Adult attachment disorder can manifest as a rejection or constant demand for close relationships, with signs including excessive criticism and jealousy. Childhood events, such as abuse or emotional distance, can contribute to the disorder. Treatment involves therapy and counseling, including role play and sessions with a psychiatrist.
Adult attachment disorder is a term used to describe the emotional dysfunction of someone who fails to form close, caring bonds with others. Dysfunction can manifest itself as a rejection of close relationships or a constant demand for them. Many of the signs of attachment disorder in adults overlap with those found in other conditions, such as borderline personality disorder. Signs of a disorder that avoids or rejects intimacy include excessive criticism of others, argumentative behavior, and provoking anger in others. Those who have an intense need for relationships may be possessive, jealous, and highly dependent on their partners.
Behavioral patterns that continually block out any possibility of loving relationships may indicate an attachment disorder. These behaviors are usually self-protection mechanisms to prevent intimacy. On the other side of the spectrum, a person who has an overwhelming desire for a relationship may not have this problem, but may be using attachments as a way to counteract insecurity. Many of these individuals are at risk of losing their partners due to their constant demands for closeness.
There are four distinctive attachment styles: secure, fearful-avoidant, dismissive-avoidant, and anxious-preoccupied. Two of these styles—fear-avoidant and anxious—are considered an attachment disorder. People who fear avoidance are fearful of relationships and walk away acting cold, impersonal, and aloof. They engage in destructive behavior designed to push others away. Those who are preoccupied with anxiety require constant reassurance from their partners, are unwilling to allow their partners any personal space, and may continually question their partners’ fidelity.
In theory, this inability to enter secure relationships stems from childhood events. Children who have been abused, abandoned, or had emotionally distant parents may grow up and have trouble developing healthy relationships. A child raised in a succession of foster homes or sent from one parent to another may find, as an adult, that they have issues with trust and belief in the permanence of a partner. Adults with an attachment disorder are at risk of also raising children to have the disorder.
Treatment for attachment disorder in adults involves therapy and, possibly, sessions with a psychiatrist. Often, therapy involves both group and individual counseling. Therapists can use role play to help patients navigate traumatic childhood events. If the patient has a partner, the partner may also be asked to attend counseling sessions.
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