Hyperactivity as a consequence of psychological trauma

60% of parents and teachers’ consultations with a psychologist are about hyperactive behavior of children. Some children are given hyperactivity (ADHD), others are not.

When minimal brain dysfunction is excluded, hyperactivity is often a consequence of psychological trauma. And yes, this does not mean that the stressful situation happened once. It is often repeated, retraumatization and an increase in the symptom occur.

How does this happen ?!

Our body is cleverly designed – in a stressful situation, the basic instincts are triggered: fight or flight! For this, our body produces a huge amount of energy (I think you have heard a lot about stories when in a stressful situation a person behaves like a superman and easily lifts or jumps where in ordinary life there would not be enough strength). And this is good – the body expends the super-energy that it has released. But if neither “hit” or “run” does not work, the third method is activated – numbness (there is a video on the Internet where animals suddenly shackle their bodies from fright and fall). And just imagine, the energy was released, but not wasted and where did it go ?! – nowhere, it remained in the body.

Now imagine if the child is often scolded, shouted. This is a stressful situation for him. You can’t leave while the adults are scolding, but you want to run away and hide. And the energy for this action is also developed … And the child is scolded for a year, two, five … How much energy will he accumulate there during this time ?! And then the parents are surprised that the child has become nervous, twitchy, restless, not plodding. Why do you think? Of course, the energy that has accumulated during this time is sharashting him from the inside.

Dear Parents! Every time we scold a child, we think that he is aware and will not be like this anymore. And this is not so! The child becomes anxious, twitchy and, yes, hyperactive and restless.

The way we communicate with children will come back to haunt him in the future: depression, panic attacks, dissociative disorders, helplessness, post-traumatic stress disorder … But you certainly will not allow your child to have such a future! If you understand that you are breaking down, then you are tired or you do not have enough knowledge of what to do! And for this you have us – psychologists!

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