Here is a briefintro to RAD- and a link to this page. This perfectly sums up my nieceand what my sister went through with her. It was pure hell. Especiallyfor my sister and our family relations because my niece pulled a veryconvincing act in front of the rest of us when we were together forfamily events and then would go home and act possessed. Rather thangive my sister the support that she needed at the time the family wasdividing. Half of us thought she has lost her mind putting my nieceinto the therapy that she was. In the end the therapy saved my nieceslife and their family. Everyone is doing very well today and ourextended family is healing. This organization is very helpful as wellfor anyone needing help or information.http://www.attach.org/
RaspberrySwirl
The information below is found at thispage-
http://www.attachmentcenterwest.com/for_educators.shtml
Children with Reactive Attachment Disorder are the victims of abuse,neglect, abandonment, physical illness, multiple placements and/orin-utero drug/alcohol exposure. Their problems are rooted in the firstthree years of their lives, when trauma occurred. Stable attachmentscannot be formed when a child experiences frequent changes in daycareor foster care, or when the child's social, emotional, physical, andcognitive needs are unmet.
While many children with Reactive Attachment Disorder have grown up infoster care and/or adoptive homes, these disorders occur in childrenwho are growing up with their biological parents as well. It isestimated that one-third of elementary school children in the UnitedStates have some form of an attachment issue, if not the full blowndisorder, due to divorce, inappropriate daycare programs, and multiplecaregivers. Children who have experienced medical events such ashospitalization, placement in an incubator or a body cast can alsodevelop these disorders.
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,Fourth Edition, published by the American Psychiatric Association,there are two types of Reactive Attachment Disorders. In the
Inhibited Type the child persistently fails to initiate and torespond to most social interactions in a developmentally appropriateway. The child shows a pattern of excessively inhibited, hypervigilantor highly ambivalent responses (for example, frozen watchfulness,resistance to comfort, or mixture of approach and avoidance). In the
Disinhibited Type, there is a pattern of diffused attachments.The child exhibits indiscriminate sociability or a lack of selectivityin the choice of attachment figures. For example, the child may beextremely charming and friendly with those who are not trying to be hisor her parents, while acting violently toward parents who areattempting to become emotionally close to the child.
What is Attachment Disorder?
The words attachment and bonding are used interchangeably. A personwith Reactive Attachment Disorder has difficulty forming loving,lasting, intimate relationships. These individuals are unable to begenuinely affectionate with others, have not experienced consciencedevelopment and cannot trust others. Attachment is necessary for thedevelopment of an emotionally healthy person who has consciencedevelopment, experiences empathy, attains full intellectual potential,thinks logically, copes with stress and frustration, becomes selfreliant, develops healthy personal and business relationships, andhandles the ups and downs of every day life. According to Foster Cline,MD, examples of people who were not treated for Reactive AttachmentDisorder include
Adolph Hitler, SadamHussein,and Jeffrey Dahmer. An example of a person who was treated successfullyfor Reactive Attachment Disorder is Helen Keller.
Children with Reactive Attachment Disorder do not respect authority,especially that of their parents. They are sometimes oppositional anddefiant in the school setting, although many of these children behaveperfectly with those who are not parenting them.
It is not uncommonfor a child with Reactive Attachment Disorder to be a good student aswell as the most helpful child in the class. The same child may gohome and threaten his mother with a knife, set fires, and/or killanimals. Attachment disordered children have been so damaged that theycannot trust. Their behavior meets their subconscious need to keepthose who love them most at a distance. They are fearful that, if theybecome emotionally close to their parents, they will somehow be hurtagain as they were in the past.
These children are terrified ofcloseness, and will do anything they can to create distance betweenthemselves and their parents. One way that this is manifested is inchildren's ability to triangulate, that is to pit one adult against theother. Children with attachment disorders frequently lie to theirteachers, accusing their parents of emotional abuse, physical abuse, orneglect, and lie so convincingly that their teachers believe them. Manyparents have been erroneously reported for suspected child abuse whenschool personnel have listened to the child without checking the factswith the parent.
(ref: topic "Flies, Flies,and more flies")
