[Archive]

Hi Lara - we dealt with some major humdinger tantrums from my son, due to both RAD and bipolar. He has done well with attachment therapy, and medication for bipolar. Hasn't raged in several months (is now 8).

During the real difficult time, his rages were so violent that he was capabale of hurting himself, me and causing serious property damage. For a while his room was totally gutted except a mattress. He even pulled his bed apart (before we removed it) and I was terrified that he would get hurt on the exposed frame.

We had to put an alarm on his door, and locks on his door and window (yes, he did threaten to jump out once, and sat on the ledge picking the paint off the outside window trim). His door was only locked during the violent part of his rage, while I monitored from outside. For him it was too much of a power struggle to prove he could bust the door down when I tried to hold it closed.

The tantrums controlled him and were definately rooted in his past. Once he worked through these issues, he would readily let me comfort him instead of going into a rage. Now when he gets mad - the worst that he does is stomp up to his room. After about 5 minutes alone, he is generally not resistive to my efforts to talk with him. (pretty typical for any 8 year old).

Please don't let my son's story frighten you, this is a worst case scenario. He was much older and much bigger. I would go through it all again in a heartbeat. What I have now, is a wonderful, sweet and loving little boy - who loves his mom dearly!!!!

Dimas Mom