Defeating SAD

Keywords

Resilience – SAD – Light Therapy – Brain Science – Circadian Rhythms – Vagus Nerve – Transcendental Meditation

In this episode of Resilience Unravelled Norman Rosenthal, a psychiatrist and writer discusses his background in psychiatry research and writing. Norman talks about how his career has emerged from various opportunities and interests in science, art, and literature. He explains his involvement in the discovery of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and the role of light therapy in treating it. He also touches on the challenges of conducting reliable research in brain science and the potential benefits of light therapy for other psychiatric conditions. Additionally, he discusses the importance of using proper lightboxes for therapy and mentions jet lag as another condition possibly influenced by circadian rhythms or light exposure.

Main topics

• The importance of light in regulating circadian rhythms and its effects on mood.

• How transcendental meditation can help with winter depression

• The role of the vagus nerve in relaxation

• The therapeutic power of poetry.

• The need for multiple approaches to treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD)

• The benefits of using different techniques such as light therapy, exercise, cognitive interventions, socialisation, and meditation to treat SAD

Timestamps

1: Introduction and Background -: Introduction to the guest. 00:02-02.37
2: The Convergence of Science, Art, and Literature - 02:57-04:47
3: Reproducibility in Research - 07:55- 09:03
4: Seasonal Rhythms and Bright Light Therapy -10:22-11:31
5: Transcendental Meditation (TM) - 15:08 - 18:43
6: Multiple Approaches to Well-being - 19:59-20:54
7: The Power of Poetry - 21:26-24:44
8: Research Challenges and Instincts - 25:21-26:31
9: Audience Interaction and Book Recommendations - 27:22-28:39

Action items

• You can find out more about Norm at  https://www.normanrosenthal.com/ 

• Norm’s latest book is Defeating SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)

  You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.  

Controlling our emotional states

Keywords 

Resilience – Neurodiversity – Neuroplascity – Creativity – Brain - Emotions

In this episode of Resilience Unravelled Chris Marshall, a behavioural scientist who specialises in decision making and foresight. discusses the relationship between stress and pessimism.

Chris has a wealth of life experience and a unique perspective. As a High Functioning Autistic (HFA), Chris has always seen the world a little differently. But this different perspective has fuelled his curiosity and led him on a series of adventures – from ski racing to behavioural science to global macro strategy – to becoming a Master Distiller and owning an international award-winning distillery. 

Chris is now director of the Fast Paced Complex Environments (FPCE) Institute, which brings together a wide range of fields to address some of the most complex challenges facing society today and he uses his unique perspective to offer fresh insights and new ways of thinking about the world around us.

In this podcast Chris discusses neurodiversity, the diversity in both brain wiring and thoughts and talks about how it has been seen as a disorder or disease in the past, but now it's being seen as a real source of creativity and different thinking. He also talks about his work in foresight, where he looks at trends and megatrends driving change globally. He believes that if we can harness humanity's natural abilities to be innovative, adaptable, and creative, we can overcome all obstacles ahead of us.

Main topics

• How stress can elevate pessimistic viewpoints due to neuroplascity effects on our brain circuits

• Why becoming aware of our emotional state is important for controlling it.

• How emotions are just signals representing ease of thinking about a specific concept and not necessarily positive or negative.

Timestamps

1: Introductions (00:02 - 00:45)
2: Discussion on Chris’s research on behavioural science, risk-taking, and foresight (00:45 - 07:52)
3: The relationship between creativity, innovation, adaptability, and resilience (07:52 - 11:37)
4: The role of self-inflicted stress and pressure in creativity (11:37 - 14:34)
5: The importance of understanding the wider context and the uncertain and unsettling landscape of change (14:34 - 23:08)
6: Human history's ability to be innovative, adaptable, and creative (23:08 - 24:27)
7: Chris Marshall’s book, Decoding Change, and how to find more information about it (24:27 - 29:16)
8: Conclusion and final remarks (29:16 - 29:42)

Action items

• Find out more about Chris at Fast Paced Complex Environments (FPCE) Institute or https://www.theuncertaintyscientist.com/ or https://www.chrismarshall.uk/

• Chris’s book is "Decoding Change"

You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.  

Healing the brain

Keywords: Rewiring the Brain – Resilience – Mental Health – Repairing the Brain

In this episode of Resilience  Unravelled, Scott Warwick, an attorney and human resources professional for over 41 years, talks about his interest in mental health which stems from his son's Asperger's autism diagnosis. Scott has conducted subsequent research that revealed western medicine has a limited understanding of how the brain works. He highlights that chronic distress is the number one threat to people’s health and that people need to change their lifestyle holistically rather than rely on pills. Furthermore, that getting rid of toxic individuals in your life is crucial for maintaining good mental health as they can drain your energy like vampires.

Scott discusses the importance of taking care of our brain and how it affects overall health. He talks about the negative effects of stress and anxiety on the brain, as well as poor nutrition and lack of hydration and emphasises that a holistic approach including things like meditation, positive thinking, conflict resolution skills, and emotional intelligence training for managers is necessary. He also shares his personal story and authenticated scans in his book ‘Healing the Human Brain’ which highlights how he overcame challenges to repair his own brain function and how his son’s brain scan revealed issues which led to a journey of discovery and healing. The book also talks about the brain's ability to rewire itself and techniques for stress management.

Main topics:

• Why chronic distress is the number one threat to health according to Harvard Medical College and the American Psychological Association.

• How meditation and positive thinking can help rewire the brain.

• Why a brain healthy workplace involves conflict resolution and emotional intelligence training for supervisors and managers.

• How learning a new language can also help heal the brain.

• The art of debate and mutual learning versus self-destruction in today's society.

• The importance of finding a lifestyle that works for each person's unique needs

• The need for better treatment of people in the workplace to promote productivity and leadership.

• How to improve brain health through activities such as meditation and sports.

Timestamps:

1: Introduction - 00:02-00:39
2: Background. Scott discusses his unusual background and how it led to his interest in brain healing - 01:21-02:43
3: Healing Brain Concept. Scott discusses his son's brain condition and the journey they went through to heal it - 02:43-07:12
4: Rewiring the Brain. The process of rewiring the brain and the various methods used to achieve it - 07:12-17:54
5: Brain Healthy Environment. The importance of creating a brain healthy environment, including emotional intelligence and conflict resolution - 18:48-23:35
6: The Book. Scott discusses his book on brain healing and shares information on how to purchase it -  24:09-28:50
7: Conclusion and contact information - 28:50-29:13

Action points:

• Learn more about Scott and his research and strategies for brain healing at https://scottwarrick.com/ His site allows viewers to access free videos on repairing their brain

• Read his book ‘Healing the Human Brain’ which is available on Amazon.com

     You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.  

Improving Connection - Humanising the Remote Experience

Dr Amy Mednik is a psychiatrist working in her own private practice in New York. She grew up in New Jersey and went to college at MIT in Boston where she studied, and became fascinated by the brain and cognitive science. She then attended medical school and and fell into psychiatry halfway through the clinical rotation. She received her medical degree with Distinction in Research from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a Bachelor of Science in Brain & Cognitive Sciences from MIT.

As a psychiatrist she mainly focused on medication versus psychotherapy. This developed into psychopharmacology, giving medication and seeing what symptoms can be quieted down so people can become their best self.  She wanted more to offer her patients so she then got involved with TMS which uses magnets to create electrical fields to intervene on the brain. She had just got up and running with in-person office based treatments when Covid struck and she had to shut down her office.

In 2020 she started working online with her patients, students etc. A colleague then invited her to write a book about an idea she’d had about the remote experience - what is wrong with the remote experience, why it makes us feel exhausted, why we have trouble focusing and why do we feel what we feel socially. They spent a year writing and living it and it was finished in 2022.

Brain science used to be very much about ‘this is where that happens’ and ‘that happens in that one part of the brain’. Things were learnt because when someone had a stroke and they couldn’t recognise faces that must be where faces are stored in the brain. Now we’re learning it’s not that simple and it’s really very network based. There is not one thing, there is a lot of communication between different areas and feedback loops that's great because networks are something that can be intervened on so that that network gets healthier and can be improved.

Amy is very interested in the use of psychopharmacology for anxiety and depression but with each of these things there are medicines that work well for people. When its done correctly negative symptoms are turned off and when you talk to the people you’ve prescribed for they can tell you what they experience and describe what the feeling in their head is really like. When the prescription is adapted, they can then describe the change and what that feels like.

There is a range or spectrum for drugs that also depends on the disorder. Anxiety and trauma really straddle the chemical responses to medicine versus environmental situational responses to therapy. With both of these you have symptoms that you can take and turn everything off so patients don't feel anything. If you are precise though there are a wide range of doses and sometimes a little does a lot so we just quiet the noise, we turn the volume down on the anxiety or trauma that's talking and not serving you. People begin to feel they have more access to themselves, their minds and to their creativity because the fight or fight response that should not be going is turned down. They can then engage better in therapy and in life and do more things. With trauma though its not always safe to go into those parts of your brain, your brain wont always let you into those parts before you build the scaffolding with a little bit of medicine, do the work, break the things down build them back up and then you might not even need the medicine.

Amy feels the maximum between sessions is six months but on average she sees patients every three months. If you are taking medicine and it’s helping you to feel better that's great but if it’s making you feel worse then it’s worth review. These things have side effects but it is not one or another – if your life has changed and you've done well in therapy and things are different to when you started the medicine its also worth reviewing. There is no right answer. Some people stay on them for live because they really help them to be their best self.

Amy’s new book about the virtual experience is Humanizing the Remote Experience through Leadership and Coaching: Strategies for Better Virtual Connections This looks at how we can foster wellness, raise engagement, and strengthen connections in professional contexts as our interactions become increasingly remote. Amy feels that as humans, we’re simply not wired for flat, two-dimensional virtual settings, that we’re built to connect in the real world. When this need isn’t met, we inevitably become stressed, struggle to focus, work harder, and burn out.

There are a lot of ways we can improve the remote experiences, but we need to learn the signs that our needs aren’t being met in our virtual interactions, for example why Zoom calls are physically exhausting, why what we intend to say gets lost and distorted in virtual settings and why being part of a remote team can increase stress.

To understand what is missing from these remote interactions, we need to understand how we use space, sensory cues and group dynamics and the challenges people face when their innate need for human connection is unmet.  Amy and her co-author Dr Diane Lennard used research and case studies, to outline the paradox that the digital technology we use to connect with others can leave us feeling less connected.

Amy’s book is Humanizing the Remote Experience through Leadership and Coaching: Strategies for Better Virtual Connections and you can learn more at www.HTRE-Book.com or you can find out more about Amy at dramymednik.com

  You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.

Remodel your brain for happiness

Dr Dawson Church, PhD, is an award-winning science writer who aims to bring science to various exponential and personal and global questions around the way our brain activity changes as we shift our awareness. In his latest book Bliss Brain, Dawson looks at the mental states of people who spend a lot of time meditating such as Franciscan nuns and Tibetan monks.  The book also looks at the science behind meditation and what works as well as showing that certain parts of the meditation are highly effective at inducing those states.

The research Dawson carried out shows how the brain state of these nuns and monks is extraordinarily happy and at a level we can’t comprehend because they are in an ecstatic state. The research also showed that their corpus callosum, the part of brain tissue that connects the left and right hemispheres, were very large. The question Dawson then asked was whether they were happy because their left and right brain had a lot of neural connections, because they had a large corpus callosum or whether these states were triggering brain growth?

Harvard psychologist Sarah Lazar looked at this issue in 2005, asking whether it was because brain anatomies produced these states or whether those states produced brain anatomies. She gave definitive answers, showing that the states that produce the brain anatomy can turn temporary states of wellbeing. When we cultivate these pleasurable states over time, they become traits. We don't just feel more blissful as a temporary state; the changes are literally hard-wired into our brains, becoming stable and enduring personality traits.

The states to traits progression in people who meditate, especially those who meditate effectively means they are able to increase neural mass in parts of the brain like the corpus callosum and the memory and learning system. There is an increase in neural tissues in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex that hooks the executive centres in to the emotional brain and down-regulates all the irritations and distractions of everyday life and focuses on happiness joy and wellbeing. These parts of the brain get bigger and stronger in meditation adapts.

On the other side of the coin are people with major depressive disorders where the ventromedial prefrontal cortex actually thins and starts to disintegrate. What’s left of it starts to signal the wrong way. The emotional brain that can be miserable, worried, anxious and stressed actually starts to control the executive functions and people start to say that they are stressed because of xyz. They then start to invent reasons in their executive centres for their misery rather than controlling it with the same part of the brain. These states produce measurable changes in brain anatomy.

Dawson published another study that explored meditation adapts used by the nuns and monks. It found that the traditional model they used took 10,000 hours to achieve with many having done over 40,000 hours of meditation in their lives. So how do you get there without taking vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and giving up all of your possessions? Dawson has found that there are certain things that you can do that to produce those changes quickly. If ordinary people, even non-meditators, do some highly effective practices culled from ancient traditions in a controlled way they can achieve similiar results.

In the trial some people did the meditation whilst others did other things such as mindfulness and mindful breathing. The trial found that in the first group doing the effective things, there was evidence of rapid and radical brain change and measurable functional changes in two parts of the brain after just one month. They were only meditating for twenty-two minutes a day but, by using effective practices, brain remodeling began and over time these structural changes in brain anatomy can make us calmer, happier, and more resilient.

Dawson found that three things were highly effective. One is to meditate intensively so you feel the good feelings in your body through breathing and relaxing certain muscles. You can then dial-up your emotions.  Neuro-research shows that if you have a positive feeling in your body you need to amplify it. Second, is that the effect is better if you do the practices in a group.  Group meditation is known to provide more positive neuroplascity. Having a body physical experience, dialling up your level of intensity and doing it in a group is really powerful.

The final thing that makes a difference is compassion. Compassion meditation has greater positive neuroplascity than other kinds of meditation. If there is an element of feeling compassion, the part of the brain called the insular lights up. Negative thinking is associated with the activation of brain regions like the mid prefrontal cortex, the “seat of self.” Positive emotions such as altruism and compassion light up the insula, key to social interactions and pro-social emotions such as gratitude and joy.

What we find in these people is the focus has been on emotion and the value of compassion because that's what Buddhism calls it. What we are now seeing more in neuroscience is a single positive meta emotion - you just feel really good and its up to an academic to label whether its happiness, gratitude or compassion.

Meditation activates certain parts of the brain. The commonality amongst all meditation styles is the deactivation of the default mode network. This is how the brain defaults when you are doing a task. When people are just resting they definitely feel better and more relaxed but what often happens is that the default mode network kicks in and they begin to ruminate and cataptophise because the default mode network is associated with thinking about the past especially threats and bad experiences and any problems that might occur in the future.

During deep meditation, ‘the 7 neurochemicals of ecstasy’ are released in our brains. These include anandamide, a neurotransmitter that's been named “the bliss molecule” because it mimics the effects of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis. Meditation also boosts serotonin and dopamine; the first has a chemical structure similar to psilocybin (“magic mushrooms”), the second to cocaine and cultivating these elevated emotional states literally produces a self-induced high.

You can find out more about Dawson at http://blissbrain.com/ and https://www.eftuniverse.com/ You can buy his latest blook Bliss Brain at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401957757?ie=UTF8&tag=energypsych00-20

 You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.

Does the winter make you feel SAD?

Despite the fact that millions of us say we've suffered a winter-related low mood, it can seem as though the winter blues is just a myth. But there's sound scientific evidence to support the idea that the season can affect our moods. So, if you go through bouts of the winter blues, lack of daylight may well play a part.

We’re all affected by the change in season to a greater or lesser degree – we generally feel more cheerful and energetic when the sun is shining or find that we eat more or sleep longer in winter. However, if you experience SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), the change in seasons has a much greater effect on your mood and energy levels and can lead to symptoms of depression that have a significant impact on your day-to-day life.

The exact cause of SAD isn't fully understood, but it's thought to be linked to reduced exposure to sunlight during the shorter days of the year. Sunlight can affect some of the brain's chemicals and hormones although it’s not really clear what this effect is. One theory is that light stimulates a part of the brain called the hypothalamus, which controls mood, appetite and sleep. These things can affect how you feel.

In people with SAD, a lack of sunlight and a problem with certain brain chemicals stops the hypothalamus working properly. The lack of light is thought to affect the:

• production of the hormone melatonin

• production of the hormone serotonin

• body's circadian rhythm (its internal clock, which regulates several biological processes during a 24-hour period)

You are more likely to experience SAD if you live in a country where there are significant changes to daylight, temperature and weather between seasons. It’s more common in Scandinavia, Europe, North America, North Asia, and in southern parts of Australia and South America.  It’s also rare to find people with symptoms of SAD living near the equator, where daylight hours are long and bright all year round. In the UK, it is estimated that about one in fifteen people experience some symptoms of SAD.

SAD symptoms generally appear between September and November and are most noticeable during December, January and February. They can continue until March, April or even May the following year when symptoms tend to go away either suddenly (often with a short period of hyperactivity) or gradually, depending on the amount of sunlight in the spring and early summer.

SAD can affect people of any age but most commonly symptoms begin between 18 and 30. For some people, symptoms are fairly mild and last for a shorter period but a small percentage of people are affected very badly and find it hard to carry out day-to-day tasks in winter without continuous treatment.

Some or all of the following are symptoms of SAD

• lack of energy for everyday tasks

• concentration problems

• sleep problems

• depression

• apathetic and feeling nothing

• anxiety

• panic attacks

• mood changes

• overeating

• being more prone to illness

• social and relationship problems

As with any type of depression, SAD can be difficult to live with. It is a recognised condition though, so if you do get the winter blues and start to feel down, depressed or unable to cope as well as normal then you should consult your doctor. Diagnosis is generally made after two or more consecutive years of suffering the symptoms but the good news is that there are a number of treatments available and they can be very successful.

Studies have shown that light therapy relieves SAD symptoms for as much as 70% of patients after a few weeks of treatment or your doctor may recommend talking therapies such as CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) or medication such as antidepressants. If you prefer not to take medication, alternative therapies and approaches such as reflexology, massage or hypnotherapy have been found to help.

The Bullied Brain - Losing the mind bully

Dr Jennifer Fraser wrote her book The Bullied Brain primarily for people who have been bullied or abused. The focus is on the maltreatment of children by adults and how a lot of adults use this type of behaviour without knowing how harmful it is. Jennifer thinks we are at a tipping point as a society because have outdated beliefs where we think we need to toughen kids up but this is backfiring. She has looked at science surrounding this and it is clear that children don't learn, perform well or have healthy brains if they are treated in this way.

Jennifer looked at bullying thorough the lenses of law, education and psychology but found the most interesting information though neuroscience. Most of us grow up without any mention of our brain unless we have a trauma of some kind. We don’t teach children about their brain or learn about it as adults. We go to our doctor for many different things but they never assess our brain for health. Jennifer was personally invested as he son had been abused by two teachers and been threatened and humiliated as well as suffering physical abuse and homophobic slurs. She started to read about neuroscience to find out what this kind of abuse does to the brain of a teenage boy. She now feels that all kids need to know about this as well as their teachers, coaches and parents.

In bullying situations the neurochemistry works against the brain by allowing it to deselect things that are healthy. If a brain is constantly under threat or feels fear and anxiety of being bullied or abused, it constantly ramps up its stress response system. It should be able to shut down naturally - it's a fight, flight or freeze response - but if you are consequently activating it you are doing considerable damage to your brain architecture. This damage can’t be seen without a brain scan and Jennifer feels we should be listening to the people that are looking at the damage and also measuring people’s cortisol, the hormone that causes the problem. When cortisol, pumps though your brain because you are being abused you can start to identify with the aggressor and lose selfhood to survive. The brain uses this as a coping mechanism but what also happens is that cortisol is eroding your blood and damaging all kinds of other cells.

As well as the fight, flight, freeze mechanisms, increasing with trauma patients there is an additional category that is referred to as flop. People who are abused use this final approach of flopping and accept abuse. This can then create a brain/body link so dealing/coping with these things has to be more holistic rather than just resetting a chemical balance. We have to learn how to realign our mind, brain and body. All three need to be in alignment or they work at cross-purposes and you start to get behaviours such as eating disorders or suicidal idealities.

Bullycide happens when you are trying to kill the bully but the bully has become morphed into who you are and is held in your mind, body and brain. You end up eliminating yourself through your passion, desire and suffering to get rid of the thing you have internalised. The abuser becomes a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde character. They are really good at being a pillar of the community, are charismatic and intelligent but change behind closed doors. Many have a borderline personality disorder and many get like this by being abused. You have to find a way to halt the cycle. It’s not easy to fix your brain but it can be done. You can get better and return a damaged brain into a high functioning again with organic health.

Jennifer developed a mind bully herself. When she was writing the book she tried to why unpack why she behaved the way she did. She had dissociated with the person she was as a teenager who was physically, emotionally and sexually abused by three teachers. She had put this away in a box and not integrated it so it started to operate as a mind bully. She was a high achiever in the academic world but when she came home behind closed doors she bullied herself through cutting and eating disorders. She was hurting her own body because she had no idea she had to take teenage girl and her trauma and work through it. She was as seeing psychiatrists and psychologists and never told them anything about it.

Jennifer could have gone out as a teacher and done what had happened to her to her students. Her personality type, introverted, academic and full of self-expectation meant instead she turned it against herself. That is the mind bully. Many people are holding themselves back from happiness, health and fulfilling their potential because of their mind bully. It takes work on separate it out. You need to become aware its not you, that its something you created that helps you avoid looking at the trauma. If it’s your own problem and the mind bully is your own issue you don't have to take a hard look at what happened to you. You don't have to be the victim, to be vulnerable, to feel what it was like to be a teenager and be treated that way. It’s easier to keep the mind bully beating you up because you don't have to be a victim again. If you find the courage, a good mental health practioner, and a safe network and space to do it, you can go back into the arena again and choose to replace the mind bully.

There seems to be more mental health issues nowadays but this may be because we are more aware rather than there being more. If you've been bullied you are likely to bully yourself, to bully someone else or fix yourself. This explains the growth in bullying and trauma – it is replicating through society. Bullies are victims as well though.  Most help is for the victim but the emphasis should be split. Children have strong brain plasticity. A child showing bullying behaviours should be a red flag that they need help. Society needs to intervene they get the help they need. The conversation needs to shift from a moral issue to a medical one.

It can be a parent that abuses you or a teacher, coach, family member or friend. When Jenifer was bullied the therapists were looking at her family but never asked about teachers or coaches. Children spend more time with these people than they do with their family. One of the key powers bullies use is favoritism. This type of power dynamics can be found in sport. A coach will treat one child properly and at the same time someone else they destroy. This often happens to the most talented athlete in the group – if the coach can ‘destroy’ the best then the rest will fall in.

Jennifer doesn’t talk about being fixed, cured or learning to be better. Rather she talks about people who unlearn and rewire. Unlearning is incredibly hard because you are unconscious of what you have learned. Each person has a default neuro-network – if you burn your hand on the stove the brain never forgets this. It learns this and keeps you safe in the future but as you don’t want to feel anxiety every time you pass the stove, you have to talk to your brain. Jennifer uses her variation of mindfulness to do this - you close your eyes do your deep breathing and start talking to your brain. There are nuances and emotional concepts that are more complex and a richness and diversity of life. It’s not just kick-starting the same old neuro-networks – we have to rethink it.

You can find out more about Jennifer at https://www.bulliedbrain.com/ Her first book, Teaching Bullies: Zero Tolerance on the Court or in the Classroom explores what happens when the bully is a teacher or coach whilst her new book, The Bullied Brain: Heal Your Scars and Restore Your Health delves into how bullying affects the brain and how the brain can heal.

You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.

Rewiring the brain. Self-talk, self-image and making it reality

The latest episode in our Resilience Unravelled series has now been released, Resilience Unravelled - Rewiring the brain. Self-talk, self-image and making it reality.

Steven Campbell was a University Professor and Educational Dean in Northern California for over 20 years. Having initially worked in hospital administration, he went on to take his degree in Computer Science before going on to teach Psychology. The message he shares with his students is that ‘while I’m talking to you you’re also talking to yourself but 1000’s of times faster ‘. When people talk to you they use words but when we talk to ourselves as well as words we also use pictures and feelings.

In 1961, Dr. Albert Ellis wrote a book called The Guide to Rational Living. In it he suggested that our feelings about ourselves don't come primarily from how we are raised or our successes and failures but from our beliefs about how we were raised or our successes or failures. Some people say they don’t know what to believe and Steven feels that we want to know what we believe, we need to listen to what we are saying to ourselves – our self-talk.

One of the most exciting discoveries that psychology has made is that our brain believes what we tell it, without question. Everything we do today is primarily based on what we say to ourselves about ourselves, today. We can change what we are saying to ourselves about ourselves and our brain just doesn’t care if what we say is true or not. You could say to yourself “I’m not very good at Maths’ and your brain will say “Yes, you’re right. You’re not good at Maths” and then it will look for other times you got something wrong. However, if you say “I really like Maths’ the brain says ‘OK’ and then looks for ways to show it. So, if we say “I really can do this” the brain will say, “Absolutely” and find ways of doing it. The principle is that our brain listens to us and rewires itself based on the messages we give it. This is neuroplasticity. The way we are today is primarily based on what we tell ourselves today. When we say something it is the brains job to make it true.

We all also have thousands of self-images. We have a self-image for every single thing that we do, for instance as a father, husband, grandfather, teacher, or singer. Some self-images are really strong and others less so, but we are not born with them, they are all learned.  We are also born with certain natural dispositions or things that we naturally love to do. We may have had to learn how to do it, but the learning isn’t hard because it was what we could do naturally. So, our self-images are learned from our self-talk and our self-images are based on what we are saying to ourselves about ourselves, today.

What holds us back from learning, growing and changing is ourselves. If we replace our self-talk we will then replace our self-images. The more we talk the more it will becomes a reality. We need to take our self-talk and use it to make it work. It’s not about just having an opinion. Rewiring the brain takes time because the brain doesn’t want to change, it wants to keep us risk free.

You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information about Steven here. Our previous podcast episodes, upcoming guest list and previous blogs are also available.

You can find our more about Steven at StevenRCampbell.com or find out about his book is Making Your Mind Magnificent – Flourishing at Any Age.

Life in the Bipolar mind

The latest episode in our Resilience Unravelled series has now been released, Resilience Unravelled - Life in the Bipolar mind.

In this episode, Dr. Russell Thackeray talks to Bob Krulish who is based in Seattle, Washington. Bob suffers from Bipolar 1 Disorder that, due to a misdiagnosis, was untreated for a large part of his life.

Bob’s definition of Bipolar Disorder is that it is a mood disorder that ranges from mania to depression.  The mania symptoms include becoming very animated with expansive moods, having numerous ideas and projects on the go with lots of energy to pursue them, and not needing to sleep for days at a time.  The criteria and symptoms for the depression are the same as in major depressive illnesses - not being able to get out of bed, having no energy or joy and a lack of interest in anything, including the projects that were so important during the mania phase.  The mania and depression comes in cycles that need to be managed. With the right management, the episodes can become fewer and less severe.

Bob was 16 when he first started to have bizarre behaviours, but a doctor did not diagnose him until he was 51. Bipolar Disorder can make it very difficult to get through school, hold down a job or have a relationship. In Bob’s case he finished collage very late at 31 but as his degree was in Mathematics, he was able to find work in the insurance sector, first as an actuary and then as a product manager. He also married and started a family. Work was difficult though and he had to move from job to job because, as he spent more time with people, things would get worse. Eventually he was fired from his high profile job and he not only lost his job but his marriage of 24 years, children, and friends and eventually ended up homeless. He spent two years living off welfare, not working or seeing many people until he was finally diagnosed and started taking medications

There is some evidence that Bipolar Disorder is genetic. Bob’s father left his family when Bob was 16 but now, on reflection, Bob feels his father was Bipolar. If there is a genetic predisposition, a trauma or high level of environmental stress can trigger the Bipolar gene and, once it manifests itself, it becomes something that needs to be treated for life. There is also some correlation between Bipolar and high intellect, high functioning mathematical and creative abilities. Bob feels that during manic cycles people can accomplish incredible things that can move them into positions of importance, which they may not really be suited to.

Medication is the main treatment for Bipolar. Over the last 11 years Bob has used 20 different medications in 65 different combinations but over time and in close consultation with his doctor, Bob can now manage his cycles.  He has also undertaken talk therapy with a psychologist that has given him a greater insight into his illness and how to manage it. He has also developed some coping strategies. Triggers for cycles include stress and a lack of sleep so Bob now makes sure that he doesn’t allow himself to get into stressful situations and that he gets at least 8 or 9 hours of sleep each night. He has developed a more thoughtful and calm lifestyle at a slower pace and he starts each day with study and meditation at 4.30 to get into the day.  

A number of people who are Bipolar also have Anosognosia, a condition where a person can be cognitively unaware of having it due to damage to brain structures which leads to a deficit of self-awareness. This can make it even harder for people to realise they are Bipolar. Even without Anosognosia, during a manic cycle people will not feel there is anything wrong but this is the point where it is far easier for a doctor to make a diagnosis.

Bob’s book is called ‘When Screams Become Whispers’ and it is about the 35 years when he was undiagnosed and it aims to give readers an idea of what its like in the bipolar mind. Bob hopes that the book will help people who have symptoms get a sense of whether they might need to see a doctor – if you see yourself in book then you need to talk things through with someone. 

Bob now coaches individuals and families on how to live better with the disorder.

You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information about Bob here. Our previous podcast episodes and upcoming guest list are also available.

Please visit bobkrulish.com to learn more or his Facebook page Bipolar Solutions