This blog is my place to vent and share resources with other parents of children of trauma. I try to be open and honest about my feelings in order to help others know they are not alone. Therapeutic parenting of adopted teenagers with RAD and other severe mental illnesses and issues (plus "neurotypical" teens) , is not easy, and there are time when I say what I feel... at the moment. We're all human!

Monday, February 8, 2010

Sociopath

That was the third thing I couldn't remember, with which the therapist "diagnosed" Bear. Borderline Personality Disorder, Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Sociopath. All things that I, as a parent, am not qualified to treat, and he does not want to "mentor or intern" me in how to be Bear's therapist.

7 comments:

Kristina P. said...

That's interesting because you can't be diagnosed as antisocial until you turn 18.

Jeri said...

Nice...let me drop a label bomb on your lap but I won't guide you on how to handle it. Asshat.

marythemom said...

Technically you're not supposed to be diagnosed with personality disorders until 18 either. Bear (and to some extent Kitty) have always been described as having "BPD traits" so they could get around that.

That's why I don't know how to parent this, because he's too young to have them.

Of course it's ridiculous too that his RAD will be miraculously "cured" at 18 because RAD is a "childhood disorder."

I totally agree Jeri!! The question is, what to do about it.

Mary in TX

Designing Fairy said...

Mary the Mom, need your help and any other RAD moms. I am currently in the process of actually severing the rights of my daughter (long, awful story). I never thought I'd get to that point ever, but she destoyed our family. Recently put her in a HCTC home where they think she is just fine! She is talking of being adopted by a new family. I saw in her very sociopathic behavior, highly manipulative, definitely a personality disorder but not officially labeled, DID, etc. Are there other moms in this position I can talk to? Ronni, formerly of Parents247 email: ronniannhall@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

Not like I've ever researched it, but wouldn't un"cured" RAD turn into BPD, etc? Borderline is frequently associated with people who had traumatic childhoods. (Not that all Borderline were RADs). It *has* to map to an adult diagnosis.

Gee, thanks, Mary. I just looked up Sociopath on Wikipedia and my son fits every single criteria. ALL OF THEM. Well, it isn't like I wasn't already saying he was a psychopath.
Anyway, Sociopath links to childhood by requiring a CD diagnosis by the age of 15. (Mine had a CD diagnosis at 13, I recently discovered). So CD's grow up to be Sociopaths.

marythemom said...

Struggling to Stand - My understanding too is that untreated or unhealed RAD does lead to personality disorders - usually BPD.

Now I'm afraid to look up the characteristics of sociopath. I know Bear meets at least 5 of the 9for BPD.

They were in the process of labeling Bear with a CD diagnosis when we got him, but when they diagnosed bipolar and RAD they dropped it. They dropped Kitty's ODD diagnosis when she was diagnosed and treated for RAD as well. I'm guessing this still counts because I see RAD/CD/ODD as being crucially linked.

Mary

marythemom said...

Crud. I looked up Antisocial Personality Disorder, and mine meets or has met all the criteria too. *sigh*

Narcissistic PD not as much now, but in the past yes. I think most of the criteria he meets are those characteristic of all PDs. *double sigh*

Mary