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| Photo: thedubinclinic.org |
I have always found the human brain to be fascinating. (In fact, at one point I wanted to be a psychologist, but was even more interested in how the body & brain work together, so I opted for a degree in exercise science instead.) In spite of what we already know, there is so much more that we are still learning.
Today's article is a Guest Post by Dr. Albert Forwood, a neurologist & chiropractor who has been working to improve the functional abilities of people’s brains for the last 20 years.
I've had the pleasure of working directly with Dr. Forwood and the staff at the Brain Balance Center in Wayne, PA for the past 2 years. Much of what he, and Dr. Melillo (founder of the Brain Balance Program) taught me, as well as what I learned in the Brain Gym program, has been integrated into my children's yoga programming. I am so thrilled to share one Dr. Forwood's articles with you below:
It is easy for us to think of the nagging child, persistently asking again and again, as a normal stage of a human development. But what if they don't grow out of it?
There are many questions about Compulsive Disorder conditions that affect people, the people around them, and about the help that may get the thoughts under control.
Compulsive disorders, diagnosed through behavioral evaluations, come in different expressions but the results are the same: unhappiness for those people and the people around them. There is a difference between a nagging child who wants something and a child with Compulsive Disorder.
When a Compulsive Disorder is present there is no getting off the thought that occurs over and over again. Compulsive Disorder has been in the news of late because numerous celebrities have come out to say they are afflicted with this condition and how it is a problem in their lives. Leonardo DiCaprio, Megan Fox, Billy Bob Thornton, and Donald Trump are just a few as it seems it is common place among the stars.
Compulsive thoughts drive them and the people around them to frustration. Children with Compulsive Disorder can annoy and lose friends with their odd, persistent, and repetitive behaviors.
There are several ways that compulsive disorders can cause distress with time wasting compulsions and other behavioral oddities:
- Washers have a compulsion to clean for fear of contamination.
- Counters and arrangers are obsessed with order.
- Doubters and do-gooders feel harm will come if things are not perfect.
- Checkers will keep checking things like the lock on the door or other things they associate with fear.
- Hoarders compulsively keep things.
When the condition affects children they often experience isolation and can become hard to manage. Compulsive Disorder is common with kids with ADHD, Asperger's, Autism, and Tourettes. This is because there are similarities between these conditions in the way their brains work, or rather, similarities of their brain weaknesses that causes their similar behaviors.
Programs, such as Brain Balance, looks at these conditions as a Disconnection Syndrome of the brain and has an effective approach to improve this condition for children. If this condition is not cleared up in childhood it may become more difficult to make changes to the brain once matured.
These conditions are caused by an imbalance in the hemispheres of the brain. It is commonly caused by "too much left brain" (because of developmental delays of the right brain that cause normal circuits to be under connected).
The left brain is the approach side, like the accelerator on a car, and the right brain is the withdraw side, like the brake. A mental thought or muscle action may be initiated (with the left brain) and in the normal brain there is a mechanism to turn it back off (with the right brain).
If the right brain circuits are underdeveloped it cannot do its job and the thought persists, over and over again.
Children have the unique ability to speed up their lagging development when the correct stimulus is provided, primarily though a daily targeted sensory-motor (exercise/movement) routine, followed appropriate tutoring. That means that if the unique developmental delays of these children can be found, and the correct stimulus applied in the appropriate way, they can speed up development that helps the brain circuits connect in the way they are supposed to. These new neuro-connections will lead the children away from a brain with compulsive thoughts to a brain with thoughts that are under control.
Compulsive disorders seem to be a growing problem at a similar rate of increase as other behavioral and learning disorders. Because children are in the process of development, the areas of the brain that are underdeveloped, can be brought closer to full development.
The hope for a lifetime of relief from Compulsive Disorder may lie with intervention during childhood. An appropriately developed, balanced brain may provide freedom for the child stuck on a thought.
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| Dr. Forwood, DC |
Dr Albert Forwood is a chiropractic neurologist and director of the Brain Balance Center in Wayne PA. Read more about him and listen to his podcasts at: Natural Health by Dr. Forwood
Dr. Forwood will be presenting at the Gwynedd Mercy Autism Institute, at the 6th Annual Autism Conference, on Saturday April 13, 2013, in Gwynedd, PA
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*(Based on the Brain Balance Program.)
Contact Barbara: bodylogique@yahoo.com or leave a comment below
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