Events The Search for Fulfillment: Creating Inner Trust Provide inner boundaries for the parts of yourself that may create resistance on your path to personal growth. Bring these sabotaging or resistant parts on board to create an environment of support, trust and enthusiasm for your personal journey. More Information September 12 - Nanaimo, BC Open to the Public Community Service Day Under the supervision of The ARC Institute co-founder, Pietro Abela, Certified ARC Health Practitioners (CAHP) will offer half hour sessions to the public. More information October 10 - Parksville, BC Open to the General Public Why We Sabotage Ourselves: How Self-Sabotage is an Indicator of Successful Change Learn how self-sabotage is predictable, preventable and one of the prime indicators of successful movement towards change. Find out the quickest and most efficient ways to move out of sabotage and back onto the path of self-empowerment. More information October 16 - Seattle, WA Open to the General Public

Chat Join us for scheduled real time live online discussions. Click here for details on our next scheduled chat.

Newsletter Sign up for The ARC Institute’s FREE newsletter: Name: Email:

Articles An Interview with Pietro Abela Animals Are People Too ARC Bodywork: A Return to Consciousness Attention Deficit Disorder Awareness Alone May Not Guarantee The Change You Seek BODY-SPEAK™ Contemplating Burnout Creative Codependence Grounding Shock Treatment Something Called Faith Spiritual Direction The Caretaker and the Healer The Truth about Sabotage

Attention Deficit Disorder

Adapted from The ARC Newsletter: Client Question Corner

This question was received from Amy Hanson to Pietro Abela

"There are so many children that are being diagnosed with ADHD and ADD in current years. With full acknowledgement that each client must be treated individually, are there any guidelines you can offer to work energeticallywith the common symptomsof these children?"

My experience in treating attention deficit disorder has mainly been with children. The main thrust of my treatment has been nutritional. In the first session with the child I usually focus on dietary change and herbal, vitamin and mineral support. The ADD child uses up so much energy as a result of their condition, it is vitally important they receive nutritional supplementation to replete the lost energy, otherwise the child will live from a depleted state. The diet’s focus is usually on the elimination of dietary stimulants since the disorder is reflective of a hyper-adrenal response. For children this primarily means the elimination or reduction of sugar, though hot foods and spices would be included in this. It is also important to determine any individual allergies as these too would contribute to an over-stimulation of the system.

Table work and ARC-Work are secondary supports to the nutritional treatments and serve the purpose of teaching the child’s system about experience of calmness and creating opportunities for dialogue with the child for release. ADD children are often very sensitive and intelligent people. Their behaviour is often abrasive to their friends, family and teachers and consequently they can be prone to receiving misunderstanding and sometimes abuse from those who are unable to tolerate their bouts of hyper-behaviour. Therefore giving space for them to simply talk and express is important.

However, this takes not only patience but often the willingness for the therapist to being a contortionist. Many have been the times when I have followed a young client with this disorder from the top of the table to beneath the table, to the window sills then to the back of the couch. I have had to remove fragile objects from the session room and on many occasions have taken a spontaneous walk or run around the block with the child which has sometimes turned into wanting me to chase them. It is not an easy gig. To work with a child with this disorder entails a lot of physical energy, much more than for the average client.

ADD is a condition reflected in excess energy at the top of the head. The ARC Practitioner’s hands-on approach then is to bring energy down from the top of the body as well as support energetic release. The form of choice then is the Reverse Chelation with the addition of other ARC release techniques, such as vacuuming in locations where they are needed. The Nervous System Balance is another useful choice. However, the practitioner should be prepared to break up techniques into chunks, to allow the ADD child to run off some more steam before returning to the table – if indeed he or she is willing to return.

The most interesting components of ADD are the parents. I have proposed dietary change for ADD children on numerous occasions. While the parents have mostly enthusiastically agreed with the recommendations and saw in many cases significant improvement in the child’s condition when these changes are implemented, many fail to support the diet and the taking of nutrients on an on-going basis. This is rarely due to the parent’s change of heart, but more to do with their inability and unwillingness to see their child being deprived of the stimulating foods, even though they know them to be contra-indicative. The parents have to be fully involved and in support of the child’s changes. If they are not then I strongly advocate them taking sessions to work on their own co-dependent issues.

I have come to learn that ADD is not a condition that is limited to the child, but one that needs to include the whole of the family, particularly the parents. Though I am not one to impose emotional formulae on symptomatic issues, I feel the parents’ abilities to set strong and appropriate boundaries from working through their co-dependent issues along with dietary changes, nutritional supplement support and creating space for their emotional expression is the most assured way to treat this issue.