It asks the questions:
How do crises, trauma, long-term chaos, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) fit together?
What is cause and what is effect?
What are the implications for crisis intervention or treatment?
The widely accepted Gerald Caplan view of crisis is that the state is time limited and after a period, perhaps about six weeks, the crisis is resolved, adaptively or maladaptively. What form this maladaptive behavior takes is less clear. Presumably, Caplan refers to some form of mental illness. PTSD is the result of crisis or trauma adaptation. The PTSD symptoms include: increased arousal, hypervigilance, difficulty concentrating, inattention, irritability, avoidance, foreshortened view of the future, loss of motivation, flashbacks, ritual play. These same symptoms are characteristic of traumatized children (who may lack a single traumatic event but may live in a constant state of chaos, type II trauma).
Upon reaching school age, many traumatized children are diagnosed ADD based upon exhibited behaviors of: inattention, hypervigilance, impulsivity, easy frustration and other symptoms common with PTSD and trauma. Current neurophysiology studies (specifically Bruce Perry, Baylor University) suggests actual neurophysiological changes and resultant behavior in traumatized individuals. This has implications for early crisis intervention, family, individual and group therapy. Would early crisis intervention decrease the misdiagnosis of ADD in school age children? Which symptoms are true ADD and which are maladaptive crisis behaviors? Is the label ADD a catch-all phrase for various behaviors? These and other questions will be explored.