reactive attachment disorder
in DSM–IV–TR, a disorder of infancy and early childhood characterized by disturbed and developmentally inappropriate patterns of social relating that are not due to intellectual disability or pervasive developmental disorder. It is evidenced either by persistent failure to initiate or respond appropriately in social interactions (inhibited type) or by indiscriminate sociability without appropriate selective attachments (disinhibited type). There must also be evidence of inadequate care (e.g., neglect of the child’s basic physical or emotional needs, frequent changes of primary caregiver), which is assumed to be responsible for the disorder. In DSM–5, the term refers only to the inhibited type; the disinhibited type is now termed disinhibited social engagement disorder. Also called attachment disorder.