Enabling children to address issues of addiction and self-harm effectively - Essay Example

3). There are seven steps of attachment that play a part in healthy human development: If a child is lacking these intimate levels of attachment, the child will place their trust in substances or rituals as substitutes for the intimacy and trust that was lost during the attachment period. To the contrary, when the individual who has experienced normal attachment during childhood engages in such activities such as alcohol, drugs, shopping, and dining, etc, these activities do not become an addiction because there is no unmet need for these behaviours to fill.

For the unattached child, the use of chemical substances or obsessive behavior may begin as a way for the child to ease the pain they are experiencing, leaving them fulfilled and satisfied. However, this intermittent activity quickly turns into an addiction, as the child begins to believe their emotional needs are being met by the drug use or negative obsessive behaviour. People around such addicts begin to be seen as objects, which begins to mirror the relationship the child has with the substance or the behaviour.

This is also the way the child was treated by his or her primary cargiver, as the child was ignored and many times exposed to rage and anger. This destructive behaviour then continues a pattern the child have become accustomed to in their dysfunctional upbringing. Additionally, children who lack these seven steps of attachment to a primary caregiver do not have a normal experience with shame. If the child’s original carer is abusive, neglectful, or addictive, this results in a caregiver who is unattached and withdrawn.

The child then feels constant or random shame, either due to the withdrawal of the carer, or the shame showered on the child by the carer. According to Karen Cairns: Signs that a child may have had inadequate attachment as a child resulting in