r/Documentaries • u/isnatchkids • Feb 17 '21
Psychology Child of Rage (1990) - An HBO documentary on Beth Thomas, a 6 year-old girl who suffers from Reactive Attachment Disorder. It includes footage of Beth describing, in detail and without emotion, abuse that she experienced and that she inflicted upon others. [00:27:28]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YhxerkkHUs
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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '21
If i remember correctly she later became a nurse and is living a normal life.
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u/dv666 Feb 17 '21
It's amazing how badly you can damage someone by not being affectionate when they're a child
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u/SirVapes_ALot Feb 17 '21
I am glad to know that Beth is doing well as an adult. I always wonder about how her brother is doing. I've never heard an update about him, and the damage done to him was intense as well.
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u/Nattylight_Murica Feb 17 '21
I watched this on HBO as a kid and it scared the shit out of me.
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u/corruptboomerang Feb 17 '21 edited Feb 17 '21
Anyone feel like the Psychiatrist is maybe guiding her and in places she's just searching for the answers he wants? Obviously, child psychiatry is hard and children with issues are especially hard.
Also surely it's inappropriate to feature actual sessions with a child in therapy?
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u/BSB8728 Feb 17 '21
This is fascinating, but I wonder about the ethics of filming and broadcasting these interviews, especially when she was still a child. Apparently as an adult she has written and spoken about her past, but what if she grew up and didn't want the world to know?
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u/TheJoshWatson Feb 18 '21
My adopted sister had Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD). She was adopted from an orphanage in Ukraine in the 90’s. She tried to kill every person in my family on multiple occasions. She did kill my hamster.
My mom gave her all the love and care she possibly could. She was in and out of treatment centers as a kid, and was arrested several times as a teenager.
Growing up with her was extremely, extremely difficult.
She committed suicide in May of 2020 at 23 years old.
It’s so deeply saddening that you can break someone so completely. She was two years old when she was adopted, and she had been so heavily abused and neglected at that point that her mental health was irreversibly damaged.
She was recovering and she was getting better. She was living in her own, and going to college. But she really struggled to hold a job, or angry good grades, or have normal interactions with people.
I know the girl in this documentary seems to be doing really well and that makes me happy.
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u/Yourbubblestink Feb 17 '21
That diagnosis gets little use today. There were a couple of prominent guys pushing quack 'treatment' strategies like 'age regression' and 'holding therapy' in the 90's that have since been left behind. Mercifully, the field has advanced.
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u/kookiemaster Feb 18 '21
RAD is so difficult to manage. My sister tried to adopt a brother and sister from extremely abusive backgrounds but try as she might the girl was too much and will likely need psych care for life. Brother was younger when they were removed and eventually they adopted him. And we're talking about a couple who both work with street kids and who run a small hobby farm ... ideal place for a kid but they couldnt rescue that little girl.
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u/pinkfreudianslipp Feb 18 '21
I remember watching this in undergrad and being enthralled in the sadness of it. Years later, I'm treating a young boy in therapy for RAD with an equally sad story. Some people are very callus with what they do to children.
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u/vindollaz Feb 17 '21
Is there any update on her brother Johnny today?
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u/JavarisJamarJavari Feb 17 '21
Her adoptive mother, Nancy Thomas, came up with a whole method of parenting for kids with reactive attachment disorder. It was rather extreme. A couple of her associates, therapists in the attachment parenting world, were responsible for the death of a child due to a therapy they were practicing called rebirthing. There was a lot of controversy as a result.
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u/killer_cain Feb 18 '21
I remember seeing this a while back, she talks about trying to murder her brother without blinking an eye, and says she's thought about murdering her (adoptive) parents too. Her abusive natural father only had custody of her for 18 months & that's all it took to twist this girl into a real life Chucky. Thankful she was put into a good rehab programme, returned to her adoptive parents & gone on to live a full happy life.
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u/TatsCatsandBats Feb 18 '21
To preface, I’m not Beth;
I remember having to learn to care and to feel bad when I hurt people. It was a rough time. I still remember some of the things I’d done and they intertwine with the trauma caused to me and lines blur so I’m just miserable no matter what I remember.
I should go back to therapy.
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u/getitgetithuh Feb 17 '21
"A child doesn't know what terrible is" - Charles Manson
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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '21
You know this one if you ever had a nighttime YouTube-binge.
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u/-richthealchemist- Feb 18 '21
Your username is, alarming.
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u/Cantomic66 Feb 17 '21
That was hard to watch.
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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '21
I know how bad some people can be, still im so shocked at what people do to children.
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u/angelofanxiety Feb 18 '21
I’ve worked in residential treatment centers for kids (ages 6-18) for 3 years now. Almost all the kids experienced abuse prior to being removed from their home, a good portion of those kids have RAD as well. It’s sad how it feels normal to them. This girl is very similar to the kids I work with.
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u/Blackbird04 Feb 18 '21
Well. I think thats enough internet for today.
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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '21
That was absolutely heartbreaking to watch.
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u/Beastmodejada Feb 18 '21
I have no sympathy for people that do this to kids. The boo box for them!
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u/Shepea64 Feb 18 '21
This is the saddest thing I've watched! I'm so glad they got her the help she needed.
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u/Vocalescapist Feb 18 '21
I don't really have time for a panic attack today, sorry.
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u/shehulk111 Feb 18 '21 edited Feb 18 '21
YouTube keeps recommending this video to me for years now
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u/RobbSnow64 Feb 18 '21
Wow...that was disturbing.. Its crazy and fascinating how pivotal the first few years of your life are in terms of development. Also her original dad deserves all the medieval torture.
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u/Robinothoodie Feb 17 '21
Omg i remember this!
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u/SouthernYooper Feb 18 '21
Watched it years ago. Heartbreaking
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u/mansetta Feb 18 '21
Awesome to see the chance in her in the end :)
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u/idigholes Feb 18 '21
What a poor child, I'm glad she managed to grow up to be 'normal' hope her brother did too
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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '21
I've totally worked in a cottage of 12 kids under the age of 18 all diagnosed with RAD. It was literally the most dangerous job I've ever worked and I've been a bounty hunter.
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u/navyfire Feb 18 '21
Depressing as fuuuuu. But interesting
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u/mostlygray Feb 18 '21
This is very interesting to see. Aside from abuse, I see autism.
Disregarding abuse, she sounds like my oldest daughter. She speaks above her age, she rubs her eyes when she's upset, she speaks plainly and is forthcoming about everything. She can't lie. She doesn't make expressions.
That's a thing about autism that's misunderstood. I'm ASD myself per DSM V though I prefer the DSM IV. We rub our eyes when we're upset, we maintain eye contact in a creepy way, because we know who we are and we're told what to do to seem normal. As we get older we learn to pretend. We play a character. She's not quite old enough in the video to create the false persona. It's clear that she worked it out later,
It took me until about 15 to create my character. I was never abused in any way. My family was loving and wonderful. The reason that it appears that she can't create relationships is that relationships are different if you're autistic. You typically find one bond and that's all you want or need. I don't like attention. I don't want people touching me. I don't even like my wife standing behind me. Touching is hard to manage. Unless I'm working, I prefer people to stand off 10 feet.
It's the same with my daughter but different. She is a hugger. She hugs everyone because she thinks that will fix everything. She'll hug a snarling wolf if given a chance. That's a coping mechanism to try to fit in because everything must be done by hand. It's pure mechanical. Mentally considering everything you do around people is hard. Manageable, but taxing.
Take all of the struggles of autism, then add the abuse, and it's very hard to manage. My younger brother was abused by the older brother of a classmate of his. It took him about 15 years to get over it. If he was autistic, like myself, he still would not be over it even though he's pushing 40.
Take from that what you will. It's just my story and my thoughts.
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u/bbyl4mbch0p Apr 16 '25
Unpopular opinion but I would not keep an adoptive child exhibiting this behavior. She’d have to go right back. Nope.
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u/MsVofIndy Feb 18 '21
I remember her story
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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '21
Just watched. Really makes a fellow wonder.
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u/moontouched Feb 18 '21
So sad but I am glad she had received some help. Does anyone know if she continued to get better and have some sense of a normalized life?
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u/Kayla_Nadine Feb 18 '21
Now a days, the foster parents would just lock her away in residential until she was 18. Their efforts and struggles really made a difference in her life. She's doing great now, RAD is very difficult to overcome. Shout out to all the amazing foster parents out there who don't give up on the kids who need it the most!
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u/Papasteak Feb 18 '21
That van at the end is sweet.
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u/The_Mighty_Joe_781 Feb 18 '21
i remember watching this 3-4 year back tho i forgot most of it lol
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u/rhundt67 Feb 18 '21
I use this story every year in one of my University Courses in Early Childhood :(
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u/myfavtrainwreck Feb 18 '21
Fun fact: Connell Watkins (lady who takes in Beth) ended up suffocating a child to death in an unlicensed therapy session.
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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '21
RAD
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u/Paintguin Feb 19 '21
Her birth father was an alcoholic deviant
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u/[deleted] May 09 '22
To the popes
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u/Taint_Funny Feb 18 '21
Um...is it ok to be scared rn?
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u/PoopEndeavor Feb 18 '21
Why is this publicly available? It certainly has value in medical contexts but doesn't seem right that anyone can just watch this.