Posted by Pfinstegg on August 21, 2004, at 18:26:56
In reply to Re: What is the point of being genuine?, posted by tabitha on August 21, 2004, at 16:05:47
Hi Dinah... I think you were saying that the *real* Dinah would be ill- i.e. be easily hurt, fearful of abandonment, apt to go from feeling too much to not feeling anything for other people, or to SI to cope with the storm of feelings which gets aroused in you. But isn't that just the part that you, and all of us, are trying to heal? You're describing over-sensitivity and over-reactivity, followed by *shutting down*, if the stimuli are too much. In neurological terms, you're describing a sympathetic nervous system which gets too easily aroused, which can, if it goes on too long, cause your parasympathetic nervous system to kick in: that results in the *nothingless* feeling- the *escape when there is no escape*. To people around us, there probably doesn't seem to be too much going on in the way of stimulation, but, to us, relatively small things in our environments can start our brains going into these storms of feelings, followed, sometimes, by complete absences of feeling.
Our brains are not wired correctly, because of various combinations of childhood neglect, lack of comfort and love, physical or sexual abuse. We all present one face to the world, but we have to face a much more painful inner world.
I think that is where, thankfully, therapy comes in. Having the repeated experience of being accepted-not just some of us, but all of us, including our rage, loneliness, self-hate, feelings of being *fake*, etc. really changes us inside. Not just that we come to accept those parts of ourselves better, but that we have what the therapists call a "transmuting internalization". I think that means that we take into our brains - our thoughts and feelings, conscious and unconscious- a feeling of our therapists' caring and presence. That way, we begin to automatically like and comfort ourselves better, and to feel more authentic and truly *ourselves* in our interactions with others.
I have been reading that researchers are beginning to be able to SHOW changes in the MRIs of brains with people with PTSD and/or borderline PD as they are treated with psychotherapy. They get more connections- more NEURONS ACTUALLY GROW IN ADULTS! between the emotional centers in the hippocampus and amygdala and the right pre-frontal cortex, which is the highest non-conscious center for regulation of emotions. It's the best news in the world that psychotherapy can actually make physical changes for the better in an adult brain! The MRIs they used are much more sensitive than the standard ones, and are just research tools at present. But it looks as though the time will come when people with psychiatric disorders will get them diagnosed by MRI, which can also document the improvement which occurs with therapy and medication. That should help- prove a challenge- for insurance!
poster:Pfinstegg
thread:380351
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040821/msgs/380527.html