No Anxiety

Psychology and Psychotherapy Articles

Intelligence & ADD/ADHD: Breaking The Myths

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There are a lot of ideas flying around where most of the typical layman’s knowledge of ADD/ADHD usually asserts that the condition is not in fact a real mental health issue, or that it is the cause of poor schooling or poor parenting. The opinion that children with ADHD are of poor intelligence due to a perceived inability to focus on a given task is quite a commonality. It is not then difficult to imagine that parents who have been told their son or daughter was very bright, but was doing poorly in school due to inconsistencies or poor focus, have great difficulty acknowledging the fact that their child might have an attention deficit disorder. In fact, many parents have been told that such problems do not occur amongst individuals with higher levels of intellectual ability. Yet studies have shown that individuals with ADD/ADHD demonstrate the same cognitive problems in all ranges of IQ, even well above the 120 range.[1]

ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and is a real mental health condition with strong scientific evidence pointing towards an inherited genetic basis with significant neurological abnormalities in the brain. Hence, in order to fully diagnose an individual for ADHD a neurological exam is required. Medication treatment studies were first to show persuasive evidence of ADHD impairment being the cause of two primary neurotransmitters not functioning properly. These are norepinephrine and dopamine. Several genes determining low dopamine levels (named DRD4, DAT1, etc.) have also been found to be associated with ADHD.[2] Another important factor in the condition was recently discovered in a study by the renomed ADHD specialist Prof. Russell Barkley and colleagues at the Medical University of South Carolina. The finding had to do with the decreased levels of GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) found in ADHD children. These low levels of which is yet another neurotransmitter, were found to explain the deficient impulse control and constant interchanging thoughts associated with the condition.[3] In other words, in order for the brain to stop an action, in this case a thought, it has to use the brains inhibitory neurons, this in order to prevent the ongoing surge of excitatory neurons from firing and generating new thoughts. Blocking excitatory neurons is precisely the task of GABA. This is a process that requires much more effort for the brain, equivalent to the increased effort for individuals with ADHD to get themselves to actually relax. A factor intertwined with dysfunctional dopamine circuits in ADHD is “proneness to boredom” which is a major fact in the condition and other hyperactivity/impulsivity-related conditions. It is often not comprehensible of just how painful the experience of boredom can be to people who do not have their brains wired in this way. Reduced GABA and dopamine levels might also explain the phenomenon of instable sleep patterns in individuals with ADHD, often times, as understood from individual reports, these individuals find themselves having to completely wear themselves out before a relaxed state becomes a possible. Of course we could just as well apply the finding of decreased GABA levels and their effects on more general terms as Prof. Daniela Cavetti states in a publication of the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism.[4]

“Maybe this explains why it is so tiring to relax and think about nothing.“[5] Daniela Cavetti.

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Phase Sequences, Language and Psychological Adaptation

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By Robert DePaolo

Abstract

This article discusses a model of psychological adaptation by applying components of Donald Hebb’s phasic model of cognition/ brain function to the clinical concept of experiential congruity as seen in the psychoanalytic, client-centered and cognitive-behavioral methods. The possible use of a-training (psycho-innoculation) method analogous to that of Seligman is discussed and self directive language is described as a mechanism of implementation.

Theory and Research…

Donald Hebb’ proposed a neurophysiological model of learning and memory, partly in response to his frustration over the impasse during his time between the behaviorists and introspectionists. He was interested in the meditational process in the brain, specifically what happens in the period between presentation of a stimulus and subsequent response that finally consolidates learning and memory. His solution was something he called the cell assembly. He suggested that the brain is organized into cellular configurations which become hypersensitized to specific inputs with repetition of those inputs (1949). In a sense this notion not only built a bridge between introspectionism and learning theory but also between respondent and classical learning theories since they were seen as theories devoid of a meditational, cognitive component..

Hebb postulated that with repeated inputs specific cell assemblies are activated in the form of loops or circuits. These loops could be more or less exclusive, depending on the habit strength incurred through repetition. However Hebb also felt brain activity consisted of multiple assemblies, trended toward formation of hierarchical loops, and that there was some probability that one cell assembly could merge with and be influence by another to form a higher order, mega-circuit. Hebb referred to the interactions among cell assemblies and the hierarchical influence they purveyed as phase sequences.

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The influence of relaxation techniques and methods over stress and anxiety

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SUMMARY

This work includes a case study and theoretical basis which led to the accomplishment of a therapy plan and of a therapeutical deal and to client’s positive evolution. We also may highlight good consequences of Schultz-Jacobson relaxation methods and breathing exercises. The case study is a part of our daily reality and shows the importance of cognitive-behavioral approach for treating anxiety and long-term stress, and the progress which can be made this way, especially because the client had encountering a high level of anxiety, which generated difficulty in relaxation exercises. The client, female, age 23, was also encoutering difficulties in the relationship with her parents, especially with her mother, state of facts which started with financial problems, and in time, those difficulties had increased leading to her mother’s violent behavior. Eventually we have accomplished an improvement of her general status and of her ability to establish relationships with her close pearsons.

 

THE AUTOGENUOUS TRAINING (SCHULTZ)

The controlled modification of biological stress reactions involves using techniques which reduce psycho-physiological parameters of stress. One of the most important techniques is the autogenuous training.

The fundamentation of this method by J.H. Schultz at the beginning of XXth century, in Germany, is closely linked with medical hypnosis’ development.

The autogenuous training is a scientifically well foundamented method, experimentally and clinically verified which is characterised by simplicity and economicity, meaning it is easy to learn and it takes little time. The effects of this kind of training may be observed even from the very first days of practicing (a better relaxation, reduced anxiety, better sleep, concentration capacity and better memory capacity).

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Understanding the Self: an exploratory study on Freudian, Object-Relations and Social Constructionism theories

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Abstract

This study examines the concept of the self from a psychodynamic perspective with a discussion on the similarities and difference among Freudian, Object Relations and Social Constructionism theories. Findings suggest that a unitary self is dominant in the psychoanalytic position, whereas the social constructionism perspective indicates the existence of a distributed self as individuals have different identities. Due to historical changes on the post-Freudian theories of the self it also appears that a unique theoretical construct of the self is unlike, but rather a gradual and evolutionary transformation of the self might be acceptable.

The origin of psychodynamics lies in neurology, psychiatry, paediatric and clinical science. The importance of early years of life for the development of the self is experienced by all human beings and it involves how, when and to what end we construct our internal representations of the external world and the creation of selfhood. Our internal world and psychic realities are our selves, the self is influenced by other people and much of the self is constructed from our internal representations of other people, relationships, aspects of people and the way we relate to us and to each other. The structure and content of the self develops during early infancy and childhood through interactions with our parental figures. In our internal world our psychic reality is the only reality that exists, which can lead us to a sense of omnipotence, idealisations and denials. The external world and its internal representations and unconscious memories are entangled in our subjective life-experience and the way we act in the real world.

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The Psyche: A Biological Perspective

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By Robert DePaolo

Abstract

This article proposes that the human psyche derives functionally and structurally from the same mechanisms that led to the origin and increasing complexity of life forms in the course of time. The mechanism is described as a sequence of events whereby organic entities first emerged through an initial separation process in which they were able to partition themselves from the outer (extra-cellular) environment via membrane structures and mechanisms. That first organism/environmental partition led to a capacity for self-regulation, whereby cells developed their own insular energy and information producing capabilities. The trend toward greater subdivisions continued, as cells proceeded to become more intra-distinctive and internally complex. To adapt to and regulate their own internal complexity they developed broader, more flexible systemic rules and psycho-physiological parameters to accommodate further intra-distinctions in line with the continued trend toward further subdivisions. This article proposes that this trend is the sine qua non of the biological world, perhaps even exceeding natural selection in importance and that it is a model that can be applied to brain evolution and the origin of psychic functioning in man.

A Concept of Life…Themes and Variations

While the advent of life forms has been viewed as a highly improbable occurrence (Crick, 1982) it might have been fairly predictable. (Ball, 2006). The amino acids arising from the tumultuous conditions on earth 3.5 billion years ago were prone to line up in chain sequences that comprise proteins, the building blocks of animal tissue. The combination of protein structures and the emergence of a heavily bonded, internally resilient macromolecule known as DNA created a prototype for an entity with resilient anatomical and reproductive features that we now refer to as “life.”

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Essay: Sexual Selection, Adaptation and the Human Brain

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by Robert DePaolo

Abstract

This article discusses human evolution in terms of cue and trait detection skills facilitated by expansion of the human brain. A comparison is drawn regarding the co-impact of natural and sexual selection. The latter is considered to have a more potent, yet culturally influenced, happenstance effect on human evolution.

While natural selection is typically presumed to be the main driver of organic evolution, one could argue that in the course of an organism’s phylogenic development, nature, which changes slowly and often in punctuated fashion, has less to do with organic change than the simple interactions between males and females. Darwin of course alluded to this phenomenon in his discussions on sexual selection (1871). On the other hand the concept of fitness, which provides a cornerstone of his theory is not necessarily part of the sexual selection process, particularly for humans whose sensory discrimination, language and cognitive-creative capabilities might or might not coincide with fitness in a completely natural context – indeed might in some instances reverse nature’s tendency toward optimal organism-environmental congruence.

Evolution is a tricky concept; once tautological and vague. In and of itself the word implies a change or mutation into some new form. Yet the formal definition of the word has to do largely with the capacity among organisms to reproduce, as suggested in the work of Eberhard, (1996). The ambiguity of the term has to do with the fact that while adaptation and fitness are oft-used criteria, they are not encompassed in these narrow definitions. For example an organism can possess traits that are, or could be adaptive vis a vis the natural environment but unless he or she passed their genes on to the next generation, the potentially adaptive advantage of these traits would be irrelevant.

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