Disorders of Attachment in Infancy

This article proposes a monology of attachment disorders that includes categories for disorders of nonattachment, disordered attachments, and lost or broken attachments. Current diagnostic classifications such as DSM-IV address only disorders of nonattachment. It is argued that a more comprehensive diagnostic classification system, which includes conflicts within the attachment relationship as well as grief and bereavement about loss, is needed in order to highlight the importance of attachment disorders in the etiology of mental health disturbances in infancy.