Attachment disorders vary in severity, but the term usually is reserved for individuals who show a nearly complete lack of ability to be genuinely affectionate with others. They typically fail to develop a conscience and do not learn to trust.

Children with healthy attachments to a loving caregiver ...

• Feel secure and loved
• Can attain their potential
• Can develop reciprocal relationships
• Develop a conscience
• Cope with stress and anxiety
• Become self-reliant

Children who do not have healthy attachments with a loving caregiver . . .

• Do not trust caregivers or adults in authority.
• Have extreme control problems, manifested in covertly manipulative or overtly hostile ways.
• Do not develop a moral foundation: no empathy, no remorse, no conscience, and/or no compassion for others.
• Lack the ability to give and receive genuine affection or love.
• Resist all efforts to nurture or guide them.
• Lack cause and effect thinking.
• Act out negatively, provoking anger in others.
• Lie, steal, cheat, and/or manipulate.
• Are destructive, cruel, argumentative and/or hostile.
• Lack self-control - are impulsive.
• Are superficially charming and engaging.

The process of developing healthy attachments can be disrupted by... 

Abuse, neglect, abandonment, multiple changes in caregivers, foster care, adoption, painful illness, exposure to alcohol/drugs in utero, maternal depression, and/or inconsistent day care.

Parents of Children with Attachment disorder frequently . . .

• Feel isolated and depressed.
• Feel frustrated and stressed.
• Are hypervigilant, agitated and have difficulty concentrating.
• Are confused, puzzled and obsessed with finding answers.
• Feel blamed by family, friends, and professionals.
• Feel helpless, hopeless, and angry.
• Feel that their family's problems are minimized by the helping profession.