Reactive Attachment Disorder: A Case-Based Approach

A child’s close bond with mother, father, or guardian usually provides a foundation for trust in all future attachments. Children deprived of early and healthy dependency—who do not form normal attachment with their caregivers—may later suffer from Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD). This childhood disorder is characterized by a general failure in social relationships resulting from pathogenic care.

Although first included in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-...