Posted by Ritch on April 10, 2003, at 13:47:42
In reply to Re: CBT, psychotherapy and resetting the axis » mattdds, posted by Pfinstegg on April 10, 2003, at 7:50:14
....I think some therapists working with PTSD feel that the original thought and stress reactions to trauma may originate in the left hemisphere, where they would be relatively accessible to conscious thinking, and modification by CBT. This would likely be true of later childhood and adult trauma. But there are also therapists who think that earlier childhood traumas are not very accessible to modification by words or thoughts, because the hemisphere used during the first three years of life is principally the right one. In this situation, non-verbal methods of treatment may be more powerful modulators of feeling states- for example, art therapy, EMDT, sensory integration therapy, and forms of psychotherapy which involve regression. Starting with these treatment modalities allows the brain to attach words to the traumatic memories- and then thought and feeling modification, as used in CBT, have a chance of being more useful.....
Pfinstegg, I realize this is somewhat of a tangent, but you have given me some interesting ideas about the *causes* of the cortisol-stress-reaction thing and resultant HPA-axis dysregulation. Would it be accurate to say that MOST of the jobs that people work at in modern times more consistently use the left-hemisphere instead of the right? And this is continuining to become more and more the case? What if your job is *reprogramming* your brain circuits in a manner that is making you ill, because it is forcing you to use the left hemisphere (i.e.), more than your brain has been "designed" to? This might result in abnormal brain chemistry due to environmental re-programming. Perhaps a significant minority of folks with HPA-axis dysregulation and resultant depression/anxiety (which respond to "right-brained" therapies) would benefit from a career change (IOW, getting away from experiences that are causing them harm)? I've noticed that medications that tend to increase ruminative thoughts make me feel worse, and meds that seem to accentuate music or smell make me feel better.
Another weird thing I have noticed while working. A computer workstation I am very familiar with got moved to a different location and orientation. I had difficulty for several days doing the same tasks on the same machine just because it was in a different part of the room and oriented in a different way.
poster:Ritch
thread:217414
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030407/msgs/218240.html