Psychotherapeutic therapy of ADD

Synonyms in a broader sense

Attention Deficit Disorder, Psychoorganic Syndrome (POS), ADD, Attention - Deficit - Disorder, minimal brain syndrome, behavioral disorder with attention and concentration disorder, attention deficit disorder, ADD, attention deficit disorder, dreamer, "Hans-peep-in-the-air", Träumerle .
Attention Deficit Syndrome, Fidgety Philipp Syndrome, Fidgety Philipp, Psycho-Organic Syndrome (POS), Hyperkinetic Syndrome (HKS), ADHD Fidgety Phil, ADHD.

definition

Children who have one of the three forms of attention deficit disorder - the Attention deficit disorder without hyperactivity (ADD), however with severely restricted ability to concentrate and hypoactivity, the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), or the Mixed type of both variants suffer, all have an unsteady, sometimes below average ability to concentrate and pay attention.
In addition, the lack of attention often leads to further learning problems. Examples are the Reading and writing difficulties and / or the Arithmetic weakness mentioned. These problems can also occur if the child is gifted.
After the diagnosis, primarily the symptoms have not changed. This means that there is no way to rest on the diagnosis, rather the opposite is the case. It is important to adjust to the problems by means of multi-layered therapy (= multimodal therapy) in order to work out the best possible way of dealing with the clinical picture.
For this reason, an individual therapy plan should be created for the diagnosis as seamlessly as possible, which adjusts the different forms of therapy specifically to the individual symptoms. In principle, between:

  1. drug therapy
  2. the psychotherapeutic forms of treatment
  3. the therapeutic educational forms of therapy

differentiated, whereby alternative therapy concepts, such as various diet forms, nutritional therapeutic measures, or neurofeedback (EEG - Biofeedbach) can also be used.
These essential cornerstones also include the Promotion of the ADD child in the home. This is therefore imperative, as every therapy reaches its limits when parts of the education “do not go along”. Upbringing should generally be viewed holistically and the closer everyone involved in upbringing works together, the better it will be. We all know the problem when one parent forbids something while the other parent allows it ...

Which therapy modules are used in individual cases differs from person to person and therefore varies from child to child and requires a precise analysis of the symptoms. All therapy areas do not always have to be used. To do this, contact your treating doctor with confidence, who can provide more detailed information on the individual fit. The list does not claim to be complete.

General information on forms of psychotherapeutic treatment

Psychotherapeutic forms of treatment are aimed at treating the soul and include various measures and methods that attempt to treat psychological and emotional behavior disorders with the help of classic psychological forms of therapy. These approaches are intended to reduce both the suffering of the ADD patient and the suffering of the environment.
With regard to the ADS, these are for example:

  • depth psychological,
  • behavioral or therapeutic
  • systemic forms of treatment,

which are described below.

The depth psychological treatment of ADD

Depth psychology is a further development from the ideas of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, of Carl Gustav Jung (C.G. Jung), the founder of analytical psychology, and Alfred Adler, the founder of individual psychology. The further development resulted in treatment forms and techniques that are usually used when conflicts (disorders) occur in (child) development and negatively affect the relationship between people and one another.

In relation to ADD, this means that the child's behavior needs to be examined and the cause is questioned in order to explain and understand behavior patterns. Established behavior patterns are often not noticed because they have developed and consolidated over a longer period of time. In daily dealings with one another, these behaviors are not strange, but rather belong to this person. How, when and how they came about can hardly be determined. This is the starting point of the depth psychological treatment, the aim of which is to recognize typical behavior patterns that have a negative effect and to change them or to replace them with alternative behavior patterns.

You can find further information on the subject of depth psychology here: Depth psychology.

Behavior therapy

In contrast to depth psychology, behavior therapy as a further possible form of therapy does not start from the unresolved conflicts within a person, but rather from behaviors that are shown externally. This means: based on the symptoms (accompanying symptoms), behavior is analyzed and an attempt is made to change it with the help of various treatment methods.
Behavioral therapy was subject to constant further development and changes, so that fundamental directions can now be distinguished from one another. These are:

  1. The classic behavior therapy
  2. Cognitive therapy and
  3. Cognitive behavior therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy

As you can already guess from the concept formation, cognitive behavioral therapy is the link between classic behavioral therapy and cognitive therapy.
Thus, perception as well as thinking and the resulting behavioral patterns play a major role in the field of cognitive behavioral therapy. It connects in a special way the motor as well as the cognitive and the physical-emotional area. To do this, she uses various techniques (methods):

  1. Of operant conditioning
  2. Problem solving training
  3. Self-management training
  4. Social skills training, as well
  5. various relaxation methods, such as yoga, autogenic training or progressive muscle relaxation according to Jacobson (PMR)

You can find more information on the subject of cognitive behavioral therapy here: cognitive behavioral therapy

Systemic forms of therapy

Systemic forms of therapy emerged in the 50's of the last century and principally serve to clarify and resolve interpersonal relationships. This means that systemic forms of therapy take up problem areas in families, at work, between friends, etc. and try to solve them.

In the area of ​​ADD therapy, systemic forms of therapy usually take the form of family therapy. This is due to the fact that the symptoms of ADD can burden the family as a whole in a special way, which in turn creates conflicts that stand in the way of a successful therapy in a special way.

This means: Systemic family therapy does not see the symptoms of ADD primarily as a disease of the child, but also ascribes an important role to the child's situation within the family with regard to the symptomatic development of ADD.
The aim is to pick up on established and ingrained behavior patterns of all family members and, if necessary, to redesign them so that an improvement in interpersonal relationships can be achieved.
To achieve this, it is important that family members put themselves in the shoes of others in order to question other people's situations, mindsets and behavior.
This is usually done by depicting a typical family situation, for example by using dolls. From this situation one tries to draw conclusions about the roles within the family as well as about feelings, attitudes and ways of thinking.

Other forms of therapy

  1. General information on how to deal with the ADD child, including information for parents on the treatment of ADD.
  2. The drug therapy of ADD
  3. The nutritional therapy ADD with its different possibilities.

The therapy options mentioned complement each other in many ways. The treating physician or treating therapist can decide together with you which forms can be combined with each other in individual cases. It is important that the individual symptoms are taken as a starting point and a decision is made.

Other ADS topics

  • ADS
  • ADD causes
  • ADD symptoms
  • ADS diagnosis
  • ADD therapy
    • ADS curative education
      • ADD psychotherapy
      • Depth psychology
      • Behavior therapy
      • yoga
      • Autogenic training
    • ADD medication
      • Methylphenidate
      • Ritalin
      • Antidepressants
    • ADD diet
    • ADD and family
    • Educational games

related subject areas

  • ADHD
  • Poor concentration
  • Reading and spelling weaknesses / dyslexia
  • Arithmetic weakness / dyscalculia
  • Giftedness

A list of all the topics that we have published under our "Problems with Learning" page can be found at: Problems with learning A-Z