I help families with child and adolescent adjustment disorder hypnotherapy. As a clinical psychotherapist and mental health professional (PACFA) I say families and carers because the problem doesn’t happen in isolation.
There may be several contributing causes such as physical, mental, family, and social influences. So, the solutions also need to be multiple. As a naturopath (ANPA) I naturally first look at what may be happening physically.
I also use hypnotherapy (AHA) to help the young person accelerate the changes they need to make to become more adaptable and adjust to their changing world.
What is an adjustment disorder (AD)?
Young people can have wonderful adventures growing up, but also at times it can be thwarted with fear, self-doubt, difficult journeys, transitions, and danger.
No child or adolescent is the same. They develop at different rates and in different ways at different times of their lives. Sometimes they may be ahead of their peers and sometimes behind.
Humans are, to a greater extent, pack animals, and gather into groups of alphas and the rest of us. This means that many young people who are not adjusting well or fitting in with others can become isolated and lonely.
Some young people get left behind or are too fearful to go on to the next stage of their personal development. They can become withdrawn, anxious, depressed or even resentful and angry. If not treated this can lead to long-term mental health difficulties (1).
What are the AD physical causes of adjustment disorders?
Physical causes can be your offspring has a genetic variance, such as the MTHFR gene, which leads to them having problems in physical and mental performance. This gives rise to erratic behaviours or extreme tiredness because the folate energy cycle is not working well.
Nutritional problems such as allergies, hypersensitivity to food, the wrong diet for that person, food additives or vitamin and mineral deficiency all cause and add to changes in behaviour.
Heavy metal toxic loading such as excess lead, mercury, cadmium, copper, aluminum, chlorine or bismuth can lead to changes in intelligence, learning ability, emotional control and behaviours. Also chemical poisoning such as excess PCPs, exposure to organophosphates, household products, illicit drugs and medications can cause changes to the brain (2).
Diseases caused by infection from bacteria, viruses, worms, protozoa, spirochetes, early onset cancer or dementia and so on can all change the brain, behaviour and energy levels. Physical brain injury, disablement or neurodivergence can also have major effects on behaviour.
I may order screening or refer to a specialist for any of these if I suspect there may be a problem we can’t treat.
What are the AD psychological causes?
There are so many psychological and emotional influences on a young person’s brain, mind, personality, behaviour and experiences. They include family, friends, teachers, religion, community and exposure to books, comics, video games, television programs, films and even what they see in the street.
Some of these sneak past your radar as a parent or carer so your child may be exposed to unsanctioned, unsuitable, damaging negative information. This can influence their psychology in a dangerous and negative way, causing them distress. It causes maladaptive emotions and behaviours to ordinary, everyday cultural daily stressors (3).
It’s scary at times getting from zero to 21 years of age. You often don’t have a guidebook and don’t know how to navigate difficult situations. It can give rise to all sorts of phobias that the parent doesn’t know about, and they may carry over all the way into adulthood.
Accidental parenting is also a common reason for adjustment disorders, along with absent parenting, lack of support, failure of parents to connect with the child, parents’ mental health problems, lack of monitoring, too severe discipline, overcontrolling, failure to teach independence and resilience, and family arguments in front of young people (4).
Identify young people who are susceptible to AD
It’s hard raising a family at times. Parents are also under so many pressures such as making a living, keeping a roof over the family’s head, food on the table, paying the bills, keeping a job, and advancing their careers.
At times problems with your child’s behaviour can be missed as you’re trying to cope with all of life’s other issues. You might think your child is doing okay but remember there’s a great deal that children don’t tell you for so many different reasons.
What to look for:
- Sudden changes in behaviour
- Unusual changes in academic performance
- Being unusually withdrawn and antisocial
- Extremely anxious or depressed behaviour
- Sudden explosions of temper or aggression
- Secretiveness and deception
What parents and carers need to do
The first thing is don’t ignore what’s happening and pretend it will get better in time. Sure, young people rebel against older people at times but when it’s including antisocial, aggressive, out-of-control behaviours it’s a sign youngsters need help.
Seek professional help for the young person to be able to talk about their problems and be taught ways to handle their emotions and behaviours better.
Don’t try and do it all yourself as you may be part of the problem, so you need a detached, objective, skilled person to help the young person change fast and adjust to life’s changes.
Ask for help from your family or community, some of whom may have a better relationship with your youngster. Also, it’s good to have support for you, the parents or carer as well.
Young people often don’t tell their parents or carers what’s going on with them. In fact they can hide the reason for their distress and behaviour. They don’t want to be judged by you. They may not even know why they’re behaving as they are.
How hypnotherapy helps
With hypnotherapy we can help train the mind and reroute the neural pathways in the brain fast. This quickly changes thoughts, emotions and behaviours.
Adjustment disorder is frequently an aggressive behaviour. The defense mechanisms generally live in the conscious critical mind so talking therapy often raises resistance to change.
In hypnosis we bypass the conscious, defensive, critical mind. The unconscious mind is over 99% of your awareness so we can ask it in hypnosis to tell us why the person is distressed.
Constant exposure to better messages via suggestion during hypnosis makes it easier for the young person to change and adjust to their situation.
Book your appointment with Dr Tracie O’Keefe DCH for help for young people with adjustment disorders, by calling 0403 398 808. Healthfund rebates may apply. In-clinic visits or by Zoom anywhere in the world
References
(1) Mulligan, A. (2018). Adjustment disorders in child and adolescent psychiatry. In P. Casey (Ed.), Adjustment disorders: From controversy to clinical practice, 123–139. Oxford University Press. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-11634-009
(2) Saikia, D., Sharma, R.K., & Janardhan, K. (2020). Clinical profile of poisoning due to various poisons in children of age 0–12 years. J Family Med Prim Care, 9(5): 2291–2296. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7380753/
(3) O’Donnell, M., Agathos, J., Metcalf, O., Gibson, K., & Lau, W. (2019). Adjustment Disorder: Current Developments and Future Directions. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 16(14): 2537. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6678970/
(4) Daines, C., Hansen, D., Novilla, M. L., & Crandall, A. (2021). Effects of positive and negative childhood experiences on adult family health. BMC Public Health, 21(651). https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-021-10732-w
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