In the course of any company’s life, many staff/workers/employees would feel blessed to know that they are making a difference.
Those of us here at NICABM are humbled and gratified to report that more than 4,900 listeners from 61 countries all around the world listened to our first teleseminar from the New Brain Science 2011 series on Wednesday.
Listeners tuned in from such diverse parts of the world as China, Czech Republic, El Salvador, Lebanon, Kazakhstan, Namibia, Qatar, and Uruguay.
We also had a number of listeners from Japan and to you we offer our sincerest wishes for your safety and prosperity in the aftermath of the recent tragedies that have visited your country.
The hundreds of comments that have flowed in since the introduction of our new series two weeks ago have been empowering for us to read.
We wanted to pass along this sense of purpose and community to you and so wanted to share some of the comments below:
From Norman Doidge’s Teleseminar:
Ann Partington
Oldham Greater Manchester, United Kingdom
I am a retired bank clerk, at the age of 1 year and 6 months I had Polio and it affected my right arm and legs then it finished on the left hand side of my face. The right arm and legs recovered but the Polio left the left side of my face paralised (a lob-sided smile) on listening to the talk on mind plasticity I am now hoping to practice my best smile in the mirror and hopefully I can then teach myself to do my best smile without having to think about it.
Beth (Psychotherapy)
Salem, Oregon
I Really enjoyed this a lot. Found the OCD switching immediately useful in my pracice and the behavior interruption fantastic, which I have been using for years, and I feel validated in pushing it even more with my patients. I also liked the end of the presentation about exercise – cell growth in the hippocampus and converting short term to long term memory, didn’t know that. I love learning new stuff! Very cool. You rock!
Jennifer (Marriage/Family Therapy)
Tacoma, WA
Where do I begin but to say thank you. I had a stroke 2 1/2 years ago that forced me to drop out of my PhD program. I worked for a psychologist doing testing. It was a struggle when I began but now I understand why a year later I was able to test at the required speed. They said I had short term memory loss and qualified for SSI. Plasticity I guess is why I am starting my program again. I will use this with patients having PTSD or trauma, Alzheimer’s, substance abuse, and children. I can just use it all. Thanks and believe me I will be using it all. Agree, this is the best on-line I have used to date.
From the Brain Exchange:
Denise Hufer (Psychology)
North Shore/Auckland, New Zealand
Dear Ruth and NICABM. Thank you so much again for your generosity in making these invaluable teachings accessible to us. And thank you to Dr. Cozolino for breaking down these findings into easily understandable information that I can pass on to my clients just as they are. I am grateful for this piece in the puzzle, as a colleague and I are just in the process of developing a concept for DBT based group therapy we’d like to offer to clients in our area suffering from bulimia and binge eating disorders. While training specific interventions is important I have found that the first step that needs to be looked at is how to motivate people to apply them. Just helping them understand why things are happening to them from a neuropsychological point of view, that change is not just a matter of willpower and that there are very tangible processes underway can go a long way towards helping clients stay focused and motivated. In a way it helps to validate and externalize a problematic process and makes it accessible to reflection and insight without being judgmental. I am already integrating the succinct information in this text into the group concept. It came at the right time as I was feeling a bit stuck and now it’s opened up a floodgate of ideas. It has just boosted my reward pathway no end. Thanks again.
Denise Lorraine De Raay (Psychology)
Lonehill, Gauteng, South Africa
At last I am beginning to have some insight and understanding of what is REALLY going on between my client and myself during the therapeutic encounter. The relationship is often palpable with touches of what I have always put down to “magic” but there has not been the vocabulary to explain to myself what has happened so that I can make it happen again. Since Rogers work in the 1950’s and 60’s very little, if anything, has been developed to address the most important aspect of psychotherapy – the quality of the therapeutic relationship itself. The concepts presented in this article make neuroscientists of both therapist and client as they join and distance in a co-ordinated flow of relating. Beautiful stuff and yet it is science.
Joan Schwartzenberger (Psychotherapy)
Victoria, BC, Canada
I have been using these concepts in different ways and am feeling both validated about using them, and reminded that knowledge is power. I’m also reminded of how much shame is reduced when people understand there’s nothing ‘wrong’ with them, and that they are doing what the brain is meant to do under certain circumstances. This session has given me more accessible language to use with my clients. Thank you. Joan
Stefan Hohberger (Psychotherapy)
Hamburg, Germany
Good to know, that the neuroscience reflects our therapeutic work. The Informations are well presented. I like the work of Dan Siegel. But your overview is very straigthforward and includes the hot topics. A lot of informations in a short time. Actually my neurons are firing together and creating new memory. Thanks a lot.
David O’Farrell (Psychotherapy)
Kildare, Ireland
Brilliant! Many thanks for this insightfull information, i have just returned from a 2 hour lecture on neurobiology and your transcript surpasses the material by far. I particularly like your emphasis on Cortisol, too many brains today are sooked in cortisol causing major difficulties for clients and counsellor alike, the idea that Psychotherapist should be “amygdala whisperers” is brilliant. This is the forward thinking, insightfull information that all in the caring mental health arena should be aware of, many thanks and i look forward to more wonderful information ASAP. thanks: david.
If you haven’t already signed up for our New Brain Science series, you can find more information here.
And for those of you already signed up, thank you.
Regards for this post, I’m a big fan of this website would like to go along updated.
I have had the same problem since I was young; I have a very strong fear of dying. Often times I will make myself get out of bed and do something to avert my thoughts; mainly I will take a shower and drink a glass of warm milk with vanilla and some sugar. If this doesn’t work, try something a little bit more stimulating that can avert the thoughts, but won’t keep you awake for hours once you lay down. Pick up one of your favorite books, or walk around in your back yard for a bit.. . If it still persists, speak with your doctor. They can prescibe something for you to take when these attacks occur that will sooth your thoughts and help you fall asleep.. . I know how horrible this is. Best of luck.
Dear Ruth,
I have only had time to listen to the first teleseminar with Norman Doidge so far…but I loved it. And the format of being able to download it and listen later is just invaluable. I have read about and taken a number of seminars on the new brain sciences, but being able to listen at my own pace and being able to replay parts really helped me integrate the information in a new way. I too am both excited about the new things I am learning and felt affirmed in what I already do “know” from clinical experience and how this information supports those knowledges. Especially the idea that what “fires together wires together.” As a narrative therapist I work a lot with helping clients to “re-story” their experiences into more helpful and supportive internal and external narratives. In doing this I help clients mine for unrecognized information in their own experiences which in turn helps new pathways to fire. Then through some “anchoring” ( a repetition process involving finding supporting evidence), along with providing good developmental conditions (a relationship experience of being mirrored, understood and cared about), new behaviors can also be practiced and those pathways then subsequently start to wire together. I too felt this process was somewhat “magical” but knew it often works with my clients. Now I have a better understanding about why and how!
I am also currently reading the book Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell and it too gives a very interesting perspective on how we “know things” without having cognitive access to how or why. It’s certainly relevant to us as psychotherapists and for our clients in their areas if expertise as well.
Thank you for this wonderful resource. I can’t wait for the rest.
Best, Debra Sloss
Along with food, all the subtle and not not so subtle experiences of the mother during pregnancy create biological changes in her body, which are transmitted to the unborn fetus. Do you have studies/research regarding this?
Thank you.
Ruth – as usual – I – as an ex-patient – so very much appreciate what you are doing and I thank you again every time I read these blogs.
Did you know that Native Americans don’t have “roles” – they have Relationships? This makes for many misunderstandings between First Nations and non-natives.
Reading this blog reminded me of that.
Ronnie