Funny isn't it that so many of these teens with this problem and depression and are also so very creative and artistic?

Michael's depression can be directly tied to the chemical problems caused by Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. If you haven't educated yourself about the recognition of this extremelyserious problem that manifests itself in varied ways, all of them serious, then do so.

Add on to this that Michael was adopted and the woman who gave birth to him had little real interest. There is a growing recognition of another mental condition spurred on by the Fetal Alcohol/Depression and affecting a lot of adopted kids (and others as well) called Reactive Attachment Disorder. The group of symptons here include many things that a lot of teens do, the difference being that RAD kids display almost ALL of them. RAD can be diagnosed as early as the first year and had we known then then what we know now..........I never gave a lot of credibility to the womb/first years stuff as I figured we could overcome all of that with "Good Parenting." HA!!! For a RAD child the classic tenets of good parenting make the problem worse. Ain't that a bitch? And even worse, by the time they are teens, its too late to ever really overcome all of it and the best you can do is work toward making them safe to themselves and others as well as hopefully functional in society. Its an uphill climb.

Some of the better known folks who can be documented to probably have RAD are some European guy named Hitler, a gourmet named Jeffrey Dahmer, and that man about town, Ted Bundy. The guy at Virginia Tech hasn't yet been included but he meets an awful lot of the criteria.

Anyway.......BRUCE.........Not all of the problems are bad parenting. Thanks to all of you for your good thoughts. They really are good to read.

Spaw