#adhd-and-sound-sensitivity

#adhd-and-sound-sensitivity

Nearly 90 percent of suicide attempts among high school students are attributable to ACEs, as are 80 percent of adult suicides, translating to 109 suicides per day.

Special needs summer camps are specialized programs designed for children and young adults with a range of disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), ADHD, Down syndrome, and other developmental or physical challenges.

Having ADHD affects executive functioning skills, those mental processes headquartered in the prefrontal cortex that are responsible for planning, prioritizing, regulating attention, managing time, and sustaining effort. In a fast-paced environment, demands on such skills can expose areas of vulnerability.

Polyvagal theory, introduced in 1994 by psychologist Stephen Porges, highlights the role of the autonomic nervous system in regulating our health and behavior. Our lived experience of engaging with the world is impacted by external environmental cues, internal physical sensations, and relational experiences (e.g., an impression of connection, safety, and trust between individuals). Neuroception is our body's unconscious surveillance system that shifts us into one of three autonomic states needed to respond to a situation: rest-and-digest (social and safe), fight-or-flight (mobilization), or shutdown/collapse (immobilization).

When a child is labeled "oppositional," adults often assume the problem is the child. In my experience as a child psychiatrist, the truth is often much more complicated. Both families sought out these schools, believing they were giving their children the best education possible. Instead, the schools failed their children, labeling them "oppositional" and "defiant" rather than addressing the root causes of their behavior.

Every day, many thousands of parents across the U.S. face the difficult question of whether to place their child or teenager on a psychotropic medication. Receiving a diagnosis of a mental disorder can be scary and confusing, for the youth as well as their parents/caretakers. What is ADHD? Depression? Anxiety? OCD? Bipolar? What are the available treatments? Do we have to use medications to treat the symptoms?

Are we overmedicating our children? My answer is yes. But not for the reason most people assume. The overmedication of children is not a story about reckless doctors or careless parents. It is not an argument against psychiatric medication. I prescribe medications to children and adolescents regularly, and I have seen them reduce suffering and save lives. The real problem lies elsewhere: