Posted by Dinah on February 6, 2004, at 8:02:27
In reply to Yep. I'm familiar with La Doux » Dinah, posted by 64Bowtie on February 6, 2004, at 2:13:53
Hi. I'm on my way to therapy and haven't much time, but I'll get back to you later on it.
Have you read this particular book. In it he gives the right brain, although I think deep brain might be more accurate, its full due and credit.
He appears to say that the cognitive model is insufficient to explain emotion. That emotions shouldn't be made cold and lifeless by trying to cram them into the cognitive model. That the emotional brain works parallel to the cognitive brain, and that reactions are not necessarily mediated by cognition in order to result in an emotion. And that this is a product of evolution, and not a bad thing.
He does seem to believe that behavior therapy has a better chance at changing the emotional pathways, which I'm not altogether sure I agree with unless you see experiential therapy as a form of behavior therapy, in which case I totally agree.
But I'm still wading through it so my conclusions may be incorrect. I'll get back to you when I've finished.
If you don't mind me saying so, I'm not sure you're giving enough credit to individual biological differences. Not just mental illnesses, though it's probably a good idea to keep in mind that our ability to will things like bipolar illnesses away is minimal.
But also individual biological differences in how our brains work. These also have evolutionary and even current value, although they may also cause us grief. Childhood experience is one factor among many for your resulting brain chemistry now. Our biological predispositions also interact with our childhood experiences to produce our now cascading amygdalas.
Perhaps I'm biased in favor of this because of my experience with animals. No "childhood experiences" or training will make my Lucky into a Harry. They just start out with different equipment. They are shaped by their environments in different ways. And they respond to interventions in different ways.
Will and positive thinking will only take you so far and no more. I happen to be very familiar with this in my own life, because for a very long while I relied on Will.
But you wish to be a coach, not a therapist, no? And as such you would be dealing with a different subset of the population? So don't let your difficulties in getting people like me to respond to your approach deter you. There are many many people who are nothing like me. :)
poster:Dinah
thread:309476
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040206/msgs/310096.html