Reactive Attachment Disorder

REACTIVE ATTACHMENT DISORDER

Imagine a child who you cannot seem to reach. A child, who has extreme control problems, is a compulsive liar. He or she abuses animals, other children, or themselves. The thought that this child may be the cause of bad parenting or just simple adolescence is the cause of this. What if this child is only four years old? These are just a few of the twenty-one symptoms of Reactive Attachment Disorder or RAD. To fully understand what RAD is one must understand the definition, the causes, why attachment is so important, and effective treatments for RAD. All of these topics will be discussed.

To understand RAD one must understand attachment. What is attachment? Attachment refers to a reciprocal bonding between individuals. Most research into attachment has focused on the bonding between an infant and a primary caregiver, particularly the mother. A child's lack of bonding with his birthmother has a lasting effect on the child, and may be indicative of how the child will form relationships with others. Bonding begins at conception (Magid 58). When a birthmother doesn't bond with her child, the child will develop attachment disorder. "If a child is not attached - does not form a loving bond with the mother - he does not develop an attachment to the rest of mankind. The unattached child literally does not have a stake in humanity." (Thomas 5).

Although the concept of attachment seems simple, it is simply more than a child bonding with its birth mother or primary caregiver. Attachment is extremely important. Attachment is the foundation for many psychological traits that is needed for a successful and happy life. Attachment is the grounding structure for the ability to think logically, the development of a conscience the ability to cope with stress and many other personality traits that society finds natural. (Thomas 6)

The fact is these traits are not natural they are learned from birth. Imagine a child in the first days, weeks and months of life. The child gets hungry, or wet. The child screams out for attention. In return the mother or father comes to the aid. This goes on day after day; during this time the eye contact established by the caregiver, the touch, smiles etc. begins to create a bond with the child. If this does not happen the child never learns the concept of trust or bond with the most important people in its life. The lack of trust a baby has eventually turns into rage, and is held inside. "At the core of the unattached is a deep-seated rage, far beyond normal anger. This rage is suppressed in their psyche. Now we all have some degree of rage, but the rage of psychopaths is that born of unfulfilled needs as infants. Incomprehensible pain is forever locked in their souls, because of the abandonment they felt as infants."(Thomas 5). The child begins to think he can't trust anyone to care for him and he will have to care for himself. "He does not trust others to make good decisions for him, or to have his best interests at heart. Therefore he feels he must always control things himself, always do things his way, or he will lose (or die)."(Cline 30). Physical, emotional or sexual abuse can contribute to the child's lack of trust that the parent won't protect or take care of him.

These bonding issues carry on into other stages of the child's life. (Magid 5) The second stage of a child life is where the child learns responsibilities and control. The child is taught what is right and wrong and learns rules. If the child is ignored and not treated, as it should be the child begins to ignore the rules and responsibilities that they should. This hinders the child's ability to learn to care if something they are doing is right or wrong. Also the child struggles to develop a conscience, and cause and effect thinking. (Cline 29,30) A few ways a child can develop RAD can include: physical or emotional neglect, abuse, and separation from a primary caregiver, traumatic experiences and many others. All of these can be found in the DMS III. If a child fails to attach to its primary care giver the child will develop a reactive attachment disorder.

RAD varies in severity but is all to often the result of abuse or neglect. RAD is commonly misdiagnosed as Bi Polar Disorder or Attention Deficit Disorder. But the Diagnostic and statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM III) gives twenty symptoms that describe the behaviors of a child with RAD. These twenty symptoms describe the child's thought processes, and actions. If a child meets four or more of these standards they are diagnosed with RAD. The DMS gives a very lengthy description of these symptoms most of which are hard to understand. The list below is a summarized version of the list with added comments that are particularly important.

1. Act superficial and phony, especially around strangers or people they feel they can manipulate in order to be in control. (They call them suckers)

2. Avoid eye contact with people who love them unless they are lying, or conning, then they make excellent eye contact.

3. Indiscriminately affectionate with strangers. They do not go through the healthy stranger anxiety period an infant goes through. As older children they hug strangers and school principals and anyone else they feel they can get on their side, against their mom.

4. Lack ability to feel real, from their heart, caring. Giving and receiving affection is not possible without trust. They are called the trust bandits. These kids are not cuddly or snugly.

5. Extreme control problems worsen, as the child gets older. They want to do things their way right or wrong! They are very sneaky.

6. They leave a trail of destruction with other kids, pets and even their own body. Albert Schweitzer once said, "anyone who has accustomed himself to regard the life of any living creature as worthless is in danger of arriving also at the idea of worthless human lives." "The criminal hall of shame is filled with people who as children did nasty things to pets. If their parents or teachers had seen the warning signs or known how to counsel them, history might have been different. Animal abuse is not just a warning sign of a future adult criminal-it's a signal a child is deeply disturbed and needs help, some of the children I have worked with have raped, injured or even killed numerous animals before someone even suspects it might be the child!" Dr. Cline calls pets in the home of the unattached " endangered species."

7. Lying is a dedicated hobby for RAD children. They often become masters at crazy, twisted stories,