Dr. Victor Carrión

It's going to be painful. It's just like when you break your arm and go to the emergency room and it hurts to be placed back in place. But it's the cure. It's what cures it. So a lot of people visualize, and sometimes I do, as an injury rather than a disorder.

And so what happens? So this autonomic system gets activated. We have our fight-or-flight reaction. But what happens to a young kid? Because they're very little and they cannot fight. They're also very dependent and they cannot flight. So they're stuck. They're stuck there. So they freeze. They freeze and that's dissociation. It's actually during development a healthy defense mechanism.

And so what happens? So this autonomic system gets activated. We have our fight-or-flight reaction. But what happens to a young kid? Because they're very little and they cannot fight. They're also very dependent and they cannot flight. So they're stuck. They're stuck there. So they freeze. They freeze and that's dissociation. It's actually during development a healthy defense mechanism.

And so what happens? So this autonomic system gets activated. We have our fight-or-flight reaction. But what happens to a young kid? Because they're very little and they cannot fight. They're also very dependent and they cannot flight. So they're stuck. They're stuck there. So they freeze. They freeze and that's dissociation. It's actually during development a healthy defense mechanism.

But very much like a white blood cell, that's very helpful. If you have too much of it, you develop a leukemia. You can develop dissociative disorders if that's the only thing you have. But it does help children cope with some of these situations pretending this is not real or this is not happening to me. It's the only thing they have left.

But very much like a white blood cell, that's very helpful. If you have too much of it, you develop a leukemia. You can develop dissociative disorders if that's the only thing you have. But it does help children cope with some of these situations pretending this is not real or this is not happening to me. It's the only thing they have left.

But very much like a white blood cell, that's very helpful. If you have too much of it, you develop a leukemia. You can develop dissociative disorders if that's the only thing you have. But it does help children cope with some of these situations pretending this is not real or this is not happening to me. It's the only thing they have left.

And because this arousal system is so key in the development of these children, I thought that we should look at the hormone cortisol in the kids. And when I started, when I was a fellow doing my child psychiatry fellowship, I was seeing all types of kids with all kinds of issues. Some had ADHD, some had OCD, some had PTSD symptoms.

And because this arousal system is so key in the development of these children, I thought that we should look at the hormone cortisol in the kids. And when I started, when I was a fellow doing my child psychiatry fellowship, I was seeing all types of kids with all kinds of issues. Some had ADHD, some had OCD, some had PTSD symptoms.

And because this arousal system is so key in the development of these children, I thought that we should look at the hormone cortisol in the kids. And when I started, when I was a fellow doing my child psychiatry fellowship, I was seeing all types of kids with all kinds of issues. Some had ADHD, some had OCD, some had PTSD symptoms.

But I was getting a lot of kids with notes from school saying, this kid has ADHD, please place on Ritalin, right? A stimulant medication. And I'm like, wow, the diagnosis has been made. There's already a treatment plan. What am I training here for? But in some instances, they were right. You know, the kids had ADHD.

But I was getting a lot of kids with notes from school saying, this kid has ADHD, please place on Ritalin, right? A stimulant medication. And I'm like, wow, the diagnosis has been made. There's already a treatment plan. What am I training here for? But in some instances, they were right. You know, the kids had ADHD.

But I was getting a lot of kids with notes from school saying, this kid has ADHD, please place on Ritalin, right? A stimulant medication. And I'm like, wow, the diagnosis has been made. There's already a treatment plan. What am I training here for? But in some instances, they were right. You know, the kids had ADHD.

But in most cases, what happened is that that hypervigilance that you're talking about was being misinterpreted as hyperactivity. And the dissociation was being misinterpreted as inattentiveness. So the kids were getting a diagnosis that was not correct. Of course, there are other very complex cases where you have both ADHD and PTSD.

But in most cases, what happened is that that hypervigilance that you're talking about was being misinterpreted as hyperactivity. And the dissociation was being misinterpreted as inattentiveness. So the kids were getting a diagnosis that was not correct. Of course, there are other very complex cases where you have both ADHD and PTSD.

But in most cases, what happened is that that hypervigilance that you're talking about was being misinterpreted as hyperactivity. And the dissociation was being misinterpreted as inattentiveness. So the kids were getting a diagnosis that was not correct. Of course, there are other very complex cases where you have both ADHD and PTSD.

Also ADHD can put you at risk to develop PTSD because you're not as attentive as to what's happening in your environment. But there's definitely two different conditions. And it was that clinical observation that made me think, well, people don't know enough about PTSD. And certainly they don't know enough about PTSD in children.

Also ADHD can put you at risk to develop PTSD because you're not as attentive as to what's happening in your environment. But there's definitely two different conditions. And it was that clinical observation that made me think, well, people don't know enough about PTSD. And certainly they don't know enough about PTSD in children.

Also ADHD can put you at risk to develop PTSD because you're not as attentive as to what's happening in your environment. But there's definitely two different conditions. And it was that clinical observation that made me think, well, people don't know enough about PTSD. And certainly they don't know enough about PTSD in children.

And we were having some research in adults around that time in terms of cortisol levels. David Spiegel, who you've had here, Rachel Yehuda, the Bronx VA, looking at PTSD in adults. But I said, but how does PTSD look early on? What's happening in the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis that is responsible for secreting cortisol and regulate cortisol when these children are young?