Conceptual Overview of the Relationship between Attachment Disorder in Adults and Childhood Sexual Abuse
An attachment disorder (AD) refers to situations wherein individuals experience difficulties in the establishment of social and emotional bonds with others. Strong attachments begin in one's early life through bonding between child and parent. When a strong attachment does not develop or when an attachment between child and parent is disrupted, AD ensues. AD is recognized by the exhibition of negative and unproductive behaviors and emotions by the child (Zeanah, Scheeringa, Boris, Heller, Smyke, & Trapani, 2004).
The disruptive experiences that cause the development of AD in infants can have far reaching and lasting effects. Research has found that attachment disorders can have negative effects on the development of children through their teens. Research also has found that AD can persist into adulthood (Kalsched, 2001). The American Psychiatric Association (2000), in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR, provides definitions and diagnosis criteria for attachment disorders.
Several actions and behaviors on the part of parents or other care givers in a child's early life have been identified through research as causal factors in the development of attachment disorders (Sherry, Lyddon, & Henson, 2007). One of these causal factors is child abuse on the part of the child's care giver. One form of child abuse that can lead to the development of AD is sexual abuse (Schechter, Brunelli, Cunningham, Brown, & Baca, 2002).
Research does not indicate that AD in early childhood always persists into adulthood. In many cases, however, early childhood AD does persist into adulthood (King & Newnham, 2008). The chain of experiences that leads to the development of AD in a young child, together with the persistence of AD into adulthood in some cases establishes the correlativ...