Disorganized attachment in infancy: a review of the phenomenon and its implications for clinicians and policy-makers.

Disorganized/Disoriented (D) attachment has seen widespread interest from policy makers, practitioners, and clinicians in recent years. However, some of this interest seems to have been based on some false assumptions that (1) attachment measures can be used as definitive assessments of the individual in forensic/child protection settings and that disorganized attachment (2) reliably indicates child maltreatment, (3) is a strong predictor of pathology, and (4) represents a fixed or static "trait" of the child, impervious to development or help. This paper summarizes the evidence showing that these four assumptions are false and misleading.

Using the adult attachment interview to understand reactive attachment disorder: findings from a 10-case adolescent sample.

A feasibility study was conducted to examine the usability of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and its coding system with 10 adolescents presenting with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD). Given that the measure was deemed usable with all 10 participants, the study then sought to identify the attachment status of the sample. Three transcripts were subjected to inter-rater reliability checks.

Annotation: attachment disorganisation and psychopathology: new findings in attachment research and their potential implications for developmental psychopathology in childhood.

Background: The past 10 years have seen a fruitful line of enquiry building on identification of previously unclassifiable patterns of infant-mother interaction. A critical review of these new findings in attachment theory, highlighting their potential relevance to child psychopathology, is presented.

Method: Selective literature review relating to disorganised attachment in childhood.