Psychological, physical, mental, soul or?
Even though my graduate degree is in clinical psychology and I work as a licensed counselor and a certified addiction counselor, I have long been mystified by the distinction between psychological and physical. I think that many of us use the words emotional, mental and psychological as interchangeable.
The word psychological is derived from the Greek word psukhē - 'breath, soul, mind'. (oxforddictionary.com). Even the American Psychiatric association whose members have a degree in medicine use the term mental health to distinguish it from physical health although the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder – Edition V addresses the some of the physical components are aspects of “mental illness.” In this fifth edition of the DSM mental disorder is defined:
"A mental disorder is a syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning. Mental disorders are usually associated with significant distress in social, occupational, or other important activities. An expectable or culturally approved response to a common stressor or loss, such as the death of a loved one, is not a mental disorder. Socially deviant behavior (e.g., political, religious, or sexual) and conflicts that are primarily between the individual and society are not mental disorders unless the deviance or conflict results from a dysfunction in the individual, as described above."
Goodness, when I read this, although I have some an idea of what they are attempting to say, it is even more confusing. What do I know or believe?:
· I know that food, environment, chemicals, movement, weather and a great many other factors affect how one’s brain functions.
· I know that the human body is an interactional system.
· I know that the interactions of we humans with what we experience as that which is outside of us is interactional.
· I know that different sections of the brain are active (light up) or are inactive (do not light up). Whether or not they are active is reflective of how that part of the brain is functioning.
· Many neurons affect each section of the brain.
· An emotional response is a physical response in the brain. Many factors affect whether or how that part of the brain is responding. We now know, for example, some of the role of various chemical and chemical balances in the brain on how we function “emotionally.”
· When I have an emotion such as a fear if other parts of my brain are working I can either feed or counter that emotional message. If one has an anxiety disorder, for example, one may become very fearful in certain places or situations. One’s brain may sound an alert that one is in danger. That may or may not be true. With an anxiety disorder often it may not be true. If one part of my brain is anxious and another part of my brain “talks back” to the fearful message and says, “Yes, you are in danger” then one is feeding the fear. If, in fact, one is standing in the middle of a busy highway that is an accurate message. If, however, one is at the local grocery store, or passing through a tunnel one is not in danger. If one feeds the fear one will become even more fearful and be more likely to have an increased fear response next time one is in the grocery store or passing through the tunnel. Both the original “feeling” of fear/anxiety and the resulting conversation in one’s head is a physical phenomenon. It is true that it is “taking place in one’s head” but it is not true that it is “all in one’s head” in the sense that one has imagined it.
Acceptance of these truths has allowed scientists and practitioners such as neuroscientists to experiment with treating such diseases as Parkinson’s, depression and Alzheimer’s. Dr. Andrew Lozano in a Ted Talk of April 2013 entitled, Parkinson’s, depression and the switch that might turn them off discusses some of the exciting work which is now being done. He reviews a bit of surgical history:
“So as I said, neurosurgery comes from a long tradition. It's been around for about 7,000 years. In Mesoamerica, there used to be neurosurgery, and there were these neurosurgeons that used to treat patients. And they were trying to -- they knew that the brain was involved in neurological and psychiatric disease. They didn't know exactly what they were doing. Not much has changed, by the way. (Laughter) But they thought that, if you had a neurologic or psychiatric disease, it must be because you are possessed by an evil spirit. So if you are possessed by an evil spirit causing neurologic or psychiatric problems, then the way to treat this is, of course, to make a hole in your skull and let the evil spirit escape.”
He then says:
“Now, in the course of time, we've come to realize that different parts of the brain do different things. So there are areas of the brain that are dedicated to controlling your movement or your vision or your memory or your appetite, and so on. And when things work well, then the nervous system works well, and everything functions. But once in a while, things don't go so well, and there's trouble in these circuits, and there are some rogue neurons that are misfiring and causing trouble, or sometimes they're underactive and they're not quite working as they should…
Now, the manifestation of this depends on where in the brain these neurons are. So when these neurons are in the motor circuit, you get dysfunction in the movement system, and you get things like Parkinson's disease. When the malfunction is in a circuit that regulates your mood, you get things like depression, and when it is in a circuit that controls your memory and cognitive function, then you get things like Alzheimer's disease…”
Now comes the exciting part. He reports:
“Now the first example I'm going to show you is a patient with Parkinson's disease, and this lady has Parkinson's disease, and she has these electrodes in her brain, and I'm going to show you what she's like when the electrodes are turned off and she has her Parkinson's symptoms, and then we're going to turn it on. So this looks something like this The electrodes are turned off now, and you can see that she has tremor. (Video) Man: Okay. Woman: I can't. Man: Can you try to touch my finger? (Video) Man: That's a little better. Woman: That side is better. We're now going to turn it on. It's on. Just turned it on. And this works like that, instantly. And the difference between shaking in this way and not -- (Applause) The difference between shaking in this way and not is related to the misbehavior of 25,000 neurons in her subthalamic nucleus. So we now know how to find these troublemakers and tell them, "Gentlemen, that's enough. We want you to stop doing that." And we do that with electricity. So we use electricity to dictate how they fire, and we try to block their misbehavior using electricity. So in this case, we are suppressing the activity of abnormal neurons.”
He then goes on to talk about using this same technique with a boy who completely disabled with the condition of dystonia. The boy is now able to function well and independently . There is every reason to believe that soon this sort of technique will be able to be used to alter and/or stop the progression of such diseases as Alzheimer’s. Not only will future treatment of many illnesses be accomplished by neurosurgeons implanting electrodes in various parts of the brain, we will continue to make strides in discovering how other factors affect how or if various parts of the brain function.
Cognitive psychology may still have a role to play. We know that habits are stored in the basal ganglia part of the brain which and not where memory is stored. We now know more practice and the reinforcement of the messages associated with habits affect the strength of habits. Self-talk which is a physiological process can strengthen or weaken habits as can the decision to practice or not practice certain habits.
I have no idea of what language we might more effectively use to talk about the factors which affect how we feel, think, and behave. I do know that language is very powerful and telling somehow who is experiencing anxiety, depression, autism, irrational behavior to just stop it is not effective. Punishing people for thought processes which are harmful to themselves or others also is not effective long term. Instilling fear long term is also not effective. Many medications have very harmful side effects and simply do not work for a significant number of people. Learning more about how the brain functions and how we can treat or manipulate part of the brain holds out great promise.
It is, to say the least, ironic that at a time when it may seem as if us humans are more divided than ever and more determined to use violence to harm and kill each other, humans are also doing exciting work to help us heal and function better. Hats off to all of those such as Dr. Lozano, his colleagues, and those other “head doctors” who have a great respect for the human brain and can explore our relationship with it.
Written July 16, 2016
Even though my graduate degree is in clinical psychology and I work as a licensed counselor and a certified addiction counselor, I have long been mystified by the distinction between psychological and physical. I think that many of us use the words emotional, mental and psychological as interchangeable.
The word psychological is derived from the Greek word psukhē - 'breath, soul, mind'. (oxforddictionary.com). Even the American Psychiatric association whose members have a degree in medicine use the term mental health to distinguish it from physical health although the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder – Edition V addresses the some of the physical components are aspects of “mental illness.” In this fifth edition of the DSM mental disorder is defined:
"A mental disorder is a syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning. Mental disorders are usually associated with significant distress in social, occupational, or other important activities. An expectable or culturally approved response to a common stressor or loss, such as the death of a loved one, is not a mental disorder. Socially deviant behavior (e.g., political, religious, or sexual) and conflicts that are primarily between the individual and society are not mental disorders unless the deviance or conflict results from a dysfunction in the individual, as described above."
Goodness, when I read this, although I have some an idea of what they are attempting to say, it is even more confusing. What do I know or believe?:
· I know that food, environment, chemicals, movement, weather and a great many other factors affect how one’s brain functions.
· I know that the human body is an interactional system.
· I know that the interactions of we humans with what we experience as that which is outside of us is interactional.
· I know that different sections of the brain are active (light up) or are inactive (do not light up). Whether or not they are active is reflective of how that part of the brain is functioning.
· Many neurons affect each section of the brain.
· An emotional response is a physical response in the brain. Many factors affect whether or how that part of the brain is responding. We now know, for example, some of the role of various chemical and chemical balances in the brain on how we function “emotionally.”
· When I have an emotion such as a fear if other parts of my brain are working I can either feed or counter that emotional message. If one has an anxiety disorder, for example, one may become very fearful in certain places or situations. One’s brain may sound an alert that one is in danger. That may or may not be true. With an anxiety disorder often it may not be true. If one part of my brain is anxious and another part of my brain “talks back” to the fearful message and says, “Yes, you are in danger” then one is feeding the fear. If, in fact, one is standing in the middle of a busy highway that is an accurate message. If, however, one is at the local grocery store, or passing through a tunnel one is not in danger. If one feeds the fear one will become even more fearful and be more likely to have an increased fear response next time one is in the grocery store or passing through the tunnel. Both the original “feeling” of fear/anxiety and the resulting conversation in one’s head is a physical phenomenon. It is true that it is “taking place in one’s head” but it is not true that it is “all in one’s head” in the sense that one has imagined it.
Acceptance of these truths has allowed scientists and practitioners such as neuroscientists to experiment with treating such diseases as Parkinson’s, depression and Alzheimer’s. Dr. Andrew Lozano in a Ted Talk of April 2013 entitled, Parkinson’s, depression and the switch that might turn them off discusses some of the exciting work which is now being done. He reviews a bit of surgical history:
“So as I said, neurosurgery comes from a long tradition. It's been around for about 7,000 years. In Mesoamerica, there used to be neurosurgery, and there were these neurosurgeons that used to treat patients. And they were trying to -- they knew that the brain was involved in neurological and psychiatric disease. They didn't know exactly what they were doing. Not much has changed, by the way. (Laughter) But they thought that, if you had a neurologic or psychiatric disease, it must be because you are possessed by an evil spirit. So if you are possessed by an evil spirit causing neurologic or psychiatric problems, then the way to treat this is, of course, to make a hole in your skull and let the evil spirit escape.”
He then says:
“Now, in the course of time, we've come to realize that different parts of the brain do different things. So there are areas of the brain that are dedicated to controlling your movement or your vision or your memory or your appetite, and so on. And when things work well, then the nervous system works well, and everything functions. But once in a while, things don't go so well, and there's trouble in these circuits, and there are some rogue neurons that are misfiring and causing trouble, or sometimes they're underactive and they're not quite working as they should…
Now, the manifestation of this depends on where in the brain these neurons are. So when these neurons are in the motor circuit, you get dysfunction in the movement system, and you get things like Parkinson's disease. When the malfunction is in a circuit that regulates your mood, you get things like depression, and when it is in a circuit that controls your memory and cognitive function, then you get things like Alzheimer's disease…”
Now comes the exciting part. He reports:
“Now the first example I'm going to show you is a patient with Parkinson's disease, and this lady has Parkinson's disease, and she has these electrodes in her brain, and I'm going to show you what she's like when the electrodes are turned off and she has her Parkinson's symptoms, and then we're going to turn it on. So this looks something like this The electrodes are turned off now, and you can see that she has tremor. (Video) Man: Okay. Woman: I can't. Man: Can you try to touch my finger? (Video) Man: That's a little better. Woman: That side is better. We're now going to turn it on. It's on. Just turned it on. And this works like that, instantly. And the difference between shaking in this way and not -- (Applause) The difference between shaking in this way and not is related to the misbehavior of 25,000 neurons in her subthalamic nucleus. So we now know how to find these troublemakers and tell them, "Gentlemen, that's enough. We want you to stop doing that." And we do that with electricity. So we use electricity to dictate how they fire, and we try to block their misbehavior using electricity. So in this case, we are suppressing the activity of abnormal neurons.”
He then goes on to talk about using this same technique with a boy who completely disabled with the condition of dystonia. The boy is now able to function well and independently . There is every reason to believe that soon this sort of technique will be able to be used to alter and/or stop the progression of such diseases as Alzheimer’s. Not only will future treatment of many illnesses be accomplished by neurosurgeons implanting electrodes in various parts of the brain, we will continue to make strides in discovering how other factors affect how or if various parts of the brain function.
Cognitive psychology may still have a role to play. We know that habits are stored in the basal ganglia part of the brain which and not where memory is stored. We now know more practice and the reinforcement of the messages associated with habits affect the strength of habits. Self-talk which is a physiological process can strengthen or weaken habits as can the decision to practice or not practice certain habits.
I have no idea of what language we might more effectively use to talk about the factors which affect how we feel, think, and behave. I do know that language is very powerful and telling somehow who is experiencing anxiety, depression, autism, irrational behavior to just stop it is not effective. Punishing people for thought processes which are harmful to themselves or others also is not effective long term. Instilling fear long term is also not effective. Many medications have very harmful side effects and simply do not work for a significant number of people. Learning more about how the brain functions and how we can treat or manipulate part of the brain holds out great promise.
It is, to say the least, ironic that at a time when it may seem as if us humans are more divided than ever and more determined to use violence to harm and kill each other, humans are also doing exciting work to help us heal and function better. Hats off to all of those such as Dr. Lozano, his colleagues, and those other “head doctors” who have a great respect for the human brain and can explore our relationship with it.
Written July 16, 2016
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