http://www.omnitrace.com/birth-family.html

Dr. Ronald S. Federici

Dr. Federici (perhaps best known to adoptive parents as the author of "Raising the Post-Institutionalized Child") was kind enough to respond to a request to comment on how a diagnosis of Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) should be made, and on "Rebirthing" as a therapeutic treatment. His comments are included here in their entirety for accuracy, and are reprinted with his permission.
"Reactive Attachment Disorder is a very complicated childhood-neurodevelomental disorder that should only be diagnosed by people who have extensive experience on the doctoral level in terms of child development issues. The diagnostician should be experienced in the assessment and treatment of various neuropsychological and psychological disorders of childhood, and know how to use differential diagnosis as opposed to just lumping every child who 'meets the check list criteria' for RAD. There are so many other disorders that look just like RAD, especially many neurological disorders such as autistic-spectrum disorders, retardation, and the more severe cases of abuse and neglect.

"Rebirthing therapy is not held in any regard by well-trained child therapists and has no validity in the medical or psychological research. It was an offshoot of bizarre therapies of the 60s and has been continually practiced by many individuals untrained in proper child assessment and therapy teqhniques to where they make up their own (or offshoot) ideas, who tout this as being the only way for damaged children to 'have a new life' with their new families. Furthermore, it only serves to retraumatize children due to the aggressive nature which is in the same fashion as rage reduction therapy which was big in the 80's.

"Traumatized children may need certain types of holding therapy to contain aggressive urges, but the majority has to be done in a reconstructive family modality. The entire thought of rebirthing, which was done to Candace Newmaker, was both bizarre, psychotic on the part of the therapist, and further traumatizing to the child while she was alive and before she met a most gruesome death according to the coroner. People who practice this type of treatment are often unlicensed and untrained, but make a lot of money by enticing the most needy and desperate families."


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