Reactive and Disinhibited Disorders of Attachment

At Chamberlain International School, students aged 11 to 22 receive individualized academic and clinical support around a variety of challenges. Chamberlain International School welcomes students with Reactive Attachment Disorder, which makes it difficult for young people to form secure and healthy relationships.

Between the ages of 0 and 5 years, children are learning how to relate to others. When children of this age have reliable and loving caregivers who respond to their needs and keep them warm, fed, and comforted, they learn that other people are safe and trustworthy. However, if their care is unpredictable or absent and their needs frequently go unmet, children do not develop the sense of security they need to trust others.

Approximately 10 percent of children who fall into this latter category will ultimately show signs of Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) or Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder. The former occurs when children learn to hold themselves back from love and affection. They come across as detached and resist the expression of emotion. Often withdrawn or prone to pulling back from others, these children resist overtures of comfort when upset.

Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder (DSED), formerly known as Disinhibited RAD, develops when children react to inconsistency of care by seeking affection and closeness indiscriminately. Prone to seeking attachments outside of socially normative boundaries, children with DSED may show more affection than is expected for their age or within the context of a particular relationship. Seemingly no more attached to a caregiver than to strangers, they may be prone to wandering off with unfamiliar persons.