As promised, Anon, here’s a VERY quick and dirty rundown of disorganized attachment and the role it plays in the development of dissociation. Sorry it took so long ;–; This doesn’t even begin to cover it, but I hope it at least gives people a basic understanding.
Please remember, this is so incredibly brief and barely scratches the surface. It’s a really interesting field of research, and it has a lot of important (and good!) implications to therapy techniques and models. I highly encourage people that are interested to look through some of the below resources, or make a request for any specific aspects you want discussed further. Apparently, left to my own devices with a broad topic, I fail to be coherent.
What is disorganized attachment (DA)?
There are technically 4 types of attachment between a child and caregiver, differentiated by response patterns. The first 3 types (secure, insecure-avoidant, and insecure-ambivalent) are considered forms of “organized attachment”, despite the negative behaviours associated with it, because even if they’re not “secure”, the behaviour patterns are still organized and, more importantly, consistent. In other words, in all 3 types of organized attachment, the child knows exactly what they need to do to meet their emotional needs, and the patterns in their behaviour are considered organized.
In DA, though, the child is confused, and there’s no pattern to their behaviour. They’re torn between wanting to flee to, and flee from the caregiver. When a caregiver is unpredictable and traumatizing, the child has a difficult time establishing a consistent view of the caregiver, and of themselves. In other words, the caregiver is both needed, and someone to be avoided, and the child may not understand what makes them a “good” or “bad” child, as the caregiver’s behavior is often confusing and unpredictable.
It’s summed up quite well in this image:
What causes disorganized attachment?
All the same standard things you would already know about. Abuse, neglect, behaviour that’s frightening, intrusive or insensitive, and disrupted affective communication, but it really boils down to, “A parent’s consistent failure to respond appropriately to their child’s distress, or by a parent’s inconsistent response to their child’s feelings of fear or distress.” And this happens in childhood. The way a baby or very young child form attachments are the base building blocks that a child will use to build their relationships with people in the future.
It’s important to note that it’s not just abuse that can cause a child to form DA. Sometimes loving caregivers who have experienced trauma themselves can behave in confusing ways toward the child, especially if they are suffering untreated PTSD or DID themselves. This happens because of the caregiver’s own inability to control their emotions. Traumatized parents can have a difficult time managing their emotions and providing a sense of security for the child even though they are not abusive or neglectful. Anger or fear can erupt unexpectedly and traumatize the child.
As well, “Disorganized attachment is often the result of intergenerational parenting patterns. This means parents are responding to their children in the same unhealthy ways their own parents responded to them when they were children.”
What role does disorganized attachment play in dissociation?
This one is… A bit tough. There’s a lot of factors in play and so much ground to cover.
First, when discussing dissociation, it’s talking about it in a general sense. Everyone is capable of dissociating, and it’s simply when you become detached from reality in response to trauma– at any age, for any kind of traumatic event. It’s also important to note that without a secure attachment style, an overwhelmingevent is more likely to be perceived as trauma. Basically, though, dissociation is a general symptom in this regard, not specific to any single disorder. DA is linked to dissociation, and from there, combined with othersymptoms someone may be experiencing, it can become problematic and be assigned to specific mental disorders.
So, the child needsto maintain a relationship with the caregiver– they have no one else to turn to, so the child can develop dissociation as a way to make sense of themselves, and to maintain a child-caregiver relationship. They may “forget” the abuse, or deny it. “It is an adaptive and defensive strategy that enables the child to function within the relationship, but it often leads to the development of a fragmented sense of self.” This fragmented sense of self may or may not develop into something worse– namely, BPD and DID based on severity, frequency, and whether there was any sense of reprieve (i.e. a child can avoid the worst of dissociative symptoms if one of their parents was more supportive, because it helps them build some positive attachments).
Children with DA and suffering from abuse “are likely to generate two or more dissociated self states, with contradictory working models of attachment,” in order to handle their confusing relationship with the caregiver. From there, “It is proposed that the propensity to react to traumatic events with dissociation is related to disorganization of early attachment and its developmental sequelae.” This is fundamentally the basis of why DID can’t form once the child creates an integrated sense of self. It is theorized that DA and dissociative disorders are inexplicably linked together. You can have DA and not develop DID/OSDD, but you can’t have DID/OSDD without DA.
A lot of new research is suggesting that it’s not so much trauma as we know it (physical and sexual abuse) that is linked to dissociation, but that traumais something that is far more discrete and insidious (longterm inconsistent and confusing parenting styles linked to DA) and that it’s only part of “a complex web of environmental, societal, familial, and genetic factors that are all likely to interact in ways that we have only begun to understand.” This is something I firmly believe in and attribute to a lot of the endogenic claims of having no trauma (and under this theory, “overwhelming events” also constitute trauma).
Interestingly, it’s theorized that different types of attachment are linked to different mental disorders. “Attachment insecurity can therefore be viewed as a general vulnerability to mental disorders, with the particular symptomatology depending on genetic, developmental, and environmental factors.” Going back to the 4 types of attachment, the 3 insecure types can be linked to basically all types of disorders. They are all linked to depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, eating disorders and suicidal tendencies, but those with anxious attachment are more likely to develop things like DPD, HPD and BPD and are drawn to co-dependent relationships. Those with avoidant attachment are more likely to develop things like SPD and APD and form addictive habits, and those with disorganizedattachment are more likely to develop DID/OSDD.
Physical Abuse: Physical abuse is one of the types of abuse people think of the most when they hear the term “abuse.” This can include hitting, slapping, kicking, punching, choking or even physically not allowing a partner to leave or any number of things that leave someone feeling physically not safe.
Sexual Abuse: Sexual abuse is another commonly thought of type of abuse when people consider the word “abuse.” This might include rape and other non-consensual sexual acts. It can also include objectifying the victim, degrading them for getting sexual pleasure, or other situations where there is no physical abuse but sex is still used to demean or control the victim.
Emotional Abuse: Emotional abuse can include a wide range of acts, which are generally intended to break down the self-confidence, and the mental and emotional stability of the victim. Someone who uses this type of abuse might call a person names or otherwise humiliate or degrade them to damage their self-worth. They also might gaslight a victim so that they have trouble trusting their own memory, and isolate or otherwise control them in order to make them more dependent on the abuser.
Financial/Economic Abuse: This is a form of abuse where one person has control over the other person’s resources, forcing the victim to rely on the abuser financially. This could also mean not allowing the person to pursue finding a job, education, and could even mean spending the victim’s money without consent. This is not uncommon in domestic violence situations as well as elder abuse situations. Financial abuse frequently occurs alongside other types of abuse, and inability to be financially independent after abuse (due to lack of job, abuser ruining the victim’s credit, etc) is one of the most common reasons victims return to their abusers.
Cultural Abuse: One of the less well-recognized forms of abuse (but not less valid). This form of abuse occurs when an abuser uses a person’s cultural identity, or aspects of it, in order to inflict abuse. Some examples might include denying the victim access to their cultural or spiritual community, preventing the victim from observing their cultural practices, forcing the victim to do things which are in conflict with their cultural beliefs, misusing cultural traditions to normalize abusive behaviours or otherwise enable other abuse, or insulting or shaming someone for their cultural identity. I want to mention that the term “culture” is really broad and could also mean things like threatening to “out” someone for being LGBTQ+ or using racial slurs.
Any and all types of abuse are valid. All of them can cause trauma, or any number of feelings as a result. If your trauma comes from any form of abuse, your trauma is valid.
Stuff That’s Normal and Ok When You’re a Survivor:
Being sex-repulsed, being hypersexual, having a sex drive of any level of intensity, having no sex drive at all.
Being lgbtqia or cishet.
Having ptsd, not having ptsd, having later-onset ptsd, having ptsd that lasts a long time, recovering from ptsd.
Having a mental illness that is often associated with survivorshp, having a mental illness that isn’t associated with survivorship, having no mental illness.
Experiencing flashbacks, nightmares, repressed memories, recovered memories, panic attacks, dissociation, intrusive thoughts, other symptoms, or no symptoms.
Developing kinks or preferences that align with the abuse, are in opposition to the abuse, or seemingly have nothing to do with the abuse.
Being triggered by explicit material, wholesome material, everyday things, people, places, sounds, smells, seasons, things that make sense, things that don’t make sense, or nothing at all.
Having particular difficulty with friendships, romantic relationships, family relationships, all relationships, or no relationships.
Choosing not to have kids, choosing to have kids.
Going to therapy, going to support groups, going to church, joining online communities, or handling things well with fewer connections.
Struggling with suicidal thoughts, disordered eating, self harm, addiction, destructive coping mechanisms, isolation, aggression, sabotaging relationships, other hurtful things, or none of the above.
Wanting to talk about it all the time, wanting to talk about it sometimes, never wanting to talk about it, or changing it up as you progress.
Getting better slowly, getting better quickly, cycling through good and bad periods, wanting to get better, not wanting to get better, being ok where you are, and changing at any time.
Whatever you’ve gone through in the past, whatever you’re going through right now, and whatever you’ll go through in the future.
