# The Neuroscience of Disorder and Therapy



## yeah_yeah_yeah (Mar 27, 2007)

Hullo

Found out some groovy stuff. Well I liked it anyway - Apparently clever neuroscientists have studied the function of a part of the brain called the OFC - Orbitofrontal Cortex (sounds like the new sedan from Chrylser huh ...). They have found that one of the purposes of this part of the brain is to control emotional responses and enable its owner to process and relate to the moods of others. In short - its the social centre of the brain. PArt of its job is controlling the amygdala - stopping fear and sadness when appropriate.

This part of the brain is not developed in newborns. It can only be fully developed through the correct stimulation by a parent, and this is a very specific type of responsiveness. Depressed, chronically angry or self-absorbed mothers are unable to give this nurturing and so the baby may start life without the necessary input to make it grow. So, depression and anxiety can result from A LACK OF THE RIGHT THINGS, and not just a presence of bad things. The window where the OFC needs this development is around the age of 0-1- the preverbal years. If you do not get this input, you are at a disadvantage going into life. Your ability to regulate emotions is damaged, your ability to understand the emotions of others is stunted. The control of your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems is left to chance. Depression and anxiety become the chronic conditions fed into by the constant elevation of the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol. This process can be further compunded by stress in the womb, the mothers stress hormones causing arousal of the stress centres of the baby. But the most important input is that mother-baby bond between 0-1 and how well the mother can realte to, empathise, 'feel'with' and cope with the babies emotions, body functions and constant demand. Subsequent trauma may compound the issue, or cause its own damage in its own right even if the OFC is otherwise fine .. but a poorly developed OFC will make it much more likely that later trauma will inflict its damage.

So it sounds like if you dont get it youre screwed right? Wrong.

Research has shown that the use of long term caring, vaildating emotional based therapies which include the building of skills to cope with emotional troubles and problem solving begin to build the pathways in the OFC that were otherwise not built when they should have been. You can actually grow the emotional brain you were denied as a baby in the therapy process. According to how badly this stage occureed and any subsequent trauma (which will have added to the damage to the OFC and other important brain structures), the presnting disorder will be different and the amount of therapy needed will vary. But as long as the RELATIONSHIP in the therapy is good, and there is trust, respect and validation and the gradual learning of how to handle lifes emotional stressors, the brain can regrow.

if you want to learn more, there is a book called "*Why Love Matters" by Sue Gerhadt *which charts the neurological deveopment of babies emotional brains and how the process can go wrong. It explains how correct maternal input can correct even severe biological predispositions to anxiety and depression, and what happens if this does not occur. This book was suggested to me by a Chartered Clinical Psychologist with 6 years experience treating many types of psychological disorders including anxiety and personality disorders.

It makes for both disturbing, angering and finally soothing reading for those with mental health concenrns.

Ross


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## FunBoy (Apr 17, 2008)

*Re: The neuroscience of Therapy*

Ahhhh!!! Too many damn books to read.


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## yeah_yeah_yeah (Mar 27, 2007)

*Re: The neuroscience of Therapy*

"if you want to learn more"

If you dont, you can always go outside in the sun  I think the main points are already covered :yes


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## FunBoy (Apr 17, 2008)

*Re: The neuroscience of Therapy*

meh


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## yeah_yeah_yeah (Mar 27, 2007)

I appreciate the irony of your username


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## FunBoy (Apr 17, 2008)

What a temper you have


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## yeah_yeah_yeah (Mar 27, 2007)

Mum? Is that you?


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## X33 (Feb 13, 2005)

Appreciate the post yeah_yeah_yeah. Have you come across any papers, which support the use of therapy in "recovery" of the OFC?


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## CopadoMexicano (Aug 21, 2004)

so pretty much a mental disorder is now finally biologically fixed and pinpointed by a single cause.?


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## yeah_yeah_yeah (Mar 27, 2007)

Neuroimaging and the functional neuroanatomy of psychotherapy.
How psychotherapy changes the brain – the contribution of functional neuroimaging
Differences in Brain Glucose Metabolism Between Responders to CBT and Venlafaxine in a 16-Week Randomized Controlled Trial

Theres quite a lot than you can find in google scholar  My info was coming from the bookie!

Good luck


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## X33 (Feb 13, 2005)

MavenMI6Agent009 said:


> so pretty much a mental disorder is now finally biologically fixed and pinpointed by a single cause.?


I think this is one of many causes. Any part in the emotion processing / regulation / expression circuit of the brain can become defective causing mood disorders.


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## X33 (Feb 13, 2005)

yeah_yeah_yeah said:


> Neuroimaging and the functional neuroanatomy of psychotherapy.
> How psychotherapy changes the brain - the contribution of functional neuroimaging
> Differences in Brain Glucose Metabolism Between Responders to CBT and Venlafaxine in a 16-Week Randomized Controlled Trial
> 
> ...


I am lazy. I just read the abstracts of papers. Ok, just the results portion of the abstract. So basically the paper concludes that CBT causes reduced activity in OFC. Now to figure out what it means.


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## yeah_yeah_yeah (Mar 27, 2007)

MavenMI6Agent009 said:


> so pretty much a mental disorder is now finally biologically fixed and pinpointed by a single cause.?


No, not exactly. The cause of the damage can vary and come before or after, but that 'window' in the earliest years is the most influential in later developing emotionsl and psychological disorder. Deprivation of emotional input at this young age prevents growth. Similar effects have been observed in patients with physical damage to this region of the brain, which can arise from head injury also.

The significance of the discovery is that very subtle lack of input can later cause depression and anxiety. Its possible to look back and see no obvious trauma or abuse at all, but if the correct emotional inputs were absent you can develop these problems. In MRI imaging it is this part of the brain that is observed to function differently in people with emotional disorders.

This doesnt totally rule out a natural biological degradtion of the OFC due to illness though. It goes to show though that the human brain is not complete at birth - it continues 'ripening' once out of the womb.


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## CopadoMexicano (Aug 21, 2004)

interesting but very abstract and complex


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## yeah_yeah_yeah (Mar 27, 2007)

AdrianG said:


> yeah_yeah_yeah said:
> 
> 
> > Neuroimaging and the functional neuroanatomy of psychotherapy.
> ...


The post is for information and interest. Understanding that the OFc functions to soothe an aroused mind and that difference in its function is observed across many disorders is just a piece of the puzzle. I just thought people might like to know about it, as opposed to me ignoring it and leaving it languishing by my bed


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## yeah_yeah_yeah (Mar 27, 2007)

MavenMI6Agent009 said:


> interesting but very abstract and complex


Haha yes, again. Sorry 

My bad. I didnt intend this to be a 'cure' thread, was just for info. Wasnt sure where else to put it!


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## CopadoMexicano (Aug 21, 2004)

well, thanks for the info anyways


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## CoconutHolder (Oct 13, 2007)

I agree with you 100%. That is one of the reasons, among God reasons and stuff that I chose to breastfeed my children. To give them that bond and trust and unconditional love. I'm glad I was able to do that for them. And yes, I believe that nuture and the ability for the child to feel they can completly trust and have unconditional love from a parent like that at a young age is CRITICAL for the child's emotional and social developement. Holy run-on sentence.


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## yeah_yeah_yeah (Mar 27, 2007)

Whee :yes I thought the info was funky dunky, I got excited by it. Thats how thrilling my life currently is ops

When you were boobie feeding, did they look up at you? Im curious  I think its cute when they do that "This is really nice but I am still confused" look.


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## CoconutHolder (Oct 13, 2007)

omg yeah. it was truely an amazing experience. Really. I feel that that is how God intended it. I wanted to experience that love that God gave us to directly, from God to give to our child. That loving and bonding. Then they do these cute little things like play with your hair or put their foot up on you or poke you in the face. Yeahs was good experiences. Was hard at too times though like when Camryn had her milk allergy. I had to cut ALL milk products out of my diet for like 9 months or she would get loose stools with blood in it. That part was pretty hard for a while but i got used to it and it was worth it. I'm really glad I did it but now I'm really glad I'm done that part and on to other nuturing ways.


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## yeah_yeah_yeah (Mar 27, 2007)

Hahaha pokey babies oke It sounds like such an intense, loving experience being a mom, so primal and physical. You cant talk, but theres that communication, feeling what the other is feeling and like the baby is following your emotions and sense of love. Wow.


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## CoconutHolder (Oct 13, 2007)

There are hormones involved too :yes . Mainly the hormones oxytocin and prolactin. They make you and your baby relax. Its like this weird relaxing feeling comes over you. Pretty neat. :yes


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## yeah_yeah_yeah (Mar 27, 2007)

HAhaha can they prescribe babies as anti-anxiety pods? If I hug one do I get all calm? Or do I have to be a mommie / have boobies?


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## CoconutHolder (Oct 13, 2007)

lol I dunno. heee

well I did read about some kind of nose spray. But it doesn't last long. Like 15 minutes or something. lol :stu


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## yeah_yeah_yeah (Mar 27, 2007)

This thread has just opened up a whole nother side of life I hadnt even thought about. Something so important and relevant to everyone ... but you never hear about it unless you are a mom. 

Thanks coco! (super mom)


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## CoconutHolder (Oct 13, 2007)

Awwwwwwwwwz


You are quite welcome, yeah yeah yeah. 


Was quite pleased to share it too with someone who was intertested in it. :yes 


:squeeze


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## srschirm (Jun 25, 2006)

Thanks Ross! Add another book to the list...


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## ardrum (May 13, 2007)

Interesting read, Ross. Sometimes I wish brain scanning technology and science 100 years from now could time travel back and analyze my brain with all kinds of new knowledge. Sometimes I feel like it's 1907 or something.


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## yeah_yeah_yeah (Mar 27, 2007)

Tis witchcraft, this psychology heresy!!


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## Pinzelhead (Mar 14, 2007)

Is it true that anxious, irritable or depressed mothers can cause their male babies to be born passive and shy because their mental state cripples enzymes needed for testosterone to masculinize certain areas of a males fetus' brain ?


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## yeah_yeah_yeah (Mar 27, 2007)

Hi Pinzel, thanks for the post. Hows you?

I havent read anything like that, no - although I do know that a constant state of stress can interfere with the expression of IGF Human Groth Hormone in the brain. They keep understanding more and more, but if your brain was sensititised to stress hormones in the womb, and then mom was also depressed and so npt able to fulfil the emotional needs necessary for the development of your OFC - which would now be needed to calm an already overactive amygdala / limbic system, then this could account for being born with a shy temperament.

I asked my therapist why it was that I never cried and never smiled. She said that in some babies they figure out very quickly that their mothers are not able to soothe their feelings, and perhaps make them feel worse due to the mothers distress, and so do not make the usual baby demands for attantion. They just sort of numb out, which is like a deep shyness.


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## Pinzelhead (Mar 14, 2007)

:thanks


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