Reactive Attachment Disorder in Adults

July 11, 2016 9:32 PM

Need to find documentaries on RAD, watched Child of Rage and there seem to be others but cannot find them. This for an adult with the disorder who is seeking desperately to heal from inner rage and relational difficulties.

Any kind of documentary that deals with attachment disorders, treatment modalities, healing, personal stories that depict the behavior modification and proven positive outcome will be GREATLY appreciated. TIA

posted by watercarrier to Science & Nature (2 answers total)

So I don't know if this specifically deals with RAD but I was quite moved by The Dark Matter of Love in a way I didn't understand. It's the story of several children adopted to the US from a Russian orphanage and the family and children involved are remarkably open, or at least presented that way. Most of it is from the children's perspective. There are issues, lots of issues. It's actually kind of a remarkable story. It's on Netflix.
posted by fshgrl at 10:25 PM on July 11, 2016 [5 favorites]

RAD is a pretty controversial diagnosis because it's not widely accepted, especially by a lot of the adoptees labelled as RAD. Plain old trauma, PTSD, attachment disorders and personality disorders like borderline (which is generally called a bunch of other names depending on the age of the patient and the therapist's treatment ideas but is increasingly treatable) are more likely to come up now than RAD which Nancy Thomas has successfully advocated among adoptive families.

Lost Daughters has a thoughtful counterpoint on this.

There aren't a lot of positive/neutral documentaries about RAD because it's been sidelined as a serious therapeutic tool and is only being used in fringe groups now or individuals.

There are a lot of adult adoptee and foster stories about overcoming traumatic starts - a good keyword to look for is resilience.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 8:47 AM on July 12, 2016 [1 favorite]