Attachment theory and reactive attachment disorder: theoretical perspectives and treatment implications.

TOPIC: Attachment theory and reactive attachment disorder (RAD).

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

SOURCES: 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.