-049- The Mind Body Connection – Part 1

Summary: Happiness Isn-t Brain Surgery: The Mind-Body Connection Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes PhD, LPC-MHSM, LMHC, NCC Executive Director, AllCEUs Host, Counselor Toolbox President, Recovery and Resilience International Continuing Education (CE) credits for addiction and mental health counselors, social workers and marriage and family therapists can be earned for this presentation at <a href="https://www.allceus.com/member/cart/index/product/id/570/c/">https://www.allceus.com/member/cart/index/product/id/570/c/</a> Objectives – Learn about your central control center, the brain – What role does it play in – Emotions – Thoughts – Physical Reactions/Sensations – How things can go wrong – How to fix those things The Brain – Your central control center – Takes in information – Compares it to what it already knows (or thinks it knows) from prior experiences – Makes a decision about what to do. – Based on that decision it activates action centers which excrete neurotransmitters in order to produce the desired reaction. Neurotransmitters – Chemical messengers take -orders- to and from the brain through the nervous system – The Big 6 fall into 3 main categories – Excitatory: Dopamine, Norepinepherine, Glutamate – Inhibitory: GABA, Serotonin – Neuromodulator: Acetylcholine Neurotransmitters Function – Emotional – Happiness – Sadness – Anger – Fear – Mental – Concentration – Learning – Decision Making – Physical – Sleep behavior – Eating behavior – Libido – Gastrointestinal Functioning/motility – Pain perception Neurotransmitters cont- – An imbalance in neurotransmitters will cause emotional, mental, or physical -distress- – What causes imbalances – Too much -stress- for too long – Poor nutrition – Insufficient sleep – Addictive behaviors Your Stress Sensor: Peripheral Nervous System – Your nervous system continues to feed the brain information about whether the threat is: – Continuing and something else needs to be done – Subsiding and your brain can tell your body to relax. – How does all this happen- – How does the brain -know- what is threatening- Lets find out- The Brain – When you were born, there were very few things that were -meaningful- – You assigned meaning to things through observation and experience – When something happens you compare it to prior experiences to decide what to do The Brain – Unfortunately until about age 7 children-s interpretation of behavior is: – Centric-Based on one thing at a time – Concrete – All-or-nothing – Egocentric The Brain – Interpretations are only as good as: – The information coming in – The prior knowledge – Things that are learned in early childhood need to be re-examined as we grow – Once you were in middle school you could be taught to start – Considering multiple aspects of a situation – Using abstract reasoning (Looking for other interpretations of events) Example 1 – Child brings home report card – Child hears negative messages from a parent – Why did you get a C, I know you are not that stupid. – Why can-t you do anything right- – Child interprets – All-or-Nothing: I cannot do anything to make my parent proud. – Ego

-049- The Mind Body Connection – Part 1

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