dr-alison

LISTENING

Tue, 14 Dec 2021 17:47:23 GMT

Tips to get your children to listen!

What parent doesn’t get frustrated with the “repeat, remind cycle”- if you are not familiar with this, let me set the scene:

Parent “Can you please tidy this mess up in here?”

Child (carries on playing)

Parent “ Darling can you do that for me please?

Child (carries on playing)

Parent “Are you listening?! I said tidy up!”

Sound more familiar now? As a parent there are few things more frustrating than needing to get out the door and telling your child for the fourth or fifth time to put their shoes on, go to the bathroom, or get their coat. So how can we get our children to actively listen to us and engage- in the process, making a generally happier and more harmonious home?

1. What is the “distraction?”

Assuming that you have checked all the necessary auditory processing skills and that you are confident that your child is actively choosing NOT to listen rather than finding it hard or impossible to do so- let’s turn our attention to what your child is choosing not to pay attention to. Is it an instruction that takes them away from an activity the enjoy- such as playing? Is it an instruction that reminds them to share with a sibling and they may be experiencing some jealousy or anger? Is it a request to stop doing something that channels an emotion in some way- such as repetitive or destructive behavior channeling anxiety or anger? Observe the times your child is actively “not listening”- and ask, what is it they want to control at this moment? And more importantly what do they get out of ignoring this instruction?

2. Acknowledge the “power imbalance”

Rare is the child who doesn’t experience frustration or outright anger at the “unfairness” of being told what to do by adults. Little people are often reminded by the world just how little power they have, and might have daydreams about what they will do when they “grow up” and the power becomes theirs. Its inappropriate to offer control to children in situations where they cannot be responsible for their safety or those around them. It is also inappropriate to offer them to set boundaries that they cannot cognitively handle- such as deciding how much TV is “too much” or what is considered a “balanced diet”. You can however offer little “pieces of power” throughout the day, offer a choice between meals or clothes options, offer choice on activities or the order of schedule for the day, or things to watch on TV or books to read. All children want to feel a little bit of control and this can help with defiance or obstruction in other areas

3. Use “please” rather than “don’t”, and don’t forget “thank you!”

When forbidding or giving a “don’t” instruction for a behavior you are requiring a child to consider the action they need to stop and think about what the action should be replaced with- in order to prevent confusion, explain the action you would like to see. For example “Don’t throw your toys” could be phrased as “Please be gentle with your toys”, or “Don’t leave a mess in here” could become “Please put the toys in the basket when you’ve finished playing, thank you”.

4. Humour is always a good teaching tool

Whilst it’s not always easy to find the energy to play the clown, it is one of the best ways to engage children to get them to listen and perform a task. Where possible make a game of an activity such as tidying up or getting dressed and watch the difference in the attentiveness and responsiveness of your children

5. Eye contact

This can be an easy one to forget but it can make a big impact when we come down to a child’s level and really try to engage them with eye contact and gentle touch. This can help focus their attention on you and absorb what it is you are saying.The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.

CREATIVITY & ADHD

Tue, 14 Dec 2021 17:40:07 GMT

Creativity and ADHD

ADHD has been said to have a link with low levels of dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain, causing a low attention span and an inability to focus. Many ADHD medications will be prescribed with the intent to correct these levels, but what else is there available to give the brain a helping hand?

In my blog post on “ The Minefield of ADHD ” I talk about possible lifestyle changes, that can really help to manage the symptoms and stress caused by ADHD, such as getting more sleep, eating a healthy brain-food diet and getting active. But there is another hugely important tool in tackling ADHD , and that is increasing your creativity…

Dopamine is sometimes touted as the “creative chemical”, and there are reports of various artists, musicians , and poets actually taking dopamine pills to help increase their creative output. Professor Rivka Inzelberg in her study of Parkinsons patients and dopamine medication, lists one of the effects of the medication as increased creativity, with some patients developing new “talents” they did not previously present with. The connection between creative activity and levels of dopamine in the brain is an interesting one, if dopamine potentially elevates creativity, then could creativity elevate dopamine?

But what does this mean in ADHD terms – should we start prescribing Parkinsons pills to treat ADHD in the hope that the dopamine will alter the “imbalance”? No of course not, but should we encourage them to undertake more creative activities to potentially help increase their dopamine? I would argue- yes!

Creativity has been shown in many studies to have a positive effect on individuals. Such as the peer reviewed study by Ebersole and Hess (1998) listing the following benefits of creative activity:

Create balance and order
Give a sense of control over the external world
Make something positive out of a loss, bad experience or depression
Maintain your sense of integrity
Help resolve conflicts
Make thought and feeling clear
A greater sense of well-being and personal growth

Any parent of an ADHD child or adult ADHD sufferer will tell you that the idea of “creating balance and order” sounds like a far-fetched dream, but perhaps by increasing yours or your child’s creative output, you might just get there!

Creativity can also increase confidence in the child who might otherwise struggle in the “classic” academic subjects ,due to an inability to “sit down and listen”. Creativity in its essence is totally individual and in his wonderful TED talk “You are a lot more creative than you think” renowned artist John Paul Caponigro tells us how to appreciate and get in touch with our individual creativity. There is no right or wrong way to be creative, unlike many of the more staid and stoic academic subjects such as Maths or Science, everyone is good at being creative.

Even more encouragingly , Holly A. White from the University of Memphis and Priti Shah of the University of Michigan, published an ADHD and creativity study showing: “adults with ADHD showed higher levels of original creative thinking … and higher levels of real-world creative achievement, compared to adults without ADHD.” So not only might creative activity help with low levels of dopamine but ADHD sufferers may actually possess an inherent talent for it!

There is still room for more evidence based research on the benefits of arts therapies and ADHD and it is one I hope to explore in the future, but I think the suggestions all seem to point to the idea that ADHD can be helped by some creative activity.

ARTS THERAPIES

Tue, 14 Dec 2021 17:31:29 GMT

Arts therapies: Do they work?

What are arts therapies?

Arts therapies are forms of psychotherapy that use creative activity to help a client access their unconscious, find full range of expression, develop self confidence and promote personal growth. They use one of, or a combination of, art forms such as art, drama, dance, or music, to work therapeutically with a client. They are sometimes grouped together with play therapy, due to their shared emphasis on imagination and creative expression, to help tackle mental unrest.

The theoretical basis of arts therapy comes from Jungian psychoanalysis, Gestalt therapy, and person-centred therapy. Using the ideas of “unconscious”, “projection”, “transference” and “counter transference”, they work with creative tools to access a clients inner world with the aim of providing insight and positive growth for the client.

How do they work?

Arts therapies as mentioned previously use a number of psychoanalytical and person-centred tools to work with a client. For example an arts therapist works very much in the present with the client and puts great emphasis on the therapeutic relationship, taking from the Rogerian idea of developing an empathic, and positive therapeutic interaction to help the client feel comfortable enough to disclose their inner world.

Arts therapists also draw very heavily on Jung’s famous ideas of metaphors and symbols containing the path to our unconscious. Jung was the original pioneer of dream analysis and it has proven to be an effective therapeutic tool for over a 100 years. Arts therapies choose a metaphor (that can either be created by the client or an already established story, painting etc) to help the client investigate the meaning, that is imprinted upon the images, by the client’s psyche.

The idea of metaphors as a “distancing tool” is something I talk about in my post on “Arts therapies and PTSD” and this “distancing” aspect of metaphor, also connects to the Jungian idea of metaphors as a road to the unconscious. By allowing one’s psyche to leave the cognitive space of verbal communication and moving in to the unconscious- the imagination, a client can find things coming to the surface that were previously unknown.

Unlike many other therapies, arts therapies start from the “health” of a client, by working with the inherent creative and imaginative powers that are present in every human being. Every one has dreams, thoughts, creative ideas and abilities, and everyone has some ability to play. Arts therapies use these to help the client find coping mechanisms or new ways to express their inner world, that I would argue (allowing for my bias as an arts therapist!) that other therapies cannot. Everyone is a compendium of stories, but not every story can be told in the same way, arts therapy help to find the right narrator for your story.

Do you have to be “creative” to do arts therapy?

Well the answer is yes, but don’t worry as an arts therapist I believe that everyone is creative, whether they know it or not.

Do you have to have “done” art, drama etc before? No you do not, art therapies are a therapy not a lesson. There is no expectation to be “good”, you are inherently “good” at being imaginative, it is a capacity every human brain possesses in some description. What ever appears on a page or in the room, is “good”, as that is what is present.

How are arts therapies regulated? Can anyone do it?

Arts therapies are practiced widely across the globe in a variety of settings including psychiatric hospitals, not for profit organisations, educational establishments and community groups. The UK, Europe, America, and Australia each have their own governing body to regulate the efficacy and ethics of their practitioners.

Arts and play therapies in the UK are recognised and accredited by the Health Care and Professions Council (HCPC), seen by many global providers as the “gold standard” of accreditation for psychological and health therapies. Training for arts therapists in the UK, Australia or the USA is currently a three year clinical Masters at one of the recognised training providers.

Do they work?

There is an ever expanding evidence base for arts therapies, and it is recognised as a practice by many large mental health providers such as the NHS in the UK, and the public health system in the USA. However, like all forms of qualitative research, the evidence is based on human experience and interpretation as opposed to numerical data. There is now a shift for arts therapies to become more quantitative in its presented evidence.

Suggested Further Reading...

Jennings. S (2011) Healthy attachments and neurodramatic play, Jessica Kingsley, London

Gilroy,A (2007) Art therapy, Research and Evidence based practice, Sage Publications, London

(ed) Dokter. D, Holloway. P, Seebohm. H (2011) Dramatherapy and Destructiveness: creating the evidence base, playing with Thanatos, Jessica Kingsley, London

Winnicott. D W, (2005) Playing and Reality, Routledge (2nd ed.), London