The association between silence and powerlessness is one reason behind rape victims’ decision to remain silent about the assault. Rape victims, who most often are traumatized, face a wide array of negative experiences as a consequence of the violence. At the heart of this trauma narrative is the case of a female patient, 70 years old, suffering from tinnitus, for which she was offered psychotherapy. During one of the last therapy sessions the patient disclosed that she was raped at the age of 22 by a man she met when searching for a job. This case study explores the complex relationship between sensory fragments (i.e., hallucinations and tinnitus) and the disclosure of a hidden trauma that occurred half a century earlier. It also illustrates how establishing a confidential therapeutic alliance can contribute to a sustained integration of fragmented experiences of the trauma into a personal history.

Den neuropsykiatriska diagnosmanualen är ett trubbigt verktyg och saknar dessutom – i de flesta fall – ett individuellt perspektiv på de drabbade barnens situation. Att inte erkänna att människors erfarenheter och upplevelser skiljer sig åt, riskerar att marginalisera barn och unga. Vi behöver förstå att unga som försöker leva upp till vuxensamhällets förväntningar äger förmågor och egenskaper som behöver vårt skydd.

Tyvärr lägger psykologer inom barn- och ungdomspsykiatrin (BUP) och andra privata mottagningar för ADHD en stor del av sin tid på att utreda de lidande barnen, istället för att erbjuda terapi och stöd till både barn och vårdgivare. Föräldrar som i stället erbjuds hjälp att se sitt barn som en unik individ, utan den normativa bilden av önskvärt beteende, kan öka sin empatiska förmåga och sin tillit till barnet.

Background:

The prevalent, neuropsychiatric, deficit perspective on childrenand youth diagnosed with ADHD prohibits a multidimensional approach wheresocio-economic status, family stress and relationships within the familiesare relevant factors to examine. Assessments of ADHD through the use ofrating scales and short-term interventions may lead not only to overdiagnosis but also to a reductionistic approach in the psychiatric field. This literaturereview aims to address research outside the prevailing discourse on ADHD as an organic brain dysfunction and broaden the perspectives on children’s behavioral difculties.

Methods:

The articles included in this applied, mixed-method, systematic review includes 26 peer-reviewed articles, both English and French, with a search focus on ADHD in children and youth related to Attachment stylesand relationships.

Results:

In the studies reported, researchers approached correlations between ADHD and attachment in different ways, and in most cases, there was a caution to address causality. The role of parents was found to be both buffering and aggravating for the appearance of ADHD. In the French case studies, the diagnosis was conceptualized as a relational phenomenon where the child’s behavior was inseparable from family member’s suffering.

Discussion:

This review article illustrates how children’s difficulties in terms of ADHD symptoms can be addressed through a paradigm where emotional and cognitive dysregulation is understood through psychosocial factors rather than as a neurological condition. In our view, to avoid an overly reductionistic and medicalized approach to children’s behavioral difficulties, it is time to reiterate the value of the biopsychosocial perspective.

Conclusion:

Professionals and researchers need to acknowledge that becoming diagnosed with ADHD has a strong connection to economic disadvantage, social status, and familial care. The academic discourse of addressing brain dysfunctions might serve the unintended purpose of masking emotional stress and social disadvantage that manifests across generations. A biopsychosocial approach to ADHD including family, emotional history, and socio-economic issues could imply a lesser focus on medical treatment as a first choice.

Background: Adolescence is a period in life characterized by major neurobiological, physiological, and psychological changes. Those changes may give rise to worsened mental health and an increased prevalence of somatic complaints combined with a negative psychosocial environment. Rapid changes in society, which may also affect young people in several ways, call for a renewed screening of today's adolescents' mental and somatic well-being. Aim: The present study's primary aim was to measure the level of self-rated psychological distress and the prevalence of somatic complaints in a sample of Swedish high school students. As a secondary aim, it identifies gender-specific patterns and examines mental and somatic health in relation to negative psychosocial factors (such as parental alcohol use problems or the experience of physical or psychological abuse). Method: Two hundred and eighty-seven Swedish high school students completed a survey including the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and a questionnaire about the presence of defined somatic complaints. In order to examine the relationship between negative psychosocial factors and mental and somatic health, three groups were formed: those reporting (i) parental substance use problems, (ii) previous experience of abuse, (iii) none of these problems. Results: The majority of the Swedish high-school students (>80%) reported no or only a few problems with psychological distress and no or only one somatic complaint. Female students disclosed a significantly higher psychological distress level captured by each BSI domain. The number of somatic complaints was similarly distributed between the genders. The students rarely reported parental substance use problems, but almost 40% of the male and 50% of the female students indicated the experience of physical and/or psychological abuse. Such negative psychosocial circumstances were related to an increased level of anxiety in the male and an increased general level of psychological distress in female students. Conclusions: The study confirmed female students' higher psychological distress level. Gender differences in the type of somatic complaints, but not in the number were detected. The experience of physical and/or psychological abuse was found to significantly worsen psychological distress in students of both genders.

Background: The challenges facing people with chronic tinnitus include finding relief and rebuilding quality of life. However, previous traumatic episodes may influence adjustment and prolong suffering. Recovery implies reducing aggravating reactions and improving social roles, relationships and interests. Self-narratives about living with tinnitus have not yet received the attention they deserve in the research literature. Thus, the main goal of the present study was to illustrate how tinnitus suffering interacts with the participants’ unique life histories. Method: Four women and one man (ages 52–58) took part in the study after consulting a special hearing clinic for annoying tinnitus. Criteria for inclusion were that tinnitus was regarded as a problem with negative consequences for quality of life. The participants should be willing to share how the experience of tinnitus suffering interacts with their previous life story. Narrative methodology was employed in order to achieve the goals of the study. We used unstructured interviews with free conversation, which allowed for rich narratives with full contextual meaning. Results: The findings, based on the narrative analysis, revealed that three out of five participants presented a regressive form of narrative indicating ongoing struggles beyond tinnitus itself, which they were unable to bring to closure. For them, valued goals were continuously thwarted by frustrating circumstances in their lives, either past events or current unresolved issues. Progressive and stable narratives, as identified in the other two participants, demonstrated values that rely on others’ attitude and understanding toward their suffering, in sharp contrast to the regressive narratives. We suggest that a central issue in tinnitus rehabilitation should be to help suffering patients to overcome unresolved conflicts and thereby extend their ability for a fuller commitment in life. Conclusion: Considering enduring tinnitus as a chronic condition, whose course is likely to vary depending on the patient’s general health status, an alteration of progressive and stable narratives is likely to occur during the lifespan. A progressive narrative shows similarities to the core construct of the salutogenesis model of health promotion (1). In conclusion, a narrative approach in tinnitus rehabilitation can be health promoting by offering the patient the opportunity to engage in storytelling, which in turn can increase comprehensibility and a sense of coherence. © Copyright © 2020 Erlandsson, Lundin and Dauman.

The foetal environment is filled with a variety of noises. Among the manifold sounds of the maternal respiratory, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular systems, the intonation properties of the maternal language are well perceived by the foetus, whose hearing system is already functioning during the last trimester of gestation. These intonation (melodic) features, reflecting native-language prosody, have been found to shape vocal learning. Having had ample opportunity to become familiar with their mother's language in the womb, newborns have been found to exhibit salient pitch-based elements in their own cry melodies. An interesting issue is whether an intrauterine exposure to a maternal pitch accent language, such as Swedish, in which emphatic syllables are pronounced typically on a higher pitch relative to other syllables will affect newborns' cry melody (fundamental frequency contour). The present study aimed to answer this question by quantitatively analysing and comparing the melody structure in 52 Swedish compared with 79 German newborns. In accordance with previous approaches, cry melody structure was analysed by calculating a melody complexity index (MCI) expressing the share of cries exhibiting two or more (well-defined) arc-like substructures uttered during the recording sessions. A low MCI reflects a dominance of cries with a 'simple', i.e. single-arc melody. A significantly higher MCI was found in the Swedish infant group, which further corroborates the assumption that the well-known foetal sensitivity for musical (melodic) stimuli seems to shape infants' cry melody.

PURPOSE: This study presents a qualitative analysis of information posted on the Internet by two communities of French parents promoting the recognition of ADHD in the context of current health and school practices.

METHOD: Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin's approach) was applied to the posted messages, with the aim to discover the main concern and common theme through a constant comparison analysis.

RESULTS: Liberating parents from feeling responsible for their child's misconduct was found to be the core category. From this perspective, we account for the commitment of the digital communities to formalize the child's conduct as a consequence of a neurodevelopmental disorder. This approach helps to account for the promotion of behavioural expertise and conditioning strategies (e.g., positive reinforcement) for handling the child's so-called disorder as appropriate parental responses. Giving evidence for parenting struggles was the third main concern of the communities, in the face of perceived skepticism from professionals towards ADHD as a medical condition.

CONCLUSIONS: By using examples from countries that are found to have a more pro-medical approach to ADHD, the communities aim at improving such medical practices in France. Issues surrounding the claim that ADHD would require a specific style of parenting are also discussed.