Running time 1hr 45mins

Presenter Dr Margot Sunderland

Many children and young people who’ve suffered traumatic life experiences are given the label of ADHD and/or ASD and sometimes medication without anyone ever asking what has happened to them in their life or hearing their story. The trouble is, there are many overlapping presenting symptoms between these two diagnoses and living with traumatic stress and a mind in torment.   Being wrongly diagnosed then often results in yet more suffering for the traumatised child/young person as they are left with the fallout from their trauma, without appropriate intervention to help them heal.

In this webinar, Dr Sunderland will also explore how to differentiate the behavioural, relational and emotional manifestations of trauma from those of ADHD and Autism Spectrum. Additionally, moving case material illustrates what can happen when a misdiagnosis has taken place, focusing on prevention and intervention.

Dr Sunderland will also speak of the allure of ‘spotting the symptom’ and giving a psychiatric diagnosis when this often means not holding in mind the wider social context of children’s’ lives and the relational causes of their emotional distress. She will explore how it is all too easy to end up thinking about disorders rather than thinking about how children have been become very dysregulated by parental mental health problems or how life experiences have left them feeling deeply unsafe, betrayed, terrified or overwhelmed by the pain of loss.