Hyperkinetic Disorder
MS Thambirajah in Case Studies in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 2018
Attachment disorder: A risk factor for development of poor behaviour control in children is the quality of parent/child attachment. Attachment refers to the quality of child/parent relationship and has to do with how available and sensitive and responsive the parent is to meet the child’s emotional needs. Attachment difficulties in infancy predict behaviour difficulties in middle childhood. For example, mothers who are unresponsive to their infants have been found to have children with more significant levels of disruptive behaviour during their middle school years relative to mothers who are initially responsive to their infants (Wakschlag and Hans, 1999). These interactions become habitual over time. Many children who have experienced disruption in parenting early in their lives (e.g. looked after children) show hyperactive and inattentive behaviour and it is unclear how these behaviours are related to insecure attachment.
Mood and Anxiety Disorders
Tricia L. Chandler, Fredrick Dombrowski, Tara G. Matthews in Co-occurring Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders, 2022
This text is based in research around how trauma can lead to additional psychiatric and substance use disorders. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and acute stress disorder are the two most common anxiety disorders in this section. Reactive attachment disorder in young children is due to trauma, abuse, and changes in caregivers. Posttraumatic stress disorder is characterized by directly experiencing, witnessing, learning about, or experiencing extreme exposure to traumatic and life-threatening events (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). These experiences lead to intrusive symptoms of involuntary and recurring distressing memories of the event(s), recurring dreams and nightmares about the event(s), dissociative reactions, intense and prolonged psychological distress at both external and internal triggers that resemble an aspect of the traumatic event being activated, with marked physiological reactions to those cues. The individual persistently avoids external reminders and distressing memories with increasing negative alterations in cognition and mood, along with marked alterations in arousal and reactivity associated with the traumatic event. Symptoms have lasted longer than a month (pp. 271–275). Acute stress disorder is similar to PTSD but is diagnosed if the symptoms occur three days to one month after the trauma occurred (pp. 280–281).
Attachment
Mary Nolan, Shona Gore in Contemporary Issues in Perinatal Education, 2023
Although it is fair to state that secure attachment is the most auspicious, insecure attachment is not a form of psychopathology and, apart from disorganised attachment, cannot be assumed to indicate a severe emotional disturbance, although it may well be an emotional disadvantage in later life. Attachment is a quality of a relationship; it is created by two people, so if the relationship changes then (especially if early enough) so will the quality of attachment. What is called ‘attachment disorder’ is relatively rare – only found in extreme cases such as early institutionalisation (and not always then). Also, although secure attachment is an emotional asset, it does not invariably confer psychological immunity. There is a danger that the findings of attachment research can be hijacked in a naïve way and used to rationalise draconian ‘therapy’ or even unnecessary removal of a child from their primary caregiver – a traumatic experience even when this is an abusive relationship, as strength and quality of attachment are not the same thing.
Developmental abnormalities of the brain exposed to childhood maltreatment detected by diffusion tensor imaging
Published in Neurological Research, 2019
Kenichi Yamada, Yuji Suzuki, Makiko Okuyama, Masaki Watanabe, Tsutomu Nakada
The rising incidence in childhood maltreatment (CM) has prompted the medical community to assess its impact on brain maturational processes and resultant adverse behavioral abnormalities [1]. Following the first description by Kempe et al [2], various studies have demonstrated the negative effects of CM on a wide range of not only chronic physical but behavioral and developmental domains [3]. An accumulating body of evidence has shown that early adverse experiences, such as those that threaten child–parent relationships, are likely to induce maladaptive behavior and developmental problems [4–6]. These are typically characterized by attachment disorder symptoms during early childhood, followed by dissociative experiences and self-regulatory problems. Moreover, recent reports have indicated a high prevalence of motor coordination problems in children exposed to CM [7,8]. Such effects are often long lasting, and tend to extend from childhood to adolescence, or even into adulthood. Therefore, this strongly suggests that these behavioral abnormalities are based on structural, not simply functional, alteration of the brain during its development.
Pilot study: undetected post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms among intellectually disabled
Published in International Journal of Developmental Disabilities, 2020
A. Borghus, S. Dokkedahl, A. Elklit
Amy underwent psychological assessment and was diagnosed with the following:Hyperkinetic conduct disorder.Mild ID without mention of impairment of behavior.Reactive attachment disorder of childhood.
Experiences of therapists conducting psychological assessments and video conferencing therapy sessions with people with mild intellectual disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic
Published in International Journal of Developmental Disabilities, 2023
Cathelijn E. M. Oudshoorn, Noud Frielink, Heleen Riper, Petri J. C. M. Embregts
This study was conducted in a large service organisation in the Netherlands that provides support and treatment from more than 5,000 professionals to nearly 6,000 people with intellectual disabilities. In total, seven therapists (all female) participated in the study. The mean age of the therapists (five psychologists, one art-based therapist, and one psychomotor therapist) was 34.4 years (SD = 6.0, range: 26-42). On average, they had worked with people with intellectual disabilities for 10.7 years (SD = 6.4 years; range: 1-17), and had 3.7 years (SD = 2.2; range: 1-8) of experience in their current position. Both additional demographic features of the participants and a brief description of the specific support needs of service users are presented in Table 1. They conducted individual psychological assessments (n = 7) and provided psychological therapy (n = 6) to both children and adults with mild intellectual disabilities, mental health problems (e.g. anxiety, attachment, depression, trauma) and/or who exhibited challenging behaviour (e.g. aggressive or sexually deviant behaviour), who were either living independently in the community and receiving outpatient support or living in residential care facilities. The therapists delivered individual psychological therapy, systemic therapy, experience-based therapy, and applied Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, in conjunction with different elements from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Competitive Memory Training (COMET), and Solution-Focused therapy (SFT). The experience-based therapists (i.e. art and psychomotor) provided psychological therapies in tandem with a psychologist. The psychological assessments focused on diagnosing an intellectual disability, attachment disorder and autism spectrum disorder. The service organisation provided the therapists with an account for the simple and safe video conferencing apps Vicasa™ and Microsoft Teams™. None of the therapists were trained beforehand in how to use video conferencing to conduct psychological assessments and therapy.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Attachment In Children
- Emotion
- Mental Disorder
- Mood
- Caregiver
- Neglect
- Child Abuse
- Trust
- Signs & Symptoms
- Age Appropriateness