Treatment Options for ADHD

      This is a very short list of options.   After seeing the links page on the Holistic Healing Web Page I decided to stop.   That site is definitely worth a look!

      Cognitive behavioral therapy is a form of treatment which helps people make concrete, observable changes in their lives.   There is a focus on the ways a person’s thoughts and attitudes affect his feelings and behavior.  The premise is that some people develop negative and distorted beliefs about themselves which interfere with their functioning.

      Melinda White is a licensed psychotherapist specializing in treatment of children and adults with Attention Deficit Disorder.   She served for two years as the Educational Coordinator for the U.C. Berkeley site of the National Institute of Mental Health's multimodal treatment study of ADHD.   She has written several articles about coping with attention deficit disorder and has given workshops for parents, teachers, and adults with ADHD.   She was a special education teacher for 15 years and has a life credential as a learning disability specialist.   She is currently in private practice in Berkeley, CA.

      An important non-medical approach used in treating children with ADHD is known as behavior therapy or behavior management.   Behavior therapy is based on several simple and sensible notions about what leads children to behave in socially appropriate ways.   One reason is that children generally want to please their parents and feel good about themselves when their parent is proud of them.   When the relationship between parent and child is basically positive, this is a very important source of motivation.   A second reason that children behave appropriately is to obtain positive consequences for doing so (i.e. privileges or rewards).   Finally, children will behave appropriately to avoid the negative consequences that follow inappropriate behavior.

      The goal of behavior therapy, therefore, is to increase the frequency of desirable behavior by increasing the child's interest in pleasing parents and by providing positive consequences when the child behaves.  Inappropriate behavior is reduced by consistently providing negative consequences when such behavior occurs.   This is a simplified, but not unreasonable view, of what behavior therapy is all about.

      Holistic medicine is a system of health care which fosters a cooperative relationship among all those involved, leading towards optimal attainment of the physical, mental emotional, social and spiritual aspects of health.

      It emphasizes the need to look at the whole person, including analysis of physical, nutritional, environmental, emotional, social, spiritual and lifestyle values.   It encompasses all stated modalities of diagnosis and treatment including drugs and surgery if no safe alternative exists.   Holistic medicine focuses on education and responsibility for personal efforts to achieve balance and well being.

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