How do we work through the trauma and build a healthy attachment? Is love enough? How do we survive the CHAOS?
R – Reactive – reminds us that the disorder was developed in reaction to trauma
A – Attachment – helps us focus on what the child was unable to do as a result of trauma
D – Disorder – tells us that the result of the trauma is not part of normal development and that is what we need to treat. (Keck & Kupecky, 2002).
CHAOS THEORY – Chaos vs. Calm
CHAOS – When CHAOS is happening around or with an individual with RAD, it creates a sense of CALMNESS for them. Anxiety goes down and they sit back and watch the whirl wind of CHAOS.
CALM – When the environment is CALM, it creates internal anxiety and RAD children become uncomfortable and then will create CHAOS to CALM themselves down.
CHAOS makes them CALM and CALM creates CHAOS !
What are the Neurobiological Effects?
Trauma alters the neurobiology of the brain and central nervous system. It compromises the structure and function of the brain hemisphere, sub cortical structures and prefrontal cortex.
In the RAD Brain, the left cerebral cortex is underdeveloped and the left hippocampal atrophies causing memory loss. The limbic system becomes impaired-altering appraisal of events. The Broca’s area becomes deactivated and impairs speech. The corpus callosum is altered which affects inter-hemispheric transfer of information.
The brain must be retrained because the connections have not been made.
How to retrain the brain?
Integrity House uses several techniques to help in retraining the brain. The brain must be retrained to recognize CHAOS as CHAOS. The brain must also be retrained to recognize CALM as CALM. Integrity House uses relaxation skills to decrease anxiety when internal anxiety arises. We also identify times when the person is appropriately dealing with CALMNESS. Individual and Group Therapy is used to work through “Fight, Flight and Freeze” and teach Anger Management Skills. Dialectic Behavior Therapy Groups (DBT) and Social Skills Groups are also held.
Family Therapy is used to help facilitate attachment. When appropriate, the RAD child and adoptive family celebrate a “Reverse Adoption” where the child formally adopts her parents and siblings. The Reverse Adoption Ceremony is held after much therapeutic work by the RAD child individually and by the family. It is a most memorable and celebratory event in the healing of “attachment” issues.
Written by: Helen B. Johnson, LPC
Date: October 1, 2010