Attachment Theory and Dissociative Identity Disorder

How our history determines our future

Everyone has attachment behaviors depending on their upbringing. So, it is important to understand this vital part of who we are as human beings. John Bowlby’s attachment theory helps to explain the behaviors of those who experienced severe and repeated childhood trauma.

This article will attempt to explain attachment theory and how it is related to the experiences of those diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder.

Piaget and Abnormal Development of Personality in Children

At the turn of the century, a pioneer psychologist named Jean Piaget began developing a new model of how children develop. He believed that children construct their own world view based on what they experience. This theory is known as the Cognitive Development Theory.

Piaget’s work, as well as many like Adler and Erikson, showed that they believe the most crucial part of a human’s psychological development happens in the early years of childhood somewhere between birth and five years.

That fact, more than any, may explain why trauma in early childhood can be very damaging to a child’s personality development.

Young children who face severe and/or repeated victimization fail to integrate the parts that make up the ego states of every human being. Not only this, but the trauma causes impaired growth…