ABSTRACT
Many of the observations and perspectives described in this book have taken several decades to coalesce in my own mind. Whether they are of value for others is for the reader to judge, but I have felt a compelling obligation to share my realisation of the importance of the hidden struggle with brain states and body states presented by a significant proportion of our clients and patients. Those with ADHD, autistic spectrum, and somato–psychic conditions are assailed with the continual threat of impairment of self-regulation, of disintegration. For the person with ADHD, impulses and emotions at times cascade through the psyche like convoys of runaway trucks crashing through flimsy road barriers. Those who are “blessed and cursed” with autistic spectrum sensitivity have to find a way of living with the continual sensory and emotional onslaughts of a world too intense to manage. Others have to cope with a body and mind that feel always on the edge of collapse. Once these inherent challenges are perceived, the behaviours and psychodynamics of those afflicted become much less obscure and our therapeutic empathy is enhanced.
