Video Review: “Attachment Disorder: Diagnosis and Treatment” and Child of Rage

The 1990 documentary, Child of Rage is horrifying. Beth is a young girl who has no problem hurting and abusing her younger brother. She fantasizes about killing her family and seems to show no remorse while speaking about it. It seems almost impossible that a child so young could be so damaged, but when one considers Beth’s case in conjunction with what can be learned from the video “Attachment Disorder: Diagnosis and Treatment,” her behavior begins to make sense. “Attachment Disorder” explains that children who have suffered great levels of trauma and child abuse at a young age, especially by their caregiver, will often engage in inappropriate behaviors in an attempt to alienate themselves from the people around them. Beth is a prime example of this. Before she was adopted, Beth was abused, physically, emotionally and sexually by her birth father. As Dr. Kagan explains in “Attachment Disorder,” long term effects of abuse at such a level can result in shrunken and less developed areas of the brain such as the corpus callosum and the hippocampus. This physical deformation of Beth’s brain likely left her without the ability to feel empathy and make moral decisions based on her conscience. Beth’s ability and desire to hurt those around her is a type of coping mechanism she uses to protect herself from further trauma.

Treatment for children like Beth is very difficult, but as “Attachment Disorder” explains, it is not impossible. Early intervention is important. Dr. trout explains that knowing the signs to look for in a child with attachment disorder allows caregivers and professionals to offer the correct type of support to the affected child. Because Beth’s parents reached out for help, they were able to get her into a recovery program in a home with other children similar to Beth where she was able to get the care and treatment necessary to take steps toward recovering. At the end of Child of Rage, Beth seems to have improved greatly, proving “Attachment Disorder’s” message that there is hope for treatment.

References

ATTAChOrg. (2011, February 11). Attachment disorder: Diagnosis and treatment [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV6d1nAgBNI

Monet, G. (Director). (1990). Child of rage: A story of abuse [Documentary]. United States: Home Box Office.