Column Chronicles: Attachment Therapy—child-behavior tool believed by some parents

Attachment Therapy - child-behaviour tool believed by some parents

Frank Cotolo
December 9, 2021

Many people believe in the process of Attachment Therapy (AT), which claims the only reason children misbehave is when they have not bonded with their parents or caregivers.

"It's great," said Audrey (last name withheld), who is a mother of three kids living with her and her husband (first and last names withheld) in an American suburb. "Two of my kids were constantly misbehaving. I mean they did bad things at home. My husband worked odd hours, at night, with his assistant Marcia (last name withheld) in a town nearby, so he did not have much contact with the kids and they ran amok on me."

Audrey told us that AT requires a therapist to work with the parents, using methods that help the kid's crisis. "Our therapist (first and last names withheld) got tough right away. She said we have to show the kids that we are the force they should fear. At first I thought that was radical but the moment she showed the kids her briefcase filled with thick nooses, they began to shiver."

Audrey's husband liked the therapist's AT methods. So did his assistant, Marcia. Audrey said her husband was so impressed by the therapists' tools (which included a cat-o-nine tails, duct tape, thick rubber bands and wooden spoons) that he hired the therapist to work with Marcia and him at night.

Benton Stillgraph, a AT specialist, insists that manually handling the children is as good as any rubber hammer to the cheeks. "Some kids need to bond by wrestling with their parent, having the dad or the mom atop them, kneeing their thighs and headbutting them while repeating how much they love them."

Audrey agreed after early sessions that the kids' behavior changed immediately and became sterling after a week - even while the therapist was out nights with Marcia and their dad.

Theresa's little boy (mother, boy and therapist unnamed) was unmanageable at ten and said, "Until the waterboarding sessions with his therapist, my son was hammering nails into every object in the house. When he began to drive nails into his ninety-nine-year-old grandfather's legs, my husband and I became concerned."

"Timmy," said Theresa’s husband, "I mean Eddy. Is Eddy a good fake name? Okay, well Eddy, not Timmy, there is no Timmy in this house. I meant our son Eddy. His therapist was also an electrician and knew how to rig up these wires that could shock Eddy - not Timmy, there is no Timmy - whenever he picked up his hammer."

Eddy's AT therapist told Theresa and her husband that the kid would be a model child after the program, which would reduce the chances of him becoming a serial killer or worse.

"There's nothing good going to come to a family with a serial killer son," Theresa said.

Not all of AT utilizes physical tactics. Psychological tricks may also come into play, including forced eating (usually donuts), mailing the child pictures of stick figures with X in each eye socket, falsely warning the child to take the snakes out from under his or her blanket before getting into bed, and lying to the kid about a brother he had who learned to dance the Tango and joined the Taliban.

Frank Cotolo can be found hosting the talk and interview programme Cotolo Chronicles. You can send him an e-mail at this address: frank@148.ca.