Links

Ontario RAD Families
http://sites.google.com/site/ontarioradfamilies
Learn about Reactive Attachment Disorder and what that means  for us raising a child with this (and several other) mental health issues in the Ontario, Canada area.

Attachment and Trauma Network (ATN)
http://www.radzebra.org/

Brain Development in Adolescence
According to researchers teenagers are impulsive, take risks and have poor judgement because key parts of the brain that affect judgement are not in place until people reach their early 20’s. Instability, emotional imbalance, undeveloped sense of responsibility are found in adolescence due to erratic brain function. Magnetic imaging is showing that the brain continues to develop during the teen years – beginning a final push around 16 or 17. According to UCLA brain researcher Paul Thompson, “The frontal lobes are the last to develop. These brain regions control inhibition, rash actions, rage and anger. They also control decision-making, risk perception and impulse control.” Until their brains mature, teens rely heavily on a more primitive part of the brain, the amygdala which is responsible for “gut” reactions.
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/05/040518074211.htm

The Depression Gene – Family History increases risk of depression threefold
Someone with a family history of depression is not destined to become depressed. However, it does make them more vulnerable. Those who have a father, mother or sibling who have a major depressive disorder are up to three times more likely then others to become depressed over time. Depression is a combination of genetics and environmental causes. Those who are depressed often cannot simply “snap out of it”. Medication and a change in lifestyle can contribute to healing. Specifically, those who are depressed can help themselves heal by changing their environment, alter behaviors, temporarily unload some responsibilities at home or at work, talk to a friend, journal, get regular exercise, eat a healthful diet, don’t drink alcohol, get 8 hours of sleep every night and avoid drugs not prescribed by their physician. (Italics mine)
www.usaweekend.com/05_issues/051009/051009healthsmart.html

Children Obesity Rises as Vegetables and Fresh Fruits Become More Expensive
A Rand Study compared 6,918 children of varying socioeconomic backgrounds from 59 US cities from Kindergarten to Third Grade. Researchers compared the weight gain figures with the price of different types of foods and the number of fast food outlets in the area. The results showed that children who live where fruits and vegetables are expensive are more likely to gain excessive amounts of weight then kids who like in areas where produce costs less. Effects are larger for children in poverty, children already at risk for overweight, and Asian and Hispanic children. When fast food cost less then fresh vegetables children in lower socioeconomic conditions gain weight at a higher rate then the national average.
www.rand.org/hot_topics/obesity.html

Walking to School Benefits Children All Day Long
Children who walk to school are more active the rest of the day. They engaged in more vigorous physical activity throughout the school day as well as on the weekends.
www.bmj.com, search for August 17, 05 on line article

ADHD, Smoking and Illicit Drug Use Linked
According to a longitudinal study the more symptoms of ADHD a child exhibits the greater his or her risk of becoming a regular smoker or user of other illicit drugs. Those children with ADHD with other behavior problems, such as defying parents and fighting, were also at risk for illicit drug use, but severity of attention problems was a better predictor for drinking, tobacco, and marijuana outcomes. This could be, say the researchers, because problems with paying attention in childhood have an immediate effect on school learning and social relationships, which may set the stage for other problems later on that include drug use and abuse. Those children who still had ADHD in adolescence (about 72% of them) reported more drunkenness from alcohol, more alcohol problems, and more cigarette smoking than the adolescents without childhood ADHD. Children with ADHD who developed severe conduct problems by adolescence (about 26% of them) reported the highest levels of drinking, smoking, and drug use. The ADHD symptom of inattention versus impulsivity-hyperactivity and oppositional defiant disorder/conduct disorder (ODD/CD) better predicts later substance use, suggest the authors, because “executive functions associated with inattention and not impulsivity-hyperactivity may be at the root of the progression to substance use. A child may begin having poor academic performance and peer difficulties and then gravitate toward nonconformist peer groups as an adolescent where substance abuse is accepted as a way of life,” said Molina. This study sheds light on the importance of early identification and treatment of problems with paying attention in childhood. Knowing the early signs of ADHD, providing early intervention, and providing help to teachers and parents through the teenage years, may help teachers and parents recognize risk factors and intervene before a child’s use of alcohol and drugs turns into a life long dependence, said the authors. http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/abn1123497.pdf

"Children At Risk For Reactive Attachment Disorder: Assessment, Diagnosis and Treatment." Keith Reber.
Progress: Family Systems Research and Therapy, 1996, Volume 5, (pp. 83-98). Encino, CA : Phillips Graduate Institute.

This paper explores issues of attachment and bonding in children. A focus in the paper is how the lack of proper bonding may result in ongoing emotional, social, developmental and behavioral problems. Assessment, diagnostic and therapeutic techniques useful in the treatment of Reactive Attachment Disorder are also discussed.

rainbowkids.com
"The Long Term Effects of Institutionalization on the Behavior of Children From Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union: Research, Diagnoses, and Therapy Options" Draft Edition March 1995 Teri Doolittle, PA-C, MHP, and others for The Parent Network for Post-Institutionalized Children.

The Parent Network for The Post-institutionalized Child (PNPIC) connects families throughout the United States and Canada who have adopted children from Eastern European maternity hospitals, orphanages, institutions for the irrecuperable or street children. Many of these children arrive with problems. The article investigates the root causes of these disorders and their treatments. It is hoped that all who intend to adopt children from institutions in Eastern Europe are prepared for the possibility of providing long term therapies for their children.

InstituteForAttachment.org/
The Institute For Attachment & Child Development at Evergreen is a leader in working with children affected by Reactive Attachment Disorder. This site contains a wide variety of valuable information. There is information on symptoms, selected articles from their newsletter, an excellent and extensive bibliography (many of the books can be ordered through their site), current research, and a calendar of up-coming training events which they conduct around the United States and Canada. Additionally, training information on becoming an attachment specialist is offered.

kuddlekids.com/index/shtml
The Kuddletime Corner site is full of wonderful and practical ideas for discipline interventions and parenting techniques.

syix.com/adsg/
This is the address for the Attachment Disorder Support Group. Check out the articles section.

netaxs.com/~sparky/adoption/attach.htm
The Center for Adoptee Rights has an extensive website with numerous articles dealing with a wide variety of adoption related topics. The link is just to that page on the site which deals with attachment disorder. It is very informative. Once you have read it you might want to go to the Homepage for the organization and read further in other areas.

What other sites would be useful to include that would help those searching for more information on attachment related issues?

MOVIES

An Officer and A Gentleman
Look at the history of the cadet, his devious means of avoiding the rules, the intrusive techniques the sergeant uses to break him down and increase his vulnerability, and the resulting successful officer who respects the gifts his sergeant gave him and appreciates the sergeant as a friend who will be missed.

The Miracle Worker
This movie is very old, black and white and difficult to find. Observe how the family avoids disciplining Helen and the resulting emotional disturbance she exhibits. Notice how Annie takes control in very intrusive ways and the astounding results. Obviously holding therapy today does not bear any resemblance to Annie's techniques, nonetheless, the emotional response is the same.

Prince of Tides
Watching this movie will give insight into the effects of childhood trauma and how Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome plays out in the lives of adults who witnessed/experienced violence as a child.

Thin Blue Line
A re enactment of a true story about the murder of a police officer. The viewer is left to question who really killed the officer. A study in the ability of adults with attachment disorder to con, manipulate and evade taking responsibility for their behavior.

What other movies are useful to watch in order to gain insight into attachment issues?

The Physical Restraint of Children: Is It Therapeutic?
Dr. Howard Bath, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, January 1994. Restraint and seclusion are compared as responses to dangerous aggression, and a number of theoretical warrants for the use of physical restraint with children are reviewed, with a primary focus on its attachment-promoting possibilities. Parallels are drawn between sound physical restraint procedures and the temporal phases upon which the holding therapies are based.

Books

Touch - Ashley Montagu
This excellent book, updated frequently over the last years, covers the essentials of touch from numerous perspectives. Notably, it points out how critical it is to child development to be touched in a variety of ways. Describing the whys and hows of therapeutic touch, and how early mothering contributes to healthy touch, makes this book an important addition to the library of anyone who wants to understand "Attachment Disorder."

Giving Away Simone - Jan Waldron
An engrossing memoir by a woman who "gave away her baby, Simone" for adoption and realized that Simone was the fifth generation of women abandoned by their mothers. As Jan re-establishes a relationship with her daughter they determine to break the cycle of abandonment. An engrossing description of the emotional fallout on both sides of adoption and how attachment issues surface even when the child is loved, wanted and never abused by either the relinquishing or the adopting parents.

Introducing Elizabeth
Elizabeth is in therapeutic foster care due to the stress she placed on her adoptive parents. As part of her therapy for attachment disorder she was expected to keep a journal. Her therapists in Seattle, Tom Gill and Beverly Cuevas, were so impressed they encouraged her to publish it. With the help of her foster mother, Kathy Bishop, they have printed it and it is available for others to read. Elizabeth describes in detail the negative and extreme behaviors which she chose and which caused her to be removed from her home. She discusses her relationships with others and her therapy to overcome her attachment disorder. This is very well written and would be an excellent book to share with children, families, case workers, therapists and others who are affected by Reactive Attachment Disorder. The book is available from Elizabeth. Send $5, made out to Kathy Bishop, to 3403 Valley View Road, Ashland, Oregon, 97520.

HELP!

This list will be more useful if it is continually updated. Please, as you find resources on attachment related topics which would be worthwhile including in this list, send me a copy and how it can be found and I will include it for others to access as well.