wetting the bed is not a disorder if the child is under the age of six, and sometimes not even after the age of six. Bedwetting can also be related to a biological disorder. But, children with attachment disorders of an older age often wet the bed for no biological reason.
Self-Abuse
Children with attachment disorders may self-abuse. They may head bang, cut themselves with sharp objects, or even try to commit suicide. Self abuse often increases when the child is put into treatment and issues or outlets of behavior are challenged, therefore, it is important to provide supervision during these times.
Depression
Many children with attachment disorders suffer depression. They are often misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder or major depression, which often delays treatment. The symptoms of Reactive Attachment Disorder are very similar to bipolar disorder, and share common characteristics with opposition defiance disorder, conduct disorder, attention deficit disorder, and several other disorders.
Stealing
Many children with attachment disorders steal, either for self-preservation, or just for the sake of stealing. Many times what the child steals is not even necessary. The child simply steals for the sake of stealing.
Sexually Promiscuous
Children with attachment disorders are often sexually promiscuous. They may use artificial charm, false commitment, or sexual behaviors to attract others to them. They may also show inappropriate sexual conduct in the presence of others. Many of these children have been sexually abused or have witnessed sexual behaviors in others.
Love on Their Terms
Children with attachment disorders often only allow love or affection on their own terms. In other words, they may come to you for comfort and affection but when you ask them to come to you for love and affection, they resist. They may become stiff and uncomfortable if you hug them or get into their space.
Bossy and Controlling
Children with attachment disorders are often bossy and demanding to be in control, even of adults in their world. This comes from the internal framework that they must control the world around them and from their general lack of trust in adults.
Bedtime Problems
Children with attachment disorders often have bedtime problems, such as fear of going to bed, inability to relax and go to sleep, waking during the night or too early in the morning, or not being able to wake and sleeping too much during the day.
High Pain Tolerance
Children with attachment disorders often have a very high pain tolerance, not responding when they are physically or emotionally hurt. Some children may self-abuse to the point of penetrating the skin or causing excessive bruising with no reaction.
Emotional Frequently Asked Questions
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Are men more sexual than women?
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| Patricia Walters-Fischer |
