ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case study of ten-year old nora, who suffered from an extremely short attention span, low concentration, adipositas, serious sleep disturbances, skin rashes, an almost complete social withdrawal, and forms of self-destructive behaviour, as well as sudden aggressive outbursts towards her younger brother. It also presents a case study of 28-year old Mr A, a well-built young man, who was apparently of Arab cultural origin, was unemployed and socially completely isolated when he sought therapeutic help. For all of the theoretical and conceptual differences, most psychoanalytic authors agree that disturbances in early affect regulation are one of the main factors in the genesis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other developmental pathologies. The child is existentially dependent upon receiving reliable and continuous support from the primary objects to regulate its behaviour, which is to say, its physiological, sensory, motoric, and affective processes.
