Parenting Children & Teens with Reactive Attachment Disorder

Reactive attachment disorder is considered uncommon. It can affect kids of any race or either sex. By definition, reactive attachment disorder begins before age 5, although its roots start in infancy. Several risk factors can contribute to the occurrence of reactive attachment disorder. Parental or caregiver related risk factors: Aggressive behavior towards kids when they request comfort Being abused, neglect, and abandonment by primary caregivers Being raised by parents with different psychological conditions (such as unipolar or bipolar disorder, postpartum depression, substance abuse, anger management problems, or attachment disorder) Forced removal from a neglectful home Frequent changes in foster care or caregivers Inexperienced parents that provide inconsistent or inappropriate care Maternal ambivalence toward pregnancy Child related risk factors: Being separated from parents/caregivers due to prolong hospitalization Difficult temperament Premature bi

Attachment disorders are the psychological result of negative experiences with caretakers, usually since infancy, that disrupt the exclusive and unique relationship between kids and their primary caretaker(s). Oppositional and defiant behaviors may be the result of disruptions in attachment. Many kids experience the loss of primary caretakers either because they are physically separated from them or because the caretaker is incapable of providing adequate care. Removal from primary caretakers can cause serious problems by breaking primary attachments, even if alternate caretakers are competent. Attachment disorders have been described in the psychological and psychiatric literature for approximately 50 years. The condition Rene Spitz called anaclitic depression is now considered an attachment disorder. Spitz observed young kids in an orphanage who were fed and kept clean and were initially in good physical condition but who received no consistent affection from a sole caret

I had heard of the terms before, but until I agreed to take my 13-year-old niece in, “Reactive Attachment Disorder”, sometimes known as “detachment disorder”, or simply “attachment disorder”, held no personal significance to me. My husband and I took our niece in to live with us in March of 2015. While we knew, and anticipated that there would be significant problems, we had no idea as to the extent of her disability. Our niece was diagnosed with RAD, shortly after coming to live with us and, despite the fact that this is a disorder that was barely on my screen of consciousness prior to that time, my husband and I have both come to understand it quite well. Making it go away was another matter entirely. As a counselor for more than 18 years, I had come to appreciate signs and symptoms pointing to specific diagnoses, yet I was astounded to see how closely and how clearly our niece fit the pattern for RAD. I only wish that treating the problem were as easy as diagnosing it