Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) is a social functioning disorder in children who fail to form a secure form of attachment with their primary caregiver () arguably as a result in pathogenic care (Corbin 2007). This diagnostic criteria of mental health illness was first brought to the fore in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders (DSM-III), by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in 1980 (Mikic and Terradas 2014). APA’s earlier assumptions were that, RAD was associated with deprived and institutionalised children who were subject to maltreatment (Richters and Volkmar 1994). The authors identified that the earlier understanding of RAD as stipulated by DSM-III embodied symptoms such as
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However due to ongoing research to understand RAD further, in 1987 APA made some alterations in DSM-III-R, raising the diagnostic age to 5 years and the notion of child’s failure to thrive was no longer one of the prominent symptoms (Richters and Volkmar 1994).
This study will therefore serve to analyse the concept of attachment and how it can determine the outcome of a child’s cognitive development. It is paramount to analyse psychoanalyst John Bowlby’s attachment theory in order to understand the importance of the primary caregiver-child relationship. Bowlby argued that ‘the disruption of the early mother-child relationship should be seen as a key precursor of mental disorder’ (Fonagy 2004 p.6). Bowlby suggested that children were naturally vulnerable, thus exhibiting inherent characteristics and behaviours of dependency to their primary caregiver (Hardy 2007). The primary caregiver is thus identified as an attachment figure who is expected to provide a consistent, warm and sensitive care to the depended child (Davila and Levy 2006). Winnicott (1965) described this complete dependency as ‘absolute dependence’ where the …show more content…
It may also be argued that children exhibiting behaviours of failure to seek their caregiver’s assistant in times of distress in an institutionalised setting, may on the other hand be perceived as an exploration of a secure child’s environment in a general population setting (O’Connor and Rutter 2000). This therefore clearly highlights the complexity in determining the main causes of
However due to ongoing research to understand RAD further, in 1987 APA made some alterations in DSM-III-R, raising the diagnostic age to 5 years and the notion of child’s failure to thrive was no longer one of the prominent symptoms (Richters and Volkmar 1994).
This study will therefore serve to analyse the concept of attachment and how it can determine the outcome of a child’s cognitive development. It is paramount to analyse psychoanalyst John Bowlby’s attachment theory in order to understand the importance of the primary caregiver-child relationship. Bowlby argued that ‘the disruption of the early mother-child relationship should be seen as a key precursor of mental disorder’ (Fonagy 2004 p.6). Bowlby suggested that children were naturally vulnerable, thus exhibiting inherent characteristics and behaviours of dependency to their primary caregiver (Hardy 2007). The primary caregiver is thus identified as an attachment figure who is expected to provide a consistent, warm and sensitive care to the depended child (Davila and Levy 2006). Winnicott (1965) described this complete dependency as ‘absolute dependence’ where the …show more content…
It may also be argued that children exhibiting behaviours of failure to seek their caregiver’s assistant in times of distress in an institutionalised setting, may on the other hand be perceived as an exploration of a secure child’s environment in a general population setting (O’Connor and Rutter 2000). This therefore clearly highlights the complexity in determining the main causes of