The Dysregulated Adult

Georgia DeGangi, Ph.D., OTR, FAOTA, is a clinical psychologist and an occupational therapist. She currently works in private practice at ITS (Integrated Therapy Services) for Children and Families, Inc., in Kensington, Maryland, and has worked at the Reginald S. Lourie Center for Infants and Children in Rockville, Maryland, as the Director of Research for the past ten years. She has over 25 years' experience working with infants, children and their families. She has extensive experience with diagnosis and treatment of a range of developmental, sensory, behavioral, and emotional problems. Dr. DeGangi has conducted research for many years to examine the most effective ways of treating children as well as examining how problems in infancy related to self-regulation, sensory processing, attention, and social interactions develop as children grow older. Among her publications are the Test of Sensory Functions in Infants, the Infant/Toddler Symptom Checklist, and the Test of Attention in Infants. Dr. DeGangi is internationally recognized as a leading expert in the assessment and treatment of sensory processing, attention, and interactional problems in infants and children. She was the 1992 recipient of the A. Jean Ayres award from the American Occupational Therapy Foundation and has been distinguished in the roster of fellows of the American Occupational Therapy Association. She serves on the faculty at the Infant/Child Mental Health program of the Washington School of Psychiatry and is associate editor of the Journal of Learning and Developmental Disorders.

"This book is designed for use by mental health professionals and occupational therapists who work with adults who are highly emotionally reactive, impulsive, irritable, and sensation-seeking. An opening chapter reviews how problems of self-regulation can affect work and relationships. Later chapters are devoted to mood and anxiety disorders, eating and sleep disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, ADD and ADHD, and developmental dyspraxia. Each of these chapters gives background on developmental and neurobiological underpinnings of the problem, presents diagnostic checklists, and discusses treatment approaches from dialectical behavior, mind-body, interpersonal, and sensory integration therapies. The book’s 20 brief appendices offer ideas, activities, visualizations, meditations, and affirmations for various conditions, written for clients." --Reference and Research Book News, August 2012

• I. Problems of self-regulation in adults II. Mood disregulation: Strategies for angry, agitated, and explosive people III. Anxiety Disorders: How to calm the anxiety cycle and build self-confidence IV. Dealing with depressionV. Eating disorders VI. Sleep disordersVII. Obsessive-compulsive disorder: How to build flexibility and budge compulsive thinking VIII. Attentional problems in adults IX. The sensory defensive adult: when the world is too bright, noisy, and too close for comfort: X. Addressing attachment and problems of intimacy: How to build healthy emotional connections Skill sheets: (Appendix)