• Causative factors
• Exposure to traumatic event, threats, or serious injury
• Exposure to event causing intense fear, helplessness, or horror
• Intrusive symptoms
• Frequent memories of traumatic events
• Nightmares, or recurring dreams of traumatic events
• Feelings of the trauma recurring
• Avoidance symptoms
• Intense distress at exposure to cues that symbolize part of the event
• Physical response on exposure to cues symbolizing event
• Attempts to avoid thoughts, feelings, or discussion of trauma
• Attempts to avoid activities, places, or people that around memories
• An inability to remember important details of the trauma
• Strongly lowered interest in significant activities
• Feelings of detachment or estrangement from others
• Arousal symptoms
• Irritability or outbursts of anger
• Hypervigilance
• An exaggerated startle response
• Trouble  sleeping, or remaining asleep
• Poor concentration
• Other symptoms
• Restricted range of facial expressions
• Sense of hopelessness about the future
• Duration of the disturbance more than one month

Children with reactive attachment disorder often have a co-existing post-traumatic stress disorder.

Parents of children with reactive attachment disorder may also suffer from PTSD, as homes that include children with RAD too often become battlegrounds from which parents can find no escape.

* Information obtained primarily from the book, When Love is Not Enough, by Nancy L. Thomas

Last Modified on: Friday, March 02, 2007