Attachment disorder is a mental and emotional condition brought on as a result of failure to form an appropriate bond with parents or guardians in early childhood. Children with attachment disorder have difficulty trusting others.
The term attachment disorder is used to describe emotional and behavioural problems of young children, and also applied to school-age children, teenagers and adults. The specific difficulties implied depend on the age of the individual being assessed, and a child's attachment-related behaviours may be very different with one familiar adult than with another, suggesting that the disorder is within the relationship and interactions of the two people rather than an aspect of one or the other personality.