I am currently in a course focused on Trauma, Post Trauma Stress and PTSD @ my school- Santa Barbara Graduate Institute. Through the research on trauma and the language around trauma, I have been able to give further conceptual and empirical credence to my own thinking around facilitating, designing, and teaching psychological and personal growth and development. As I investigate PTSD, I am struck by the fact that Wilhelm Reich was addressing the very issue, surrounding the Central Nervous System (CNS) and the Autonomic nervous System(ANS). Although Reich possibly found every psychological issue to be a baseline disturbance of the ANS, currently psychology sees PTSD as only one among many DSM issues. As I reflect on my study and experience of Reich's work I find that all of his treatment work was possibly parallel to many of the new somatic based trauma interventions. Also I am wondering if all Reich treated was the idea, as his literature points to, that all of culture is traumatizing and to wake from the "jail" was through somatic, sub-cortical, ANS implicit experiences to metabolize our trauma and to awaken to life's natural and free oscillating pulsation. If this is true then the Somatic Makers (Damasio, 1996) that regulate a looping of somatic sensation, or trauma looking for a way to metabolize are possibly doors to somatic processing. This could be said more clearly as emotional looping and cycles are the experiential point to enter in order to elicit change and new choices. This truly changes our relationship to deep affect, or deep old pain as being gates to consciously process the past life. There are many thoughts about the nature of the past, but as I investigate trauma, trauma research, and clinical history, we see a robust base to conclude their trauma is literally looping. caught in our CNS, despite time and space.
So with mind only we stay in a loop between somatic markers, the pain memory, the pain body. One of the big theme of working with trauma is safety, especially if the trauma is human to human. I would propose and I would like to research how culture, as it is now, as a whole, is traumatizing. This is a great management system, just look at TMT
This is where I think developing soul-essence-being-right brain strength becomes an orientation that supports and develops the pain body into a garden of growth and development. As Neuroplacticity research shows we are biologically set up to grow, change, and transform the nature of our Whole experience. Thoughts? Share?
The research out of the many Domains of Psychology, and if you the direct research citations let me know, is saying that essentially there is no mind with out a body and no body with out a mind. The interface, the bridge of the body to mind communication is the CNS, the ANS and the Vagal Nerve. This is the realm of pure experience and the realm of possible change or possible loops.
This information is truly important for our time, as we enter a new world, with very complex issues, and a profound increase in decay, and mental illness, just look around. We all know people that are experiencing some physical manifestation of illness, and yes all of this is debatable from a wide rage of perspectives, but while we debate the world is mutating very quickly. What are the natural skills, the natural inherent intelligences that we can cultivate? What conversation can we have that is important that will assist all of us in maturing with the rate of change in our world? I propose we work with each other to support the experience and mobilization of our CNS and our ANS. This would in turn support the use of the prefrontal cortex, higher thinking, thinking like compassion, sensitivity, adaptability, balance, design, and maturity.
Thanks
Scot
