Is it ADHD or Emotional Trauma?

It seems like these days almost everyone claims to have ADD. How many times have you heard someone telling you that they can’t focus or they cannot follow through an assignment because they have ADD? More often than not, these self-diagnoses are actually not true and there is so much more that we need to be aware of when it comes to attention and interaction related problems.

ADHD almost “popularized” in the last 10 years, and within the majority of society, there is very little that we know and don’t know about ADHD. Many people may have attention deficit, but does that mean they have ADHD? According to clinicians, emotional trauma also may seem like ADHD. So, how can you differentiate the variety of reasons for the attention deficit?

What are the causes of attention problems?

People may have a hard time concentrating because of multiple reasons including physical stimulus and mental-health related problems such as:

·      Sleep disorders

·      Alcohol abuse

·      ADHD

·      Chronic fatigue

·      Anxiety disorder

·      Major depression

·      Eating problems

·      Emotional trauma

·      Excessive stress

You may be having a hard time concentrating or following through because of the reasons listed above. Even recent dramatic changes in the individuals’ lifestyle can affect the results. But what if, your attention problems are not caused by physical changes but emotional trauma instead?

What is the difference between trauma and stress?

There is good stress, bad stress and then there is trauma.

Good stress is the one that directs people to challenge themselves. It’s the sweet spot of pressure that people can create better results and be motivated. This type of stress can improve confidence, self-esteem, and coping skills.

Bad stress is what we all feel every once in a while when we have to deal with something unpleasant. It can be caused by difficult situations or things that we perceive as upsetting. In the end, this type of stress doesn’t last long. We can rationalize it, find a solution (or not) but eventually move on.

On the other hand, traumatic stress is where it gets destructive. Following a terrifying event or situation, the fight and flight mechanism gets triggered. The fight/flight mechanism is the primitive instinct that we all have for survival. During this activation, the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline are released. The body’s main target becomes surviving. Therefore, physical strength increases, pain is suppressed and the decisions are made for survival. In reality, the fight/flight mechanism is very helpful for us humans in order to get through life or death situations. Imagine a robber came into your house or simply think of the reaction you had in your body during an accident. The body will be tense, the heartbeat will be faster and respiration will be quicker. In the end, this will help you get through the stressful event physically. This drastic physical and mental change is supposed to last for a very short time. However, when the stress response is active more than it should, it becomes very toxic for the mind and body.

Especially during childhood, the child is learning and developing many physical and mental abilities

Especially during childhood, because the child is learning and developing many physical and mental abilities, an overly active fight/flight mechanism will result in problems in some parts of the development. Especially if the child is growing up in a problematic household, the emotional arousal state eventually disturbs the child’s development of self-regulation. Think of children that are abused, witnessing abuse, dealing with addicted parents, experiencing violence, or even going through an emotionally traumatic separation of parents. In these situations, the continuous activation of the fight/flight mechanism disrupts the child’s development in so many ways. As the child or the adult grows up, a variety of problems surface such as chronic anxiety, overreacting to situations, sleep problems, emotional instability, impulsivity or even attention problems.

In sum, if you are or your child is having attention problems, overreaction to challenges, inattentive or irritable, it doesn’t necessarily mean that what you are dealing with is ADHD. In fact, you may be dealing with a response to emotional trauma.

Can hypnosis help? 

As hypnotherapists, we are often asked to help with a lack of attention or losing focus although there is motivation. Although we may start working solely on attention deficit, soon we may discover that there are underlying reasons for the attention problem.

According to the British Society of Clinical and Academic Hypnosis, long-term results of treating ADHD with hypnotherapy have been more successful than Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. With hypnotic suggestions, it is possible to decrease reaction times, increase focus and decrease the Stroop effect significantly.

In addition to ADHD, hypnotherapy can be a great help for attention problems related to emotional trauma. Hypnosis, by itself, is a state that brings the person back to the parasympathetic nervous system which is the opposite of the fight/flight mechanism. A person can learn to be calm and relaxed with the induction of a hypnotic state easily.

In addition to the calm state, during hypnosis, the subconscious work allows the individual to surface powerful emotions or maybe even resolve specific memories or events that were “stuck” in the subconscious mind for years. This state allows the subconscious mind to communicate freely, without filters so the people can understand the main reasons and resolve them completely.