Here is a nice article by Lisa Brookes Kift on her blog at LisaKiftTherapy.com:
We all seek happiness. We all want to feel calm, grounded and avoid being hijacked by our own emotional reactivity. Thankfully, the recent studies in neuroscience are demonstrating how to do this. If you find yourself easily stressed, worried and fearful, there are likely personal historical reason for this when your brain learned to be extra vigilant.
For example, if you had experiences of not being included in childhood, you may have a sensitivity to being left out of group situations or feeling invisible now. These types of situations may feel pretty big and painful to you! This is because your alarm center in your brain (the amygdala) has been trained to respond to this particular trigger. There are countless other sensitivities people carry such as fears of not being good enough, safe enough or in some cases, lovable at all.
I do love open access articles on neuroscience and meditation – and I’m even happier to share them here. Here’s one from Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (from Emory University researchers – my grad school alma mater. (Yay, Dr. Barsalou!)
Effects of meditation experience on functional connectivity of distributed brain networks
By Wendy Hasenkamp and Lawrence W. Barsalou
This study sought to examine the effect of meditation experience on brain networks under- lying cognitive actions employed during contemplative practice. In a previous study, we proposed a basic model of naturalistic cognitive fluctuations that occur during the practice of focused attention meditation.This model specifies four intervals in a cognitive cycle: mind wandering (MW), awareness of MW, shifting of attention, and sustained attention. Using subjective input from experienced practitioners during meditation, we identified activity in salience network regions during awareness of MW and executive network regions dur- ing shifting and sustained attention. Brain regions associated with the default mode were active during MW. In the present study, we reasoned that repeated activation of attentional brain networks over years of practice may induce lasting functional connectivity changes within relevant circuits. To investigate this possibility, we created seeds representing the networks that were active during the four phases of the earlier study, and examined func- tional connectivity during the resting state in the same participants. Connectivity maps were then contrasted between participants with high vs. low meditation experience. Partic- ipants with more meditation experience exhibited increased connectivity within attentional networks, as well as between attentional regions and medial frontal regions. These neural relationships may be involved in the development of cognitive skills, such as maintaining attention and disengaging from distraction, that are often reported with meditation prac- tice. Furthermore, because altered connectivity of brain regions in experienced meditators was observed in a non-meditative (resting) state, this may represent a transference of cognitive abilities “off the cushion” into daily life.
To Read More Download the Article in PDF form HERE
Belleruth Naparstek reminded therapists in 2010 that PTSD can indeed be effectively treated – just not by traditional “talk” therapy. It seems we could benefit from being re-reminded, so here ya go.
Note to Colleagues: Please Stop Saying Post Traumatic Stress Is Incurable
A recent AP article by Sharon Cohen described posttraumatic stress as something you just have to learn to live with, because you can’t recover from it. [Revolving Door of Multiple Tours Linked to PTSD] . It’s a terrific article, but Cohen was misled by the mental health professionals she talked to, as well as the warriors who received less than optimal treatment.
You can recover from posttraumatic stress. Certainly, you can significantly reduce – not just manage – its symptoms. But – and here’s the thing – not with traditional treatment. The problem is, a lot of my colleagues don’t know this yet. So they go about it in traditional ways and pronounce the condition incurable, based on the results they get.
This is changing, but not fast enough – especially given the numbers of traumatized soldiers returning home these days. And the incidence we’re seeing is just the tip of the iceberg – traumatic stress can gestate deep inside the body for a long time, rearing its nasty head years later.
We all seek happiness. We all want to feel calm, grounded and avoid being hijacked by our own emotional reactivity. Thankfully, the recent studies in neuroscience are demonstrating how to do this. If you find yourself easily stressed, worried and fearful, there are likely personal historical reason for this when your brain learned to be extra vigilant.
I do love open access articles on neuroscience and meditation – and I’m even happier to share them here. Here’s one from Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (from Emory University researchers – my grad school alma mater. (Yay, Dr. Barsalou!)
Belleruth Naparstek reminded therapists in 2010 that PTSD can indeed be effectively treated – just not by traditional “talk” therapy. It seems we could benefit from being re-reminded, so here ya go.
Here is a teaser video on the upcoming book by Richard J. Davidson and Sharon Begley.
6 Lessons from Dan Siegel, that will help you develop your child’s mind.
