Yesterday, adoptive parent Jessica Beagley was found guilty in an Alaskan court of child abuse for punishing her Russian adopted child by giving him hot sauce and forcing him to take cold showers. Although unfortunately this form of abuse is thought to be common, what made this case unusual was the fact that she made a video of this that aired on the Dr. Phil show and that brought her abuse to the attention of authorities who then pressed charges. Beagley did not lose custody of her children.

The punishment of hot saucing and cold showers was not part of any kind of Attachment Therapy treatment, as the mom and children were not in any kind of therapy at the time. However, attachment therapy, along with all its myths, did enter the picture when so-called “experts” testified at the trial that the child was suffering from RAD and that this explained his alleged behavior problems, thus mitigating what the mom did. The problem is, that the behavior problems they attributed to RAD are nowhere in the DSM diagnosis of RAD, nor is there sound evidence that they have anything to do with attachment problems. No doubt, the publicity of this case is now going to be accompanied by more spreading of these myths that children with attachment problems lie, cheat, steal, are violent and will grow up to be sociopaths and the only thing that can stop this from happening is the harsh disciplinary measures associated with so-called “attachment therapy” which is what I consider to be abuse in the name of therapy.

This case is a prime example of why more states need to adopt Daubert, which would require experts to produce actual scientific evidence for that statements. That did not appear to be the case here. Even though Beagley was deservedly convicted, these therapists were allowed in as “experts” to testify to symptoms that have no basis in scientific evidence.

I thought that this would be an appropriate time to cite a table in a recent publication of mine, a systematic review of the literature on RAD and international adoption. The table clarifies the difference between what is in the DSM-IV-TR and the symptoms made up by “attachment therapists” that have no basis. For emphasis, I have placed the latter in red font for this posting (of course, in the actual publication, it is not in red). For even more such symptoms, see  Nancy Thomas’ article   Jean Mercer has just coined the term MAD (Misunderstood Attachment Disorder) to describe these symptoms that are repeated far and wide as legitimate when they are not.

From:

Pignotti, M. (2011). Reactive attachment disorder and international adoption: A systematic research synthesis. The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice, 8, 30-49. (p.33)

Table 1. DSM Definition of RAD vs. Symptoms not in DSM Attributed to Attachment Problems