ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses two of the extremely active children closely from birth to age 30. Six individuals’ names include Frank, Dafna, Kevin, Farley, Kandis, Chuck. The life courses of these six individuals illustrate a series of phenomena: psychological mechanisms involved in externalization of distress, problems in the families of the hyperactive children, severe in comparison to those in die successful, the manner in which the children's symptoms are a response to perturbation of early parent-child interactions. It also illustrate psychological defenses externalizing children erect to manage unhappiness, and the manner in which symptoms and defenses endure and transform over time, affecting the adult personalities and lives of the participants. Corporal punishment was frequent for all six of the externalizing children. The spankings— coupled with the children's desires to please their parents— leashed several of the children emotionally to their parents well into adulthood.
