When Symptoms Are
Strengths
A
novel approach to treating children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder
could help them navigate their world by teaching them to turn their symptoms
into strengths.
In
the article "Symptoms as Solutions: Hypnosis and Biofeedback for Autonomic
Regulation in Autism Spectrum Disorders," published in the winter edition
of the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, Dr. Laurence
Sugarman, a pediatrician and researcher at Rochester Institute of Technology,
details a treatment method that teaches affected children how to control their
psychophysiology and behavior using computerized biofeedback and clinical
hypnosis.
Sugarman's
model is tied to learning to self-regulate the autonomic nervous system --
including the fight or flight mechanism -- that, for many people with autism,
is an engine idling on high.
"Teaching
kids with autism spectrum disorder skills in turning down their fight or flight
response and turning up the opposite may fundamentally allow them to be more
socially engaging, decrease some of the need for cognitive rigidity and
repetitive behaviors and, more importantly, allow them to feel better,"
says Sugarman, director of RIT's Center for Applied Psychophysiology and
Self-regulation in the Institute for Health Sciences and Technology.
His
treatment model underlies three ongoing projects at the center involving
different age groups: teaching coping skills to RIT students with anxiety or
autism; developing a computer-based role-playing game using autonomous
biofeedback for teenagers; and creating a new service and research program for
family members with autism for AutismUp (formerly Upstate New York Families for
Effective Autism Treatment).
The latter, called the Parent Effectiveness
Program, began this fall and will repeat in the spring. The study trains
parents of young children diagnosed with autism and measures results of their
training on the behaviors of their affected children.
Sugarman
developed his method in response to the rise in autism spectrum disorders he
has witnessed in his 30 years working with children in primary care and, then,
in developmental behavioral pediatrics at the Easter Seals Diagnostic and
Treatment Center in Rochester. Instead of trying to change the symptoms
associated with autism, his approach recognizes the symptoms as an effort to
self-regulate inner turmoil.
The
treatment integrates autonomic biofeedback and clinical hypnosis into his
therapy. Sensors attached to his patients measure respiration, perspiration,
heart rate and variation, and blood flow/circulation. Children with autism
learn to correlate the signals and visual representations displayed on the
computer screen (the "Dynamic Feedback Signal Set") with their
emotions.
During therapy sessions, the children practice changing their
feedback response and learn to manipulate their own internal wiring. Sugarman
uses clinical hypnosis to generalize and internalize feedback techniques --
discerning situations and controlling their responses -- into their daily
lives.
Sugarman
is a proponent of clinical hypnosis. He is the past-president of the American
Board of Medical Hypnosis, the credentialing body for competency in clinical
hypnosis for physicians in the United States. He also has a long association
with the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis as an approved consultant,
fellow in clinical hypnosis, past vice president and past co-director of
education for the society.
"Hypnosis
is a 250-year-old Western study of how social influence and internal physiology
can be changed," he says. "Mindfulness is a slice of this."
Sugarman
teaches pediatric hypnosis workshops around the world. This fall, he presented
at the Regional Center for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Oslo, Norway, and
the Milton Erickson Geselleschaft in Heidelberg, Germany. In Heidelberg,
Sugarman also presented his treatment model and research using biofeedback and
hypnosis with children with autism receiving "very affirmative
responses."
"We
think we can make a big difference for young people with autism spectrum
disorder," Sugarman says. "The need is there."
Story Source:
The
above story is based on materials provided by Rochester Institute of Technology.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further
information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
1.
Laurence I. Sugarman,
Brian L. Garrison, Kelsey L. Williford. Symptoms as Solutions: Hypnosis and
Biofeedback for Autonomic Regulation in Autism Spectrum Disorders. American
Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 2014; 56 (2): 152 DOI: 10.1080/00029157.2013.768197
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Rochester Institute of Technology (2013, November 25). Turning
autism upside down: When symptoms are strengths. Science Daily. Retrieved November
26, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131125125532.htm
