You can teach an old dog new tricks
This past year, I reviewed my tool box for therapeutic intervention and have found it seems to be lacking. Or maybe I have been bored with the tried and true which doesn't seem to be as effective as it once was. Don't get me wrong. Most of my kids are getting better, but something seems to be missing. While symptoms and behavior are improving and parents are feeling closer to their kid, the kid doesn't seem to be feeling better. Kids are telling me they feel like they continue to live in this ambient fear which tinges every interaction throughout the day. They want to know why this fear continues to haunt them even though they are successfully completing almost 100% of the interventions I have asked them to do. They tell me how they feel disappointed in the therapeutic process because "This is it? I do all this work and I still get to carry this big bag of shit around?" I observe how hard they are trying their little hearts out, but they just can't seem to make that fear disappear. They miss the meeting of what they know and what they believe and continue to live in doubt of so many issues. I also observe how little they try and find this is also heartbreaking because they just can't muster the energy to disappoint themselves and family just one more time. When parents and kids are frustrated, I am right alongside of them. I also feel frustration and wonder if I am offering all that I can offer. Can you teach an old dog new tricks? I am about to find out.....
After searching for better therapeutic techniques and interventions, I decided to embark on a journey of something new. During the 1990s, research about the brain and its functioning increased dramatically. In the last 15 years new terms like 'self regulation' and 'dysregulation' were introduced into the mental health field and we scrambled to find ways to explain this to the parents and to teach this to our clients. But, how do we get compliance from a kid diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder to commit to engaging with meditative interventions like yoga or Tai Chi? I have had no success in that area, I can tell you that.
So. What next. This weekend, I embarked on a journey in training to be a neurofeedback clinician. I feel like I have learned a very valuable skill to add to my toolbox of therapeutic intervention, not as a cure all. The presenters actually talked about Developmental Trauma and children with Reactive Attachment Disorder. They had a great understanding of how neurofeedback can decrease the resistance, or default mode, of kids who live in ambient fear, which is what we Attachment Therapists call preverbal trauma. We discussed how psychiatrists don't know how to help with these kids so they prescribe a psychotropic medication for a diagnosis, and, then have to prescribe a medication for the side effects the original medication has caused. I'm only in day 3 of the practicuum and I can tell you that I have decided that this intervention can help me to help my clients. And I am so excited to be able to provide this treatment soon.