by Saundra C. Blum M.S., C.Ht., P.L.R.T.

Abstract

This article exemplifies two case studies that were originally misdiagnosed as ADD/ADHD in both children. Both showed improvement with PLRT. One had a complete healing and the other a more subtle healing. It gives us an opportunity to rethink how many children have been treated with medication when diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. How many really have the over diagnosed syndrome or could they too have been acting out old patterns from past lifetimes? We need to have more scrutiny with these diagnoses to make sure these behaviors are not coming from something else.

Case Study I: Nightmares and Acting Out at School

In October of 2002 I received a call from a frantic mother. Her son (we will call Joe), six years old, had been having nightmares every night for the past few months. She said it was the same nightmare, about the same thing each time. He would dream of a war, describing the gunfire and helicopters with missiles on the sides. He would wake up screaming in fear.

The mother also explained her concerns about her son’s school behavior. The teacher told her that whenever he was in line he would push the child behind him, always turning around or getting out of line when told to stay in line. Also in circle activities he would not stay seated but go to one side of the room and hide. The teacher felt his behavior was probably a form of ADHD and they wanted to test him to see.

The mother was baffled and horrified since this was so out of character for his behavior at home. The teacher explained to her that many times children act differently in different environments. The mother was feeling powerless since the school insisted on testing. She came to me to see if I could help stop the nightmares and see if he had ADHD.

I received additional information about their family life, his birth and childhood illnesses. Nothing seemed unusual that would have bearing on either the nightmares or acting out in school. Joe’s mother told me the only shows she allows Joe to watch on TV are Barney or Disney cartoons. She had no idea where he would have seen war guns or helicopters.

Treatment

Since Joe was only six we decided to have him go into trance by drawing. His mother told me that he loved to draw and children usually slide into trance easily with this method. I asked Joe if he could draw a picture of the dream he has about the war. He said sure, and drew an amazing drawing for his age. He drew a picture of soldiers shooting from a trench on one side of the paper and soldiers lying dead on the ground. On the other side of the paper, he drew another trench with soldiers shooting back. In the air he drew a helicopter with missiles on the sides. I was so surprised to see how detailed and sophisticated the drawing was.

I asked him, “Who are these soldiers in this trench (left side of paper)?” He responded, “Oh, that’s the Chinese.” Again surprised, I said, “Oh, well who are the soldiers in this trench (right side of paper)?” He said, “Oh, that is the Russians.” Again surprised at his knowing the Chinese and Russian Cultures, I asked his mother if she knew he knew of them. She said she didn’t unless he learned this at school. Later we found out they never discussed these cultures in Kindergarten or in first grade.

I asked Joe was he there in the picture? He said “Yep!” He pointed to the Chinese and said, “I am in there.” I asked him if he died there? He said, “No, I went home.” I asked him where his home was and he turned over the paper to draw another picture. He drew a beautiful picture of a pagoda-looking house, two stick figures he claimed were his parents, and a small bridge over a stream, and another stick figure he said was him. He told me he lived in that house and that those were his parents. He went home to live there after the war. It was very peaceful. I asked if he died there and he said no. He then proceeded to turn the page to show me where he died. This time he drew a cemetery with tombstones and rain falling. He pointed to one of the tombstones and said that’s where he died. I asked how did he die and he said, “A man shot him in the back.” I asked if he knew the man, and he said no. I told him he didn’t have to worry here since no one would shoot him in the back. I told him it was just a dream and it is over now. I also told him he didn’t need to have the dream any more since we were able to draw it and talk about it.

Joe and his mother left with promises to report any changes in his dreaming. We agreed to approach the school behavior in the next session. It was enough for one afternoon. After observing Joe in our session, I was surprised to hear about his school behavior as well. He was a sweet, kind, respectful little boy, who seemed to delight in life. I was curious what the trigger was in school.

Results

Two weeks later, Joe’s mother called all excited. Joe did not have one dream about the war. The nightmares were over. She was most excited that Joe’s teacher called asking what she did at home since Joe was behaving much better at school. He was now able to stand on line without pushing the child behind him or getting out of line and he remained in the circle activities.

As we talked I realized that Joe’s acting out to those BEHIND him was a result of being shot in the back. Joe was afraid to have his back turned with someone behind him or he could get shot again. This was not conscious behavior but cellular memory being triggered by the circumstance. During the circle activities he would go to the other side of the room and hide. Being in a group situation triggered Joe’s cellular memory about being in a group fighting the enemy. He retreated to a trench-like safe place in the classroom and hid. Now he did not have a need to hide any longer since the story was complete.

After the regression the trauma was released with the negative emotions, so Joe could behave normally to these situations. Also, due to this release the dreams were brought to consciousness and therefore no longer manifested subconsciously. Joe was his old self once again and no testing was necessary for ADHD.

We, as a society have been too quick to assess the behavior of our children when behavior issues present themselves. Medication is offered too readily to treat these problems. Not every child with behavior problems fall into the category of ADD or ADHD. Statistics show that 3 to 5 % of the nation’s population are diagnosed with these syndromes. We need to take a harder look at these children and perhaps go to the root of the behavior under hypnosis, to determine if the behavior is even related to this lifetime.

Case Study II: Focus Problem

After successfully treating a woman with trust issues, she asked if I could see her daughter. She explained that her daughter was 13 years old, completely shut down emotionally, non-communicative, depressed, doing poorly in school, and had only one friend. Her daughter loved the idea of having a past life session. The mother hoped that it would be as successful as her own. I agreed, but would try to start with one issue at a time.

Treatment

Judy, the mother, brought her daughter, Sara, in to see me. Sara seemed very excited but would not make eye contact with me. Sara was a tall and heavy young woman who had terrible self-esteem issues. When I asked Judy to leave, Sara seemed to relax even more. I asked Sara what it was that she would like to accomplish with me. She retorted with, “I just wanted to see who my best friend was in a past life with me.” It takes time to build rapport with clients, especially teenagers, since anyone over 20 is the enemy. I decided that her request would be a good way to establish rapport, allow her to see the process of how a regression works, and have fun doing it. I agreed. She said she had a French teacher the year before who kept knocking heads with her. She hated her and wanted to see who she was in a past life as well. I told her we could ask her guides or angels at the end and get an answer that way. She agreed on the method.

Sara went back to a lifetime in the 1800s living in a log cabin. She said that her best friend in this life was her mother in that lifetime. It was a happy life there with no real significant events. She died of consumption. Her last thoughts were about the closeness she shared with her mother. When we asked her guide why she felt so hateful to her French teacher she heard that in a past life the French teacher had killed her.

When Sara came out of trance we called her mother in on her request. Sara was so excited to share her regression with her mother. She told her all about it and how her friend was her mother there. Judy smiled since Sara’s friend behaves very motherly to Sara in this life as well.

Results

Two weeks later Judy called me to report the complete change that took over Sara. Sara had not stopped talking about the regression to everyone! She was now so much more communicative than ever. The depression seemed to lift; her grades were getting better in school, and loved her friend even more. She said she would not have to come back since all issues were no longer there.

I scratched my head wondering why such a benign regression, that had no significant events, healed Sara from all of her issues. What came to me was that when Sara was an emotionally depressed 13 year old she could not see beyond a small 13 years old vision. Everything seemed hopeless. In the past life Sara experienced, she saw herself as a tall thin beautiful woman. She saw she later married and had children. Her life was happy there. She was close to her family especially her mother. This regression gave Sara hope that life can turn out differently as she grows older. Her small vision of herself became a grand vision of herself. It allowed her to feel her potential.

Judy was so amazed at the dramatic change even with her schoolwork that she asked that I work with her ADHD son. I agreed. Thomas was diagnosed with ADHD. He would be easily distracted, wouldn’t make eye contact, hyperactive, and very shy. Thomas had been placed in special classes for children with special needs. His progress seemed very slow.

Treatment

Judy came in with Thomas, a sweet, 10 year old boy who was extremely shy. Thomas did not make eye contact with me either. He was barely audible when he spoke. When Judy left the room, Thomas seemed to tense up even more. I tried to make small talk to relax him but he just wanted to do our work and get out. I asked him what he was there to see me about. He said, “I have a focus problem.” I asked him if he would like to work on his focus problem and he said yes. I wasn’t sure I could bring him into trance due to his nervousness, so I decided to engage him in a progressive relaxation. I had a blanket he liked that he pulled over his head. I had him visualize the relaxation and started to ask my questions.

Thomas went back to Boston in the 1940s. He told me the name of his town, the name of his school and his first and last name. It was such detailed information for him not to be in trance. Thomas said when in high school he started playing professional basketball. I assumed it was the imagination of a typical 10 year old. As I progressed him to his 20s he said he had gotten married. He cringed his face as he said, “Ech, it’s my sister.” He said he then moved to N.Y. and became a professional baseball player. He said he knew Yogi Berra. Again, I thought it was just the imagination of a 10-year-old boy. As I progressed him in that life, he started crying, saying his wife died of a heart attack. He was very sad. I moved him to the end of his life there. He said he was coming up the apartment stairs carrying groceries. When he turned to go back down to get the rest of the groceries, he fell down all of the stairs. He was startled and said, “I broke all of my bones. They took me to the hospital and I died there.” I asked him what that life had to do with his focus problem, even though I knew, I wanted him to understand. He said, “Duh, I wasn’t watching where I was going, and fell down all of the stairs and died.” I told him he didn’t need the focus problem any more and that he could make eye contact more easily.

When the session was over he bolted out the door and took the key to the car from his mother. I told her about the regression since he gave me permission to. I said it must have been a typical 10-year-old fantasy with regard to the pro ball teams. She was stunned since he hates sports and doesn’t play any. She said he would have no idea who Yogi Berra was. That was a surprise to me.

Results

I couldn’t wait to hear from Judy since we had so much dramatic success with her family. After one week I called her to see if there were any changes. She admitted it was not as dramatic as with her daughter and herself, but she did notice that Thomas was now making eye contact with everyone. She said he never did that before so for her that was big. She apologized for not seeing a big change in his overall distraction. He did seem a bit calmer as well.

I was thrilled since our intention was to go to the root of his focus problem. He did see the connection and now the eye contact can help with focus. His overly energetic behavior is one of the signs attributed to ADHD. Improvement in this area, showing more calm behavior, is huge. We did find out that Thomas had 3 more lifetimes to release from to clear his ADHD. We attempted 2 more successful regressions, showing more improvement each time. He never came back to do the last one.

Once again, we see that ADHD and ADD can be deeper than just a neurological behavior. We must explore all types of modalities before we jump in the fast growing catch-all baskets for behavioral issues.