BehaviorTherapy
1 2017-04-20T15:17:52-07:00 Katy McCarthy 52d4dc2d6cf99de1642c9855dd2bae6c30ec3e42 16394 1 plain 2017-04-20T15:17:52-07:00 Katy McCarthy 52d4dc2d6cf99de1642c9855dd2bae6c30ec3e42This page is referenced by:
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2017-04-17T18:08:14-07:00
Parent Training
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2017-04-23T18:10:05-07:00
Parent training is considered another form of behavior therapy and uses a technique to strengthen the bond between child and parent. This is accomplished by educating parents on how to respond to their child's symptoms and using a reward system to enforce good behavior.
Parent training is a recently developed technique used to treat ADHD, and according to research, it may be an effective approach to treating the symptoms associated with the disorder. This approach treats ADHD as a psychological disorder. A study published in the journal, Japanese Psychological Research, explored the use of parent training and support group sessions for mothers with children formally diagnosed with or suspected to have ADHD. Each training session had a specific topic such as, “Stress Management”, “Problem Solving”, or “Effective Communication”, and incorporated the children to practice the new techniques among the other mothers. Dr. Shizuka Shimabukuro stated, “it is important that children with ADHD are rewarded with praise after engaging in appropriate behavior” (8). This is the main concept of parent training, a reward system. After the treatment sessions, the mothers reported a significant decrease in the ADHD symptoms of their child, a decrease in their total stress, and a decrease in misbehavior episodes from their child (8).
Similar results were seen in individual sessions as well which consisted of one child, their parents, and a therapist. Some people prefer this approach because it may allow them to customize their treatment plan further. However, that is not meant to sound like individual sessions were more effective. Many parents choose to engage in group training sessions because it allows them an opportunity to connect with other parents that are experiencing similar difficulties. Also, some parents may feel less intimidated to seek treatment if they know it will be offered among other parents.
Since the parent-child relationship is often times hindered by the difficulty of managing a child with ADHD and the child managing their own symptoms, this method has become more popular in recent times. Not only does this treatment train parents, it also trains the children simultaneously so they can adapt to lifestyle changes together. The approach to treating both sides of a parent-child relationship seems to have been successful for many parents in addition to strengthening their bond and communication between themselves and their child.
8. Shimabukuro, Shizuka, David Daley, Margaret Thompson, Cathy Laver-Bradbury, Emi Nakanishi, Gail Tripp. “Supporting Mothers of Children with ADHD: Cultural Adaptation of the New Forest Parent Training Programme.” Japanese Psychological Research, vol. 59, no. 1, 2016, pp. 35-48. Wiley Online Library, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jpr.12140/full. Accessed 9 Mar. 2017. -
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2017-03-22T07:57:32-07:00
Behavior Therapy
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Behavior therapy is the most common alternative treatment for ADHD. It is currently recommended as a supplement to drugs but some parents believe that this treatment alone may be just as effective as a supplementation.
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2017-04-21T12:16:41-07:00
Behavior is commonly discussed across mediums as a cause of ADHD or ADHD-like symptoms. Scholarly journal articles based off medical research discuss unacceptable behavior as a symptom of ADHD in a child that can be managed with medications and behavior therapy. Social media sources such as Facebook feature pages for alternative treatments such as Ayurveda where some people discuss behavior as the cause of ADHD and behavior therapy as a cure. As a parent on social media, you will see more sources telling you what caused your child to act a certain way and that behavior therapy can cure them. This is not necessarily true, but the cause and cure tactic that is used by advertisements and by people is often what leads to misrepresentations of treatments in media. The main goal of any treatment for ADHD (medicine, behavior therapy, parent training ect.) is to treat the symptoms of the disorder and help your child to manage their ADHD or ADHD-like symptoms.
Behavior therapy, and in particular neurofeedback, is the most common and potentially the most accepted alternative treatment method for ADHD. Neurofeedback refers to the chemical messages that are sent by hormones and ions in the body and their interactions with various receptors throughout to keep it at a stable state often referred to as homeostasis. The behavior therapy method treats ADHD as a physiological imbalance. In general, children with ADHD lack important active circuits in the brain due to a lack of receptors or neurotransmitters (chemicals messages) (3). This translates to a low arousal in the regions and circuits of the brain that are associated with alertness, attention, and self control (3). Children are instructed to play cartoon-like video games that require a strategy to move a character around a simulated environment while connected to an EEG to observe the electrical activity in their brains. The idea is that these games will help children to understand important associations and neurological connections that most children their age are making. In a study published in the Journal of Psychology and Psychiatry in 2016, patients experienced at 93% retention rate of incorporating the behaviors they learned from their training sessions four months prior (4). Many children subject to cognitive training have had their symptoms significantly decrease in severity after their trials (4).
In my dataset, 81% of my sources referenced behavior as a cause or symptom of ADHD. In this particular set of data, there were multiple references to mood swings and threats to overall health if ADHD was not managed. Threats are a common tactic used by media sources to instill fear and anxiety in parents and other viewers to have their child or themselves assessed for ADHD.