Using an Attachment-Informed Framework in the Clinical Care of Children and Adolescents: A Review of Attachment Theory and Its Impact on Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

This article provides an overview of attachment and its impact on the developmental psychopathology in children and adolescents. Attachment plays a crucial role in providing the foundation for healthy acquisition of social, cognitive, and emotional development starting in early childhood. In this article, we also provide a brief overview of psychopathology from an attachment perspective. Secure attachments confer protective factors that can lead to stable, fulfilling relationships. In contrast, insecure attachments can lead to risk for a wide variety of pathogenic states and psychiatric disorders. Attachment can be conceptualized within a vulnerability model, rather than as a direct cause of psychopathology. Given that attachment is an essential building block of healthy development, clinicians treating children and adolescents should adopt an attachment-informed framework in understanding child and adolescent psychopathology, both in terms of protective factors and risk factors. This article will allow the clinician to more accurately formulate the basis of a child's mental health disturbance and define adequate treatment strategies. [ Psychiatr Ann . 2021;51(7):300–315.]