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My Body in Mind News
In this section I post links to current and noteworthy news articles illustrating how the mind-body connection is being demonstrated in current research. This section will also identify effective drug-free treatments for anxiety, depression and other emotional problems.
And if you have any comments or have found similar links, please advise and I'll consider posting them here.
Dr. Suzanne LaCombe
Disclaimer: MyShrink is not responsible for material or opinions expressed on externally-linked sites.
Posted November 14, 2007.
Runnin Scared? This is your brain on 9/11.
By: Karen A. Frenkel, August 28, 2007. The Village Voice.
Four years later, researchers at New York University and the New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center wanted to know if the events of 9/11 provoked any changes in those people who were close to the event compared to those farther away.
They asked a group of fairly resilient adults (with no obvious symptoms of PTSD) to observe emotionally-laden stimuli (unrelated to the trauma of that day) while their brains were scanned for abnormalities. Those who had been within two miles of the event showed distinct differences in their amygdala, an over-sensitivity that might have gone unnoticed without these studies.
The research suggests that this sensitivity in the amygdala creates a vulnerability for psychiatric illnesses in the future.
This is what Dr. Peter Levine 1 maintains. He suggested that the larger the number of traumatic events we've experienced in our lives, the higher our activation level (as measured by lower brain structures such as the basil ganglia and the amygdala), and the more likely it is we'll develop trauma symptoms....
Click here to continue this article.
Posted: March 23, 2007.
Friendships Between Woman are Special
Taylor, S.E., Klein, L.C., Lewis, B.P., Gruenewald, T.L., Gurung, R.A.R., & Updegraff, J.A. (2000). "Female responses to stress:Tend-and-befriend, not fight-or-flight. Psychological Review, 107(3), 411-429.
Well we've always known it--some of us just didn't know we knew--if you know what I mean!
A UCLA study confirmed that woman connecting and hanging out with each other helps to relieve stress by increasing the hormone oxytocin (the same hormone that's released in abundance while giving birth). Oxytocin helps buffer the effects of the stress hormone cortisol.
We've known for years that the loss of social support in one's life leads to a higher risk of heart disease. Now we know that the flip side is also true: having social support helps to reduce stress--and stress is one of the main risk factors for many diseases including heart disease.
My Personal Musings
When you read the news report you'll learn why the authors of this study were inspired to do this line of research. They noticed a frequent occurence: women often hang out in staff rooms when they feet stressed.
I have also known the opposite...women who avoid the staff room in order to stay calm. For these women interacting with others causes too much activation.1
Many of my clients come to me because they have problems connecting with others. But suddenly manufacturing friends isn't going to change their body chemistry if they don't have the necessary neuropathways that make connection with others possible. You just can't go out and start making connections if you don't really know how to do that or if every time you do, it doesn't work out.
What counseling offers is the opportunity for your brain to learn how to connect with others. In the safety of the relationship with an empathic and grounded therapist you can develop those necessary pathways. Like all good relationships however, this takes time.
The more awareness you are able to bring to your interactions with your therapist--even if misunderstandings arise--the more you can optimize the potential for change. (See Being Present and Corrective Emotional Experiences for more information.)
Click here to read the news report on this research: Female Responses to Stress
Notes
1 Avoiding connecting with others isn't always about one's difficulty with connection. Paradoxically, I have known many women who have had great skills for connection who, because their nervous system is dysregulated, makes it very difficult for them to contain the activation that all interactions naturally trigger.
Avoidance is one means they use to filter the amount of incoming stimulation. This leaves enough room (i.e. in their nervous system) for them to manage other aspects of their lives.
Posted: March 10, 2007.
Counseling Restored Fertility in Stressed Women
News Release: Ian Sample from The Guardian
Wednesday June 21, 2006.
Counseling has been shown to reduce stress but here's an interesting result that clearly illustrates the mind body connection. Women who had not had a period for six months received a 20-week course of psychotherapy. The results were substantial. Not only did 80% of the women report a reduction in stress but they once again became fertile!
Read to the end of this short article and learn how laugther increased the chances of pregnancy.
Cutting Stress May Increase Chances for Pregnancy
My Personal Musings
As an aside, what I found really interesting was the fact that apparently exercise increased their stress level! So here's the answer to why thousands begin a fitness regime only to drop it months later. Exercise can be too activating when the nervous system is dysregulated. (Somebody should write a book about that!)
Posted: March 1, 2007.
We're "Wired for Connection"
Study shows how patients and therapists are 'wired to connect'.
News release by EurekAlert. February 13, 2007.
Well, they wired up both therapist and client in real counseling sessions. Lo and behold they found that at times of high positive emotionality, both of them were registering the same level of physiological sympathetic arousal.
Not only that, but when these levels were congruent between the two parties, the client reported higher ratings of empathy from the therapist!
To read the whole article click here:
Posted: November 21, 2006.
Scientific evidence of the link between emotional stress and physical ailments:
Psychological Factors in Chronic Pain: An Introduction to Psychosomatic Pain Management
by Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt, M.D., PhD
Lecture presented at the 14th annual
meeting of the American Association of Orthopaedic Medicine, Tempe
Arizona Feb.21, 1997.
It has puzzled physicians for decades why some individuals recover from surgical procedures and others do not even though the same procedure was undertaken. It turns out that the initial wiring of the autonomic nervous system laid down in infancy and childhood plays a major factor. (Sound familar?!!)
Over 100 patients with severe herniated discs were interviewed post-operatively. The surprising results showed that the success of recovery was dependent on risks factors associated with childhood upbringing. Those with higher risk factors for traumatic stress were far less likely to improve (15% vs 95% in the low risk factor group).
And particularly noteworthy to readers of MyShrink, Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt provided an explanation of what happens in the brain during psychotherapy to change the neuronal connections that make healing possible.
My favourite quote:
"Pelletier showed that patients, who had a "severe" childhood, but matured through the process of good psychotherapy, ended up having a higher life-expectancy than people that had a "happy" childhood."
To read more click the link below:
Related Topic
Message Boards for Chronic Pain
Posted: November 14, 2006.
Yoga: an effective depression treatment alternative, with no side effects!
Nausea, fatigue, insomnia, sexual dysfunction - the side effects of conventional depression treatment drugs can be worse than the cure. In addition, their effects last only as long as you keep taking them, and even getting off of these drugs can have devastating side effects.
What the world needs now is an effective drug-free alternative. Can yoga be the breakthrough depression treatment?
Studies show that depressed people have increased alpha wave activity in the left side of the brain, and that yoga practice increases alpha activity in the right side, a characteristic of the brain patterns of normal, happy people.
Is it because yoga is so thoroughly relaxing that you get closer contact with your subconscious and your emotions?
For a psychophysiological perspective on why yoga is healing see:
Or, check out these links in Questioning Medications.
Don't lose track! Add to your FAV bookmarks: