Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity

You struggle to keep your focus and attention on the task at hand. You may feel that job after job bores you, so you switch around frequently, perhaps making the decision impulsively. Appearing hyperactive to others, you might find yourself jumping from one thing and bounding to the next. In relationships, you find yourself leaping from partner to partner. Maybe they leave complaining you aren’t ever reliable, or you end the relationship in a short time out of frustration or because you found the next love interest. We all get bored at times and find ourselves distracted. But if your problem with inattention has significantly affected your life, then it is time to get help. Holistic counseling offers the following solutions.

• Nutritional assessment is essential. Many clients who have struggled with ADHD have been found to be addicted, so to speak, to sugar. Their diets are largely simple refined carbohydrates, and are deficient in needed vitamins and minerals. This can affect the nervous system, lead to hormonal imbalance, and result in mood and behavioral symptoms.
• Psychoeducation and behavioral therapy are primary. You will need to learn how the brain rehardwires itself continuously (i.e. brain plasticity) to meet the demands placed upon it, so that you can retrain it. In our society, with so many people reared with wild special effects television, highly interactive video games/computers, and the like, it is no wonder that the brain can no longer relax. You will have to reprogram it and I will teach you how. My clients have found significant relief from this treatment alone, though it does take some time.
• Behavior management and social skills are essential for helping young people to manage school and home tasks, and adults to organize and perform better especially at work.
• You will want to find out if learning disorders or giftedness issues have become a problem.
• Coping skills can help you deal with frustration and stress.
• Mind-body techniques and counseling can help with the accompanying depression, anxiety, or self-esteem issues that tend to arise.
• Bioenergetic techniques may be useful in “resetting” your biology.
• Medications are available to help. They can provide relief until new “reprogramming” skills and bioenergetic exercises help you rehardwire your mindbody, and your neurotransmitters (e.g. dopamine) adjust. Because long-term effects have not been studied, most of my clients prefer to not medicate their children or teens due to the risk of side effects or suicide, except in cases of extreme aggression. Adult clients have sometimes chosen to use medications temporarily to be able to function better at work.
• Family treatment is extremely important. Most parents of ADHD children are overwhelmed. Families benefit from communication in a structured setting. Parents can learn more helpful techniques for setting boundaries and limits, establishing age-appropriate rules and following through. In addition, parents often need help becoming more consistent and calm in the home, since chaotic energy is passed around from parents to children, as well as from children to parents.

Call me today at 303.547.8327 to schedule your free initial 30-minute consultation and learn more!