My daughter introduced this concept to me today, it looks to be possibly useful to those of us who have difficulty with understanding and maintaining/expanding our human relationships.
My daughter introduced this concept to me today, it looks to be possibly useful to those of us who have difficulty with understanding and maintaining/expanding our human relationships.
Very familiar with it as I work in a department which deals with children in care. Many of them have attachment disorders due to their early traumas.
This can affect autistic people too, but also there are some features of autism that can be mistaken for an attachment disorder. As a kid I had zero inclination to spend time with my mother and was mostly not bothered whether she was there or not, and often irritated when she tried to show an interest in my life. But an 'attachment avoidant' child, who on the surface is indifferent to the patent, would actually be experiencing extreme anxiety without their presence. I experienced no such anxiety. I just genuinely wanted my own space to do my own thing without any human intervention. Different thing.
There are other autistic people who report huge dependency on one parent. Often it's based on fear of insecurity in an ever changing world without them. Not quite the same thing, either.
Attachment theory is mega useful, but care should be taken in determining whether attachment problems are there or not in autistic people. Sometimes, our attachments are just, well, normally autistic.
Very familiar with it as I work in a department which deals with children in care. Many of them have attachment disorders due to their early traumas.
This can affect autistic people too, but also there are some features of autism that can be mistaken for an attachment disorder. As a kid I had zero inclination to spend time with my mother and was mostly not bothered whether she was there or not, and often irritated when she tried to show an interest in my life. But an 'attachment avoidant' child, who on the surface is indifferent to the patent, would actually be experiencing extreme anxiety without their presence. I experienced no such anxiety. I just genuinely wanted my own space to do my own thing without any human intervention. Different thing.
There are other autistic people who report huge dependency on one parent. Often it's based on fear of insecurity in an ever changing world without them. Not quite the same thing, either.
Attachment theory is mega useful, but care should be taken in determining whether attachment problems are there or not in autistic people. Sometimes, our attachments are just, well, normally autistic.
I was more wondering if it would be a source of insight as to "how relationships work" for those of us who lack the "built in guide" that most normies seem to be equipped with, more than as a method of identifying and treating specific problems.
Not that any of that, detracts from your interesting added insights.