Abstract
According to recent findings ADHD symptoms and neural mechanisms are closely related to symptoms of extreme stress similar to PTSD and also to disintegrated conscious experience that has been found in dissociative disorders (Endo et al. 2006; Johnson et al. 2007; Sugar and Ford 2012; Martinez et al. 2016). These findings seem to be very important for understanding of some neural mechanism of ADHD and its therapy that in various ways may help to create integrated conscious experience usually reflected as appropriate self-confidence and self-esttem as opposites to helplessness. This particular role of psychotherapy developing integrated conscious experience and self-understanding may likely help psychologically but also physiologically because recent neuroscience findings indicate that consciousness may integrate brain functions (Baars 2002; Kanwisher 2001; Varela et al. 2001) and might be a gateway to brain integration that enables access between otherwise separated neuronal functions (Baars 2002). On the other hand conflicting streams of information specifically influence integrative functions of consciousness and during transient periods related to actual experience of aversive events lead to a greater allocation of attention which leads to discontinuous attentional shifts (Guralnik et al. 2000; Vermetten and Bremner 2004; Bob 2008) in clinical forms of dissociation or during hypnosis (Faymonville et al. 2006; Cojan et al. 2009).
Portions of ideas in this chapter were previously published in the book: Bob, P. (2015). The Brain and Conscious Unity: Freud’s Omega. New York, NY: Springer. Included with permission from Springer.
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Bob, P., Konicarova, J. (2018). Attention, Brain-Mind Integration and ADHD. In: ADHD, Stress, and Development. SpringerBriefs in Psychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96494-2_5
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