Editing Reactive attachment disorder (section)

===Attachment therapy===
{{main|Attachment therapy}}

The terms [[attachment disorder]], attachment problems, and attachment therapy, although increasingly used, have no clear, specific, or consensus definitions. However, the terms and therapies often are applied to children who are maltreated, particularly those in the foster care, kinship care, or adoption systems, and related populations such as children adopted internationally from orphanages.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Chaffin|first1=Mark|last2=Hanson|first2=Rochelle|last3=Saunders|first3=Benjamin E.|last4=Nichols|first4=Todd|last5=Barnett|first5=Douglas|last6=Zeanah|first6=Charles|last7=Berliner|first7=Lucy|last8=Egeland|first8=Byron|last9=Newman|first9=Elana|date=1 February 2006|title=Report of the APSAC Task Force on Attachment Therapy, Reactive Attachment Disorder, and Attachment Problems|journal=Child Maltreatment|language=en|volume=11|issue=1|pages=76–89|doi=10.1177/1077559505283699|issn=1077-5595|pmid=16382093|s2cid=11443880}}</ref>

Outside the mainstream programs is a [[Attachment therapy#Treatment characteristics|form of treatment]] generally known as attachment therapy, a subset of techniques (and accompanying novel diagnosis) for supposed attachment disorders including RAD. These "attachment disorders" use diagnostic criteria or symptom lists different from criteria under ICD-10 or DSM-IV-TR, or to attachment behaviors. Those with "attachment disorder" are said to lack empathy and remorse.

Treatments of this pseudoscientific disorder are called "Attachment therapy". In general, these therapies are aimed at adopted or fostered children with a view to creating attachment in these children to their new caregivers. The theoretical base is broadly a combination of [[Age regression in therapy|regression]] and [[catharsis]], accompanied by parenting methods which emphasize [[Obedience (human behavior)|obedience]] and parental control.<ref name="Chaffin 2006 pp. 79">Chaffin et al. (2006), pp. 79–80. The APSAC Taskforce Report.</ref> There is considerable criticism of this form of treatment and diagnosis as it is largely unvalidated and has developed outside the scientific mainstream.<ref>Chaffin et al. (2006), p. 85. The APSAC Taskforce Report</ref> There is little or no [[Evidence based medicine|evidence base]] and techniques vary from non-coercive [[Therapy|therapeutic]] work to more extreme forms of physical, confrontational and coercive techniques, of which the best known are [[holding therapy]], [[Rebirthing (attachment therapy)|rebirthing]], [[rage-reduction]] and the [[Evergreen model]]. These forms of the therapy may well involve physical restraint, the deliberate provocation of rage and anger in the child by physical and verbal means including deep tissue massage, aversive tickling, enforced eye contact and verbal confrontation, and being pushed to revisit earlier trauma.<ref>Chaffin et al. (2006), pp. 78–83. The APSAC Taskforce Report.</ref><ref name="Speltz 2002">{{cite journal|author=Speltz ML |year=2002 |title=Description, History and Critique of Corrective Attachment Therapy |journal=The APSAC Advisor |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=4–8 |url=http://www.kidscomefirst.info/Speltz.pdf |access-date=3 March 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080414011820/http://www.kidscomefirst.info/Speltz.pdf |archive-date=14 April 2008 }}</ref> Critics maintain that these therapies are not within the attachment paradigm, are potentially abusive,<ref>Prior &amp; Glaser (2006), p. 267.</ref> and are [[wikt: antithetical|antithetical]] to attachment theory.<ref name="O'Connor & Nilsen"/> The APSAC Taskforce Report of 2006 notes that many of these therapies concentrate on changing the child rather than the caregiver.<ref>Chaffin et al. (2006), p. 79. The APSAC Taskforce Report.</ref> Children may be described as "RADs", "Radkids" or "Radishes" and dire predictions may be made as to their supposedly violent futures if they are not treated with attachment therapy.<ref name="Chaffin 2006 pp. 79"/> The Mayo Clinic, a well known U.S. non-profit medical practice and medical research group, cautions against consulting with mental health providers who promote these types of methods and offer evidence to support their techniques; to date, this evidence base is not published within reputable medical or mental health journals.<ref>{{cite web|title=Treatments and drugs|url=http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/reactive-attachment-disorder/DS00988/DSECTION=treatments-and-drugs|publisher=Mayo Clinic Staff}}</ref>