Reactive attachment disorder

Uncommon card · No. 155301

Reactive attachment disorder (RAD) is an attachment disorder characterized by markedly disturbed and developmentally inappropriate ways of relating socially in most contexts. RAD primarily affects children, although these issues do occasionally persist into adulthood. It can take the form of a persistent failure to initiate or respond to most social interactions in a developmentally appropriate way—known as the "inhibited form". In the DSM-5, the "disinhibited form" is considered a separate diagnosis named "disinhibited social engagement disorder". RAD arises from a failure to form normal attachments to primary caregivers in early childhood. Such a failure could result from severe early experiences of neglect, abuse, abrupt separation from caregivers between the ages of six months and three years, frequent changes of caregivers, or a lack of caregiver responsiveness to a child's communicative efforts. It is differentiated from pervasive developmental disorder or developmental delay and...

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