The Child of Rage
The Child of Rage is a documentary about a 6 year old little girl that was abused at a very young way and because of that, can’t make any emotional connections. She has no conscience and hurts people with absolutely no remorse.
I wanted to share this documentary with you all. Several of my readers had recommended this film to me and I found it on YouTube. It’s only about 30 minutes long but it’s a long 30 minutes.
I don’t really know what to say about what I just saw.
I think that for those of you out there thinking a child could never do the things that I have shared with you over the years through this blog, this will be an eye opener.
This may be difficult to watch and PLEASE don’t let your kids view this.
My hope is that this will give you some insight into what we are dealing with in the Lost and Tired house. Granted, I don’t think Gavin is quite this bad but there are so many similarities.
To be completely honest, I don’t know if I would want Lizze to watch this.
The little girl, Beth, in this film reminds me of Gavin when he was younger. We used to wake up and find him watching us sleep. He used to draw pictures of Lizze, myself and Elliott being burned alive in our house, while he was standing outside.
Most of these behaviors slowed down after beginning anti-psychotic medications. What is scary for me is that Gavin is on the very last possible anti-pyschotic medication he can have. If it ever stops working, we have nowhere left to go.
Please watch this film and remember that there are many families out there dealing with this very same thing. You have become familiar with our story but there are so many others out there.
I will say that this film does show that there is hope.
Here is a link to the family’s website about Attachment Disorders: Attatchment.org
Children develop RAD for only 2 reasons; their caregiver never met their needs during the developmental phase of Trust vs Mistrust, or the parent reacts to their needs in a abusive or traumatizing manner. There is no biological basis. There are ways to work with it, but some of the ways are indeed controversial and while the anti-psychotics will curb the behavior for a short while. You need to be working with an attachment therapist in order to resolve the issue at the root. There is nothing you can do to change this if you aren’t going for the right help. Ask around in your area for therapists or agencies that specialize in attachment issues.
With RAD your child genuinely believes that you are going to leave them, and that they need to beat you do it, because it will “hurt less”. This is their way of enacting what little control they have over their environment and those within it.
I have seen kids like this and when untreated, they are the ones who develop anti-social personality disorder, or borderline personality disorder. These are the issues that may arise in adulthood.
– Social Worker with Concerns
@jmp235 With all due respect, our psychiatric team would disagree with you. my son has frontal lobe brain damage due to birth history and drug use by the birth mom. He developed RAD as a result of the brain damage. he is adopted, but has always been in a loving home.The anti-psychotics only work as long as they are taken consistently. And as long as the body doesn’t adapt to them. My son, due to his addiction before birth, quickly adjusts to new meds so we are always changing his meds around to keep him stable. he is going to be 12 and the doctors have user the term “anti-social” in regards to him, even though they qualify that by saying that he can’t be diagnosed with that before age 18.His birth mom did have a borderline personality diagnosis.
@Carlyoung @jmp235 You beat me to this. Again, with all due respect, your information is not correct. Things aren’t that cut and dry. There are many reasons that a child can go down this road. Essentially what happens typically, is that in the very early years, for whatever reason, the neurological pathways needed for human bonding are not created. This can happen for the reasons you stated but it could also include brain damage as my good friend @Carlyoung as stated. Sometimes it even happens for reasons unknown.
Fortunately, RAD is not very common. Unfortunately, that means that there is still a great deal we have yet to learn. 🙂
Just so you all know the therapist in this documentary served 4 years in prison in 2000 for killing a little girl named Candice Newman in their therapy sessions.
I know. That\’s just crazy.
Do you think RAD could come about not only because of drug damage to certain areas of the brain, but because of illness damaging key areas of the brain and connections? I know some kids with PANDAS and encephalitis will make violent threats similar to what this girl said as well as act out sexually and inappropriately and go through terrible rages. Not sure about the lack of a conscience, though. I wouldn't rule out RAD having more than one cause, though. I hope you can find a system like this that works for Gavin. I was fascinated by how well living in a tightly controlled environment helped her. It seems he also needs a very structured environment where he has to earn priviledges and trust, and to learn things he hasn't learned yet.
When I looked up Beth Thomas from
Child of rage now. She is a neonatal nurse.
So maybe there is some hope for a form of a cure
You got to have some compassion and caring to be a neonatal nurse.
I have transported a child multiple times to the psych ward who is very similar to this but supposedly no history of abuse. He tried to kill his baby sister, his mom, and himself multiple times. He was also very self-injurious. He would just stare at you and tell you he wanted to kill you or himself. He did not seem to have any emotions.
can I reblog this? she is so much like Marc that it is scary. But marc was never physically or emotionally abused. he was born addicted to drugs. Marc hasn't iterated that he wants to kill anyone, just that he wants to hurt us.
@Carlyoung absolutely. This is an eye opener for most people.
@lostandtired @Carlyoung I think that I will share your link instead… a lot of people really have no idea.
@Carlyoung Whatever works for you my friend. 🙂
@lostandtired Marc says things like "I want to hurt them with my fists, feet and words…" when the ER doc asked about why, he said because "I like the way I feel."
@lostandtired for some reason, Triberr won't let me reblog it.
On my goodness that poor child. She's so articulate when she speaks for such a young girl. What a sad story. She ended up crying at the end and that shows hope! Hope, Faith and Love! God speed to Gavin and blessings to your family.
@lyndavisyak thank you
🙂
Rob, please note that Beth Thomas was cured of RAD. Gavin is not a lost cause and i believe tht giving him insane amounts of LOVE as Beths adopted parents did, he could pull out of this. Im sure you will tell me im wrong but i think if you found a differet therapist and put in place different ways of discipline you could see a change .
http://www.childrenintherapy.org/proponents/thoma…
@DKS3 I'm very aware. I don't know that she was cured but more like adapted. The one thing that makes this more difficult in Gavin's case is his age. His therapist isn't the problem.
On a side note, the female therapist in this film was convicted of homicide and went to prison for suffocating a 10 year old during a "rebirthing" session.
I certainly hope your right. 🙂
@lostandtired @DKS3
What? You got to be kidding. Sooo scarey we trust people like this with our children. Insane! I believe in second and third opinions at times, but I guess you need to go with that gut instinct when making decisions for our children.
@lostandtired @DKS3 Yeah back then "rebirthing" and attachment therapy were the methods of trying to help these kids. Obviously times have changed, and for the better. Watching videos of that in practice is scary.