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| "is this normal?" The Georgia Straight |
IT ALL BEGINS WITH EMOTIONS
I didn’t pay too much attention to the riot in Vancouver after the Stanley Cup game. I didn’t feel angry about it. I didn’t think “How could they?”. Well.... actually I did. But I really meant why could they? and why did they?
Then there it was on the cover of The Georgia Straight newspaper. “is this normal?” Ah, that’s exactly what I was looking for. So I read the article and found an interesting connection to a book I borrowed just recently called “The Instinct to Heal” by David Servan-Schreiber.
The book focuses on our emotions and, he says, that we have an “emotional brain” and a “thinking” brain. Doesn’t sound that new, does it? Most of us know we have a rational, logical side and a more intuitive, emotional side. But this goes further than that.
He says we essentially have two brains, an emotional brain and a cognitive brain. He also says that our emotional brain is the older of the two. We have had it since time began, while the cognitive brain is newer.
The emotional brain is a more unconscious sort of brain and it is mostly concerned with survival. It is also strongly linked to our physical body. Dr. Elisabeth Zoffmann, a Vancouver psychiatrist, in the article in the Straight, called this the limbic system, “a more primitive part of the brain” and that “this area is very tied into touch, sight, sound, taste, and smell, and links these sensory inputs to emotional centres. The limbic system also provides access to the capacity for violent or, in other circumstances, heroic behaviour.”
Servan-Schreiber, in his book, says the cognitive brain is a new layer surrounding the older, emotional brain, called the “neocortex”. It is the brain of language and reasoning. It helps us recognize faces, process sound, it is responsible for attention, concentration, inhibition of moral behaviour and social relations.
Okay, he also points out that the emotional brain senses danger and causes our body to do what it needs to do to keep us safe. And because it’s the older brain, evolution has ensured that it gets priority over the cognitive, thinking brain. However, when the emotional brain takes over our mental functioning is reduced and we lose control and act unwisely. Hmm. Sound familiar?
Zoffmann says the same thing “Once you’ve had your frontal lobe (the neocortex) taken out of the equation, you’re kind of driven by your impulses and emotions. ... So the limbic system is quite capable of coordinating a lot of action – some of it not very smart.” She also suggests that the “group brain ... is a holdover from the pathway of evolution. Perhaps our ancestors’ capacity to stampede and cause havoc is a protective device that helped ward off threats at one time.”
Zoffmann calls the neocortex the “prefrontal cortex” and that it “evolved long after the limbic system was in place. ... this might explain why the brain’s impulse-control system doesn’t prevent the highly emotional group brain from expressing itself.”
I’d like to leave the subject of the riot there but I would like to pursue more of the ideas in Servan-Schreiber’s book. He focuses on the fact that the emotional brain has control over our physiology and thus can be put to good use for healing, all through physical treatments and activities. He talks about the “old traditions” of acupuncture, nutrition, exercise and emotional communication as well as newer treatment methods such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing), heart rate coherence training (similar to biofeedback) and the synchronization of chronobiological rhythms using a machine that can simulate dawn. (Okay that was a mouthful).
If you want to read more of the article in the Georgia Straight, it was in the June 23 – 30, 2011 issue. Or go to http://www.straight.com/article-400112/vancouver/sometimes-riot-normal
Give us your feedback and comments on this topic.
Caer Weber
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