September 2009

Becoming Addicted to JOY?

Submitted by Laurel on Wed, 09/30/2009 - 2:16pm

You can't become addicted to joy. It's a chemical fact. You can become empassioned, devoted and wired for joy, training the brain to return to that state of peace and fulfillment with surges of pleasure coursing through your body. But addiction is reserved for stress-related attachments.

Getting past them, and wiring the brain to prefer their more effective, sustainable substitute makes the difference between a life of torment and one of admitted irritation, ups and downs, but a stream of joyous feelings that is (almost) always there for you.

Karen talked about coming home right after she separated from her husband, then three children as teens at home, a veritable fountain of support and needs. Read more »

3 Concepts for Book Illustrations

Submitted by EBT News on Tue, 09/29/2009 - 11:24am

Opinions Needed!

We are working away on finishing the "Wired for Joy" book and are trying out 3 different ways of visually communicating the layout of the brain and the different reactions of a Stress Circuit or a Joy Circuit.

With these images we are trying to communicate:

1) That there are 3 areas of the brain.

2) That a "Circuit" can determine what area of the brain will be dominate when processing stress. Read more »

The Neuroscience of Obesity

Submitted by Laurel on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 9:42pm

The cost of obesity is staggering, with "Americans who are 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight cost the country an estimated $147 billion in weight-related medical bills in 2008." As long as we treat obesity as a neocortical problem -- not "knowing" what to do, that rate will continue to soar. What is the solution? EBT.

Most people with severe obesity, a Body Mass Index of 40 or more, are addicted. Their brain is wired for stress and their reward centers are dysregulated, that is, their neurotransmitters are very high or very low. About half of binge eaters have a "burnout" in dopamine receptors, so they are chronically low and need to get a fix of artificial sources of pleasure –– Read more »

UC Davis Emotional Brain Training Conference

Submitted by Laurel on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 11:35am

One-Day Program for Faculty, Residents, Students, Staff and the Community
U.C Davis, Monday October 19, 2009

Emerging research in neuroscience suggests that the primary source of stress may be the brain, in particular, the wiring of the emotional brain that favors stress. The downstream effects of that wiring –– how we process stress, and the wear and tear on the body and brain from repeated episodes of stress –– may contribute to 80 percent of primary health care visits, including the treatment for cognitive, emotional, relational, behavioral and physical stress symptoms. Read more »

Don't Settle . . . "Get to 1"

Submitted by Laurel on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 7:01am

The most important choice you make in a day is wether or not you decide to take charge of your Brain State.

This is because when you wake up in the morning and commit to doing your best to get to Brain State 1, the benefits start flowing. From thinking creatively, to feeling great, to being intimate in your relationships, and more, deciding to spend time in Brain State 1 is not just a different way of thinking, it's the ultimate elixir. Read more »

The White Coconut Cupcake Story

Submitted by Laurel on Thu, 09/24/2009 - 9:20pm

One of my most cherished friends was in my EBT group for several years. She was a total crack up. She would make everyone in the group laugh with her hilarious stories about food, including eating white coconut cupcakes from the deli after the EBT group. And she was so warm and sensitive and everyone fell in love with her. Read more »

Brain States & Child Trauma

Submitted by Laurel on Wed, 09/23/2009 - 7:00pm

Ever been down and find yourself opening the 'fridge, not sure if it was leftover pizza or a cold beer that you wanted -- or both?

Before Brain States people just described how they were feeling when they did this as "bad" or "down" but now we know that you are just in Brain State 4 or Brain State 5. This ability to understand what the brain is doing and separate it into discrete sections, allows us to create specific tools to effectively address stress. In developing these tools we have been looking at how other people have been using Brain States, and Bruce Perry is one of the main researchers who uses the idea of Brain States.

Bruce Perry of Baylor College of Medicine applied Brain States to child trauma and EBT has drawn upon understandings Read more »

The Power of Vegetables

Submitted by Laurel on Wed, 09/23/2009 - 4:11am

Sue was using EBT instead of weight loss surgery. One day in an EBT group, she said to me, "Oh, I get it. You eat more veggies." That week she had lost three pounds, and it was the week she had loaded up on spring greens, baby carrots, red peppers, and cucumbers.

It looked like it was a matter of veggies, but underneath that behavioral facade was quite probably a chemical cascade that made eating veggies not only powerful, but safe . . .I say addictive because eating vegetables when in the brain is wired for Brain State 4 or Brain State 5 can be addictive. Read more »

Brain State 5

Submitted by Laurel on Mon, 09/21/2009 - 7:06pm

Over the past decade neuroscience has shown that what's important is the perceived threat, not the objective threat. Stress can be psychological, metabolic or physical and it is still stress; the downstream chemical effects are the same. Meaning that there is no difference between the chemical cascade that is triggered by being chased by a lion and by a rejecting lover.

They both can send you to Brain State 5. Read more »

Retiring the Line . . .

Submitted by EBT News on Sun, 09/20/2009 - 2:19pm

We have had a lot of input from EBT providers who are responding to the changes in the method directed at bringing it in line with neuroscience. Yesterday, I received a message from one long-term provider, Sue, who wrote who was very enthusiastic about the changes but said . . . Read more »