Attachment disorder
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Attachment disorder is based on the psychological theories that 1) normal mother-child attachment forms in the first two years of life and 2) if a normal attachment is not formed during the first two years, attachment can be induced later. This theory is used, for example, to explain the behavioral difficulties of adopted children.
Attachment disorder therapy believes that the child must be subjected to physical and psychological stress in order to release repressed anger at their abandonment. The process is continued until the child's psychological resistance is broken and the child has been "regressed to an infantile state". Then, parents reenact early childhood behaviors such as cradling, rocking and bottle-feeding in order to form the new attachment.
Treatment for attachment disorder may involve a reenactment of the birth process. This can include "holding therapies" or "compression therapies". These treatments have been aggressively criticised for resulting in the deaths of several children. Most famously, 10-year-old Candace Newmaker was smothered during a rebirthing procedure in Evergreen, Colorado on April 19, 1999. Her therapists were subsequently convicted of child abuse and imprisoned.
According to the American Psychiatric Association, "While some therapists have advocated the use of so-called coercive holding therapies and or 're-birthing techniques', there is no scientific evidence to support the effectiveness of such interventions."
External references
- Association for Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children (http://www.ATTACh.org)
- http://www.ChildrenInTherapy.org
- Transcript of events sourding the death of Candace Newmaker (http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles/history/2001/candacenewmaker.htm) (warning may be upsetting)
- Attachment Therapy on Trial: The Torture and Death of Candace Newmaker, J Mercer, L Sarner, L Rosa, 2003.
- Death by Theory, Michael Shermer, Scientific American, June 2004, p 48