Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

In the literature on child and adolescent psychoanalysis attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is described as complex syndrome with wide-ranging psychodynamic features. Broadly speaking, the disorder is divided into three categories: 1. a disorder in early object relations leading to the development of a maniform defence organization in which object-loss anxieties and depressed affects are not worked through via symbolization but are organized in a body-near manner; 2. a triangulation disorder in which the cathexis of the paternal position is not stable; structures providing little support alternate with excessive arousal, affect regulation is restricted; 3. current emotional stress or a traumatic experience. I suggest taking a fresh look at ADHD from a psychoanalytic vantage point. With respect to the phenomenology of the disorder, the conflict-dynamic approach should be supplemented by a perspective regarding deficits in α-function as constitutive for ADHD. These deficits cause affect-processing and thought disorders compensated for (though not fully) by the symptomatology. At a secondary level, a vicious circle develops through the mutual reinforcement of defective processing of sense data and affects into potential thought content, on the one hand, and secondary, largely narcissistic defence processes on the other. These considerations have major relevance for the improved understanding of ADHD and for psychoanalytic technique

Affect (linguistics · Affect regulation · Arousal · Attachment theory · Developmental psychology · Object relations theory · Phenomenology (philosophy · Psychoanalytic theory · Psychotherapist · Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder · Bipolar Disorder and Treatment · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Clinical Psychology · Psychology · Social Psychology

• Is ADHD a way of conceptualizing long-term emotional stress and social disadvantage

  Open Access•Soly Erlandsson, Soly I Erlandsson et al.•Frontiers in Public Health•2022

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• The relationships between attachment styles, reflective functioning, and emotion regulation in mothers of children diagnosed with ADHD

  Open Access•Ugo Pace, Giulio D’Urso et al.•Current Psychology•2023

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• When the Analytic Patient has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

  Open Access•Stephen B Bernstein•Journal of the American…•2015

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• Molecular Genetics of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

  Open Access•Stephen V Faraone, Roy H Perlis et al.•Biological Psychiatry•2005

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• Early Television Exposure and Subsequent Attentional Problems in Children

  Dimitri Christakis, Dimitri A Christakis et al.•PEDIATRICS•2004

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• Successful Child Psychotherapy of Attention Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder

  Open Access•Burton Norman Seitler•The American Journal of…•2008

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• The impact of words on children with ADHD and Damp Consequences for psychoanalytic technique

  Open Access•Björn Salomonsson•The International Journal of…•2006

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• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and trauma

  Open Access•Alan Sugarman•The International Journal of…•2006

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• The Unconsciousand Psychosis

  Open Access•Franco de•The International Journal of…•2000

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• A Psychoanalytic Perspective On Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

  Open Access•Karen Gilmore•Journal of the American…•2000

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• Mentalization and the changing aims of child psychoanalysis

  P Fonagy, Mary Target•Psychoanalytic Dialogues•1998

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