By thoroughly examining the topic of ADHD/ADD and how it is diagnosed and treated, it is intended that the public may become aware of the following concerning patterns of behavior commonly labeled ADD or ADHD:
 

• Understand these behaviors as often indicative of difficulties with self-regulation and balancing.
• Recognize that the mind and body are an integrated feedback system.
• Learn to decode this feedback rather than merely suppressing the behaviors for convenience.
• Value the individual's self-healing instincts and coping skills.
• Understand how stressors can lead to reactions of hypervigilance or scattered attention.
• Recognize how lack of nurturance can lead to reactions of excessive stimulation-seeking behaviors.
• Learn how nurturing the body, enhancing family relationships, and managing stress help restore balance and resolve ADD/ADHD symptoms.
• Recognize that stress is a quality of experience that can be triggered by anything that disrupts routine or threatens the sense of balance and well-being within an individual or system.
• Identify potential benefits of the following:

Physical Exercise

Massage, Bodywork, & Energywork

Oriental Movement Arts

Nutrition

Family bonding

Neurofeedback

Energy Psychology

Nurturing creativity

Relaxation & Stress Management

• Understand how the interaction of the individual with his/her environment shapes brain development and brain activity.
• Conceptualize ADD/ADHD functioning as part of a continuum of functioning that tends to be fostered or augmented by an individual's reaction to certain types of environmental variables - not a "disorder" pre-ordained by genetics or any other specific factor.

• Recognize how behavioral and pharmacological interventions may impair emotional development and maturation if used in place of interventions suited to building internal locus of control and coping skills.

• Examine how current major approaches to "managing" ADD/ADHD symptoms may perpetuate the underlying patterns within the individual and the environment that give rise to the dysfunctional behaviors, regardless of short term success in suppressing symptoms.

• Recognize how mental health diagnoses are based upon subjective comparisons to social norms rather than upon an objective definition of "disorder."

• Examine assumptions inherent in common efforts to get individuals to conform or adapt to social demands and the role of individuality in society.

• Understand how the standard methods of diagnosing and categorizing behaviors often limit the practitioner's ability to analyze the circumstances surrounding the client's state of functioning as well as the ability to recognize the range of interventions that are likely to facilitate positive growth and transformation in the client.

• Generate hypotheses and examine existing research about the comparative effects of interventions, focusing on identifying which approaches are likely to produce permanent or lasting resolution of disturbances.

Each person is a unique individual, responding to environmental stressors based upon learned and instinctual reaction patterns.  When a person experiences stress there are shifts that occur in the energy system and in the biochemistry of that person.  If the stress is chronic or trauma gets imprinted in the mind-body system then the individual can get stuck in a maladaptive pattern, since they are reacting to a stressful situation that isn't any longer their current environment.  Stress release therapies and nutritional therapies can help bring this sytem back into balance and enable the person to respond more adaptively to their environment and social situations.  When someone is hyperactive or appears to have an attention deficit or focusing difficulty, we would be wise to explore WHY these symptoms are occurring.  The nervous system may be overstimulated by things like video games or family discord or by ingested foods or drugs... the person may be in an ungrounded state where they go into daydreams and trances since they lack interest in school or work activities... there may be insufficient energy or neurotransmitters to help the brain support an attentive state, which may be connected to dietary imbalances of amino acid and fatty acid imbalances and/or glucose metabolism imbalances triggered by refined carbs/sugars.  We can't look at things with tunnel vision or a simplistic medication management approach and expect to resolve these issues.  If we are willing to be thorough and committed to nourishing the body, mind, and spirit, then we are likely to see our children blossom into healthy, productive individuals.

For an extended article and reference sources you may visit www.phinsights.com/adhd.html

Jed Shlackman, LMHC, C.Ht. is a licensed mental health counselor and holistic therapist in Miami, Florida.

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