Incessantly chatters to control conversationĪppear to be eager to please and are superficially compliant.Īre often passive aggressive, constantly doing little things wrong, but never doing anything really bad, but frazzling the parents patience and control. Tend to be overly clingy, showing extreme separation anxiety when separated from their mothers. Lack empathy for others – often cruel to animals and other children. Lack the ability to give and receive love Have few friends if any, although they will say they do, listing several acquaintances – keep friends only for a short time When they want something, they act very affectionate. Some patients may have other diagnoses as well, such as:Īre destructive both with their own belonging and othersĪre extremely difficult children to parent because they sabotage or destroy almost everything positive that happens to them. The official mental health diagnosis for the majority of the children and teens we treat is Reactive Attachment Disorder (DSM V F94.1). It is a huge accomplishment and sense of relief" -B.'s mother Although he has a long way to go towards healing, he finally can come to us and share his feelings. Our son also found the language and safety to better understand himself and vocalize his feelings, rather than take his anger out on us. We were given many tools to handle our son as well as our own frustration. For the first time since we adopted our son we felt that someone finally understood our turmoil. "Our first meeting with ATS was an emotional one. They had little support from community, friends and family. Upon arriving at Attachment and Trauma Specialists, his parents were exhausted, worried and feeling hopeless.
At 10 he was failing in school, had no friends and was self-destructive. His adoptive family had been very loving and tried many different parenting techniques but to no avail. When he came into his adoptive family, he raged, avoided eye contact, affection, and only behaved when he wanted something. was adopted at 3 after having been removed from his drug addicted mother. A child with this kind of psychological and emotional damage has usually developed ways of interacting with the world that do not build trust or accept nurturing from well-meaning adoptive or foster parents.ī.
This lack of trust interferes with developing reciprocal and responsive relationships in successful friendships, marriage, parenting, therapy, education, and employment.īy the time a child and his family come to us, the child is often chronically angry, depressed, anxious, scared and always on the lookout for something troubling. Interruption in the cycle of attachment during the first or second year of a child's life generally results in some degree of attachment disorder including lack of trust in his primary caregiver, his environment, and himself.