attachment and mental health

• insecure attachment entailsspecific threats to mental wellbeing
• Many attempts to link patterns ofattachment to problem behaviour,deviant behaviour or diagnoseddisorder.
• Insecure attachment is not a clinically diagnosable disorder and iswithin the normal range of functioning
• Attachment disorder is a mental health condition that occurs when a child has difficulty forming healthy emotional bonds with their caregivers
• Attachment disorder occurs as a result of relational trauma or loss
• zenah in 1996 described 3 types of attachment disorders non attachment disordered attachment and disrupted attachment
• Non-attachment: there is no evidence of a preferred caregiver andthe child is either withdrawn or indiscriminately friendly (child is too friendly or affectionate with strangers)
• Disordered attachment: the child clearly has a preferred caregiver,but uses that caregiver in distorted ways by being either extremelyclingy or engaging in reckless and dangerous behaviour (Liebermanand Pawl, 1988
• Disrupted attachment: describes the grief response of children whohave lost a caregiver