Therapy for Anaclitic Depression

Anaclitic depression, also called reactive attachment disorder, occurs in children under age 5 who lack healthy relationships with or have been abandoned by parents or caregivers, the Mayo Clinic explains. Such children develop psychological damage from long-term abuse, neglect, sudden loss of a parent or from being chronically moved from one caregiver to another. The resulting lack of trust and low self-esteem issues can be lifelong, but with treatment, children’s relationships with others can improve.

Symptoms

• Recognize the signs of anaclitic depression. Infants and children react to a lack of parental/caregiver attention and affection through social withdrawal. This can affect eating habits and reaction to physical or psychological stimuli, stunting an infant's physical and psychological development in extreme cases. Children with anaclitic depression appear depressed and listless, do not make eye contact with others or reach out when they’re picked up. These children also show no interest in playing interactive games or with toys. They might engage in self-comforting behavior such as rocking and stroking themselves.

  The condition tends to lead to serious self-esteem issues in adults, which causes them to go to extremes to seek others’ approval and to meet others’ high expectations of them, an article in the "Psychology and Psychotherapy" journal explains.

Caregiver Treatment

• Talk and play with the child to engage him/her emotionally. Try gently to make eye contact and use other encouraging verbal and nonverbal cues such as smiling, laughing and touching, if the child is receptive. These forms of attention will encourage the child to respond and interact. Learning to recognize and respond to the subtle signs the child might send for attention, such as different types of crying or other noises, will help the child feel loved and cared for.

  In seeking medical treatment, before the visit, help the psychiatrist who will assess the child by writing down behavioral problems and emotional difficulties your child is having. Include details about what seems to trigger emotional disturbance or failure to react to conditions that would typically spark responses in other children. Also tell the doctor about any medications the child is taking.

Clinical Treatment

• Medical interventions include educating caregivers about the condition and conducting individual and family counseling to address problematic behaviors and help parents learn to cope and address them. The doctor might prescribe parenting skills classes to help parents establish bonds with children and medication for the child to treat emotional instability, which can range from depression and anxiety to anger and hyperactivity. Counseling and medication might be needed to treat the effects of low self-esteem and distrust in adult patients who have grown up with the condition.

Controversial Treatments

• Do not seek unconventional types of treatment without checking with established mental health experts. The Association for Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children warns against subjecting children with anaclitic depression to coercive/confrontational treatment methods, which can be traumatic. Examples include tightly wrapping, binding or holding children or withholding nourishment or forcing the child to eat or drink. Another example would be attempts to antagonize or overstimulate the child to trigger a "cathartic" explosion of anger or a state of submission.