150 Chapter 17
disorders seem particularly likely to interfere with friendships and intimate
relationships; somewhat less likely to result in behavioural problems; and
least likely to affect cognitive development. The impact of early attachment
difficulties is lessened but not abolished when children’s social circum-
stances change for the better, as noted above. Those who were removed
earlier, and had fewer symptoms at the time of removal, do better.
Subject review
Zeanah CH, Smyke AT. (2008) Attachment disorders in relation to depri-
vation.In: Rutter M et al. (eds)Rutter’s Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,5th
edn. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, pp. 906–915.
Further reading
Chaffin Met al. (2006) Report of the American Professional Society on the
Abuse of Children Task Force on Attachment Therapy, Reactive Attach-
ment Disorder, and Attachment Problems.Child Maltreatment 11 , 76–89.
(A review of what is sensible in treatment of attachment problems and
disorders and a strong call to avoid controversial therapies.)
Gleason Met al. (2011) Validity of evidence-derived criteria for reactive at-
tachment disorder: Indiscriminately social/disinhibited and emotionally
withdrawn/inhibited types.Journal of the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry 50 , 216–231.
Rutter Met al. (2009) Attachment insecurity, disinhibited attachment, and
attachment disorders: Where do research findings leave the concepts?
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 50 , 529–543.
Zeanah Cet al. (2009) Practitioner review: Clinical applications of attach-
ment theory and research for infants and young children.Journal of Child
Psychology and Psychiatry 52 , 819–833.