ADHD: A Path to Success
Chapter 5 of
first 6 Chapters
ADHD: A Defense Mechanism
Bob, a 14-Year-Old ADHD Boy
Bob, a 14-year-old, was treated for ADHD in three sessions,
totaling five hours. Two two-hour sessions were provided because the family
lived in a distant rural town.
During Bob's first 30-minute session using CAER, he focused
on all the situations that precipitated a "funny feeling in his stomach." He
believed this feeling occurred just before he began to lose attention and
started disrupting the class. He worked diligently on this subjective experience
and systematically extinguished it.
The father, who brought Bob to the therapy sessions, was just as diligent and
cooperative. He was given two five-minute cassette tapes. One was for his wife
and him to record statements that provoked Bob, the other was for Bob's teacher
to do likewise.
Because of bad weather and the long distance, the second session was three weeks after the first, but it was two hours long. At that time,
Bob and his father already reported significant changes at home and school.
During that second session, Bob listened repeatedly to the two tapes his parents and teacher had recorded. His initial response to each tape was anger and agitation. This faded to boredom after a few repetitions.
I also used part of the second session to put the father on CAER to extinguish his emotional responses to Bob's provocative behavior.
By the third session there were few behavioral problems left to work on. Bob's behavior was dramatically better, his grades had improved sharply, and his mood was more positive. So in that session, Bob focused on his performance anxiety in academic work and social situations.
ADHD as a Defense Mechanism
The Conditioned Attentional Avoidance Loop Model appears to be radically different, but in actuality it is a logical extension of traditional theories of psychopathology.
Traditional theories, despite their differences, embrace Sigmund Freud's notion that psychopathology is the result of an earlier emotional trauma. The adaptation to that trauma results in the psychopathology.
First Sentence: With terror in my heart, I can still remember sitting in emotional and almost physical pain at Palm Elementary School in Beaumont, California.
Read the first page
Chapter 5 | Chapter 6
