Side Effects of Attachment Disorders (Part 1) Introduction.by Anna Glendenning | More from this Blogger 22 Mar 2006 06:46 PM
Other side effects from attachment disorders can contribute to behaviors that baffle, frustrate and drain even the most determined adoptive parents. These behaviors will be discussed at length in the next several Blogs.
During the next few Blogs each of the issues above will be discussed and how these behaviors relate to attachment will be looked at very carefully. It is important that adoptive parents not become discouraged if one or more of the above issues is or has been a problem for your child. Many children have problems in these areas and may not have attachment disorders our job as adoptive parents is to consider which of these problem areas are a result of an attachment disorder and which are a part of our child's personality and general development. As an adoptive parent learns to recognize the red-flags for attachment disorders, they can discover a variety of parenting methods that have worked to help children overcome and heal. The important thing to keep in mind about attachment disorders is that in most cases children heal and completely recover from any difficulties they may have with attachment. It is actually very rare for children to develop the most extreme forms of attachment disorders such as Reactive Attachment Disorder. If you are an adoptive parent and concerned that your child may have an attachment disorder keep a journal and as you become more educated about what is happening with your child you may find ways to bridge the healing. If you know you are dealing with serious attachment issues please feel free to visit my personal website for some support.
For more information about parenting special needs children you might want to visit the Families.com Special Needs Blog and the Mental Health Blog. Or visit my personal website. Photo credit for this blog entry: Learn more about Anna Glendenning  Anna Glendenning is a mother of four. Two biological children grown and out of college, and two siblings and adopted together in 2003. Relevantadoption tags children | family | arguments against adoption | christmas | parenting | Scrapbooking | holidays | baby | pregnancy | relationships User Comments Mogulander (65) 26 Mar 2006 08:11 AMAnna I am reading your blog on attachment disorders. I recognise you are writing from the perspective of an adoptive parent. What you are listing is very much what my daughter is going through since her sister committed suicide. Also at the same time, sorry prior to this my wife decided to unset the apple cart by moving out of the house and taking my children with her including two foster children. Since my daughter passed away, my youngest daughter has steadily thrown her education down the drain, is constantly lying has played one against the other and has always made sure she is in front for everything. Today, her fifteenth birthday she was arrested for stealing her mothers car and caught in the act by the police. This not being the first time she has stolen the car. So my question is; can these effects enhanced by others be caused within the mainstay family rather than in the adoptive child, purely because of the infringement of the adoptive child on the space of the mainstay family. Something I have felt is the case.  Anna Glendenning (4234) 27 Mar 2006 05:22 PMThere is a lot of evidence that any child can have attachment disorders. I would say however, your daughter has many reasons to be suffering emotionally with all the things that have happened. Death and Divorce are two of the most difficult things to survive in the first place. You will see a lot of these kinds of feelings in the adopted children because their losses are much the same, complete change in the family and the Loss of someone they loved. So Grief is a huge part of the adopted child...The attachment part comes as a result of not knowing us long enough to trust us. If your daughter had a pretty normal early childhood then she likely is dealing with a great deal of grief and loss issues, which are pretty normal considering what your family has experienced in the recent past. The good thing is that she has parents she can trust. 15 year old girls are going through a lot anyway...with all these other issues your daughter does show some of the same feelings our kids do--but, they are most likely ones that you and your family can work through together. Attachment disorders are usually On TOP of all the other problems and usually are caused when a child suffers neglect, abuse or a change in primary caregivers before they are the age of three years old. When a child has an attachment disorder the parents are dealing with both the attachment issues and the grief, loss and trauma under the attachment disorder. Biological children can have attachment disorders and these usually result from a child or mother being hospitalized for pro-longed periods of time. Or from neglect and abuse during the very early development years. I would try to find some good grief therapy for your daughter and hopefully she can work through her pain. Community Tags attachment, Conscience, disorder, development Discuss this article
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Children with attachment disorders feel their safety is constantly threatened. Life has shown the child it is too risky to trust someone who is bigger, stronger, and smarter to protect them. These children tend to have radar tuned into keeping safe. This can interfere with usual childhood learning experiences and development. 
Some of the side effect behaviors seen in children with attachment disorders are:
