Download Mind

Brainwaves – where mind
and body meet
‘Psychology for All’
BPS Event, March 2011
Melissa Foks – Neurofeedback Practitioner
Mind
The human mind is a relational and
embodied process that regulates the
flow of information and energy.
Daniel J Seigel MD (clinical prof of psychiatry UCLA)
‘The mind uses the brain to create itself’
Daniel J Seigel MD (clinical prof of psychiatry UCLA)
Author of:
‘The Mindful Brain’
‘Mindsight’
www.mindsightinstitute.com
The Nervous System
Human brain
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Brain pic
The neuron
Brainwave frequencies
International 10/20
mapping system
Cerebral cortex - lobes
Left hemisphere
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Language, logic, sequencing, maths,
science, verbal memory, problem
solving, seeing the detail, approach
behaviour (curiosity/openness).
Right hemisphere
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Social awareness, eye contact,
humour, empathy, insight, intuition,
music, spatial awareness, non-verbal
memory, seeing the whole picture.
Occipital lobe
Visual processing, locating objects in
space, seeing colours, recognising
drawings.
Temporal Lobe
Verbal memories, word recognition,
reading, audition, spoken language,
emotion, music, facial recognition,
social cues.
Parietal Lobe
Maths, naming objects, complex
grammar, sensory integration, spatial
awareness, sense of direction.
Sensori-motor strip
Motor skills, manual dexterity, sensory
and motor integration/processing,
physical stillness. Also attention,
mental processing, calm emotion.
Frontal lobe
‘the organ of civilisation’
Executive function & all pro-social
behaviour.
Working memory, concentration, planning,
initiative, cause & effect thinking, memory,
positive emotion, social awareness,
empathy, insight, intuition, morality,
regulation of autonomic nervous system.
Cerebral cortex
Cerebral cortex
Nature or Nuture?
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What accounts for dysregulation?
Environmental factors – even at a
cellular level – Bruce Lipton
Responding to environment=learning
Neurons fire up in response to
information – when?
Conditions for learning
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Repetition
Emotional arousal
Novelty
Careful focussing of attention
Growth/death of neurons
neurons that fire together wire together
– when new synaptic connections are
made, learning occurs.
 The neural architecture of the brain is
changed (plasticity)
 Non-use leads to atrophy
We are…
“We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act,
but a habit.”
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
Survival mechanisms
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Pre-date development of neo-cortex
(complex learning)
Pain drives us away from danger
Pleasure rewards us for lifepromoting and reproduction activities
Fight or flight response
Endocrine & Sympathetic nervous system
flood body with corticoids (cortisol &
adrenaline) increases muscle tension
breathing rate, heart rate, blood pressure,
brain wave frequency.
Rest & repair functions switch off (e.g.
immune response, digestion)
Return to rest & repair
Messages from thalamus go to
1.
2.
3.
Limbic system (olfactory bulb, amygdala,
hypothalamus, hippocampus, cingulate
gyrus) automatic action.
Frontal cortex – rational evaluation.
When threat has passed, return to
parasympathetic mode.
Creativity -
a double edged sword
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Body cannot distinguish between an
external or internal threat
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Thoughts can be as poisonous as snakes
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Thoughts of past & future cause emotions
to switch on sympathetic arousal in the
absence of a physical threat
Inhabiting survival mode is dis-ease
Experiential aversion
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Reaction to feelings is the problem
What’s wrong with me?
We develop an aversion to ourselves
Thinking mind tries to fix it as if it
were an external threat
Mind the gap!
From doing to being
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You don’t get out of quick sand by
kicking harder
Purely cognitive strategies are not the
answer
Responding differently to our thoughts
ACT, MBCT, MBSR
A major emphasis on ‘mindfulness’
Mindfulness
‘Mindfulness means paying attention
in a particular way; on purpose, in
the present moment, and nonjudgementally’
Jon Kabat-Zinn
The paradox
By accepting what is, change is
allowed to happen. An active process.
 When we stop trying to get across the
gap it disappears.
 Mind and body re-integrate.
(not positive affirmations, faking it til
you can make it etc)
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Benefits of Mindfulness
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8-weeks of MBCT causes measurable
changes in brain function
Increase in left frontal activation
Positive mood, approach behaviour
Increased immune response
Davidson et al 2003
Books
Mindsight, Daniel Siegal
Buddha’s Brain - the practical neuroscience of
happiness love & Wisdom
Rick Hanson
The Mindful Way through Depression, Mark
Williams, John Teasdale, Zindel Segal & Jon
Kabat-Zinn
A Symphony in the Brain, the evolution of the
new brainwave biofeedback, Jim Robbins
The Happiness Trap, Russ Harris
Links
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www.londoninsight.org
www.mindfulnessinschools.org
www.isnr.org
Contact Melissa Foks at:
[email protected]
www.learningwithneurofeedback.co.uk
Thank you
for your attention 