1. How did the 20/20 clip inform you about children with Reactive Attachment? Compare this to your readings. What are the biggest myths about attachment disorders? How does the behavior exhibited by children with attachment disorders put them at further risk?
2. Read the DSM 5 description of Borderline Personality Disorder and the Holmes article. How does considering Borderline in light of attachment shape your ideas about intervention and about the interpersonal needs of people living with Borderline?
3. How do you understand the difference between a typical response to a life stressor and an adjustment disorder. Make a case as to your belief about the relative deficits or merits of having a categorized disorder to capture these adjustments. When we think about this in terms of Probst, chapter 4, what micro, mezzo and macro factors shape decisions about what is an ‘adjustment’ or not?
Reading/media:
DSM-5: Trauma and Stressor-related Disorders
Probst Chapter 4, Appendix C
Holmes, J. (2004). Disorganized attachment and borderline personality disorder: a clinical perspective. Attachment & Human Development, 6(2), 181-190.
World Health Organization (2016). mhGAP intervention guide for mental, neurological and substance usedisorders in non-specialized health settings: mental health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) – version 2.0. Retrieved from: https://www.who.int/publications-detail/mhgap-intervention-guide—version-2.0 Read page 141-150.
Watch and read about the Harris family. Consider the impact of disrupted placement, and the facts and myths this story might promote about attachment disorders. Videos are here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI6I-C3-H6s) and here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kXUyxbk5qI) as well as the blog (https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2015/10/25/twenty-problems-with-20-20s-coverage-of-the-justin-harris-rehoming) and the article (https://arktimes.com/news/cover-stories/2015/03/12/casting-out-demons-why-justin-harris-got-rid-of-kids-he-applied-pressure-to-adopt?oid=3725371)
