Disorganized Attachment | Laura Estrada Gmez-Acebo

Disorganized Attachment

Attachment is the emotional link developed by the child toward his parents (or
caregivers), which provides him the adequate emotional support and security
Mary Ainsworth studied the difference between the types of attachment and designed a
procedure, called Strange Situation Classification (SSC) to observe it. On the basis of
childrens behaviours observed during the procedure, she categorized the children into
three groups which reflect different types of attachment relationships with the caregiver.
These types are secure attachment, anxious- avoidant insecure attachment and anxiousambivalent/resistant insecure attachment.
Later Main and Solomon discovered a fourth type of attachment, known as disorganised
or disoriented attachment. This childrens behaviour is difficult to describe, since it is
unstable and contradictory and there does not seem make sense.
The fear and inconsistency of the child is thought to be a response to the unpredictable
and frightening reactions of the adult. It has been associated to physical abuses, when
children have been physically harm. In this type of attachment maybe the parent is
loving some of the time, is not rejecting, but from time to time they can be very
frightening indeed. This is a parent who perhaps you do not know whether they are
going to hit you, harm you, or do something nice. Because theses children do not know
what to do, they struggle what has been termed fear without solution. When this
happens, the attachment behaviour fails for the reason that the child is at the same time
scared by a stressful situation and by the caregiver. This is characterised by pattern of
behaviour that is frightening for children, and they become fragmented. Therefore,
childrens behaviour is disorganised because they do not know how the adult is going to
respond, and therefore the child is unable to develop a consistent way of dealing with
them. The child is confronted with an awful dilemma. On the one hand, he feels he has
to run away to safety, but on the other hand, the very person who frighten him is the one
who provides him safety. What they experience may be blocked from their
consciousness, and they may act frozen emotionally and even physically.

Disorganized Attachment | Laura Estrada Gmez-Acebo

Behavioural characteristics

During the Strange Situation Classification procedure, children with disorganised

attachment exhibit a great behavioural confusion and disorganization. They can seem
stunned and fearfulness in the presence of the attachment figure. They also can display
aggressive and punitive behaviour, or manipulating manners, extremely caring or very
shy toward the attachment figure.
On the second reunion of the Strange Situation test, the child shows strange or
ambivalent behaviour toward the parent. For example, he may first run up to him, then
immediately depart him, maybe even run away from the parent, or even hit him. The
childs first impulse may be to look for comfort from the parent, but when they get near
the parent, they feel fear and demonstrate their disorganized adaption. There is a conflict
between approach and avoidance to the attachment figure. In certain cases, slow
movements can also accompany this disorganised behaviour, as expression of a
depressive emotional state.
From the age of three to three, children acquire more cognitive capability, and the
disorganized attachment behaviours are replaced by controlling forms of attachment
strategies, which can be controlling-punitive and controlling-caregiving. These children
dominate their attachment figure, seeking to gain control of them in two opposing ways.
Controlling caregiving children are extremely attentive or helpful to the caregiver,
trying to maintain the parents attention by giving them approval, while the controlling
punitive child will speak brusquely to him, and will try to harm him physically or
verbally, also seeking to keep their attention. With respect to controlling caregiving
children, caregivers usually shows limited emotional response to the overplayed
positive emotions of the child. In the case of controlling punitive children, caregivers
frequently complain that the childrens demands.
Disorganized attachment behaviours may occur in combination with other insecure
behaviours that are part of an avoidant or ambivalent attachment strategy.
How does disorganised attachment arise and develop?

This type of attachment seems appears more common in problematic families,

especially when the mother shows severe depressive symptoms and when there is abuse
or physical mistreatment. When parents have suffered trauma in their early lives and
those traumas remain unsolved, they are likely to develop disorienting behaviour with
2

Disorganized Attachment | Laura Estrada Gmez-Acebo

their child. This unresolved trauma may have cause trouble tolerating certain emotions
in their child, acting out destructive behaviour and not even be fully aware of how they
are behaving.
It is also thought that disorganised attachment can be developed when the caregiver,
who normally acts as a source of security, becomes a source of fear. The most
significant feature of this attachment is fear.
This attachment disorganised-disoriented has been also associated with frightened or
overwhelmed mothers and with a high-risk environment, including factors such as
abuses, stress, and poverty.
Several studies have focused on disorganised attachment as a meaningful predictor
related to future psychopathologies, especially if it is combined with other risk factors,
such as parents with a difficult temperament or with aggressive tendencies.
Those who grow up with a disorganized attachment might struggle to develop healthy
ways to self-soothe. Trusting people is very difficult for these people, as they could not
trust their primary caregivers. They also may well experience difficulties forming and
maintaining firm relationships, since they do not develop good social or emotional
regulation skills. They are more likely to live without a partner, be intrusive and
insensitive, and be psychologically unavailable, neglectful, or physically abusive. As
well, they may find difficult to manage stress and may even demonstrate hostile or
aggressive behaviours.
What can we do at school?

When children come to school, they already have interiorised certain attachment style,
as a result of the relationship with their attachment figures. Security of attachment is
linked to academic achievement. For example, it seems that insecurely attached children
develop worse attitudes toward reading than secure ones. Some studies have suggested
that 25-50% of disorganised children show notable problems in early elementary school.
Children with disorganised attachment may manifest anxiety, but also apathy, anger and
sadness, uncontrolled and incoherent reactions (aggressiveness), mistrust of and
suspicion toward the teacher, their peers and the task. In the classroom, these children
can be less likely to exhibit learning readiness, to engage in interactive play with peers,
to ask adults for help, or to persist on task if it is difficult.

Disorganized Attachment | Laura Estrada Gmez-Acebo

Educators also serve as caregivers, providing children with warmth and care. Children
are likely to find the teacher a subsidiary attachment figure. Though children with
disorganised attachment project their insecurities onto the teacher, when the teacher
maintains accessible and sensitive then children generates secure attachment in the long
term., fostering resilience.
Important to helping these children is to have a set routine and structure, flagging up
changes to routine in advance if possible, so they can feel confident. It is also important
for them to have a continuity of relationships over time, which make possible a sense of
persistence. In addition, to emphasize the acquirement of words which describe feelings,
to enable them to express themselves.

Geddes, H. (2006) Attachment in the Classroom: The Links Between Children's Early
Experience, Emotional Well-being and Performance in School. Worth Publishing
SHEMMINGS, David and Yvonne. Understanding Disorganized Attachment: Theory
and Practice for Working with Children and Adults [on line]. Retrieved October
27, 2014, from
http://books.google.es/books/about/Understanding_Disorganized_Attachment.htm
l?id=WZvJ-eJtaS0C&redir_esc=y