Monthly Archives: September 2010

Genetics and Emotions

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People who complain that they are more sensitive to sadness or frustration than others and report feeling "hurt" may be telling the truth.

People who complain that they are more sensitive to sadness or frustration than others and report feeling “hurt” may be telling the truth.

There are approximately three billion base pairs (connections) in a strand of DNA. That represents a virtually infinite number of possible combinations. The variation between each of us, although nearly infinitesimally small, is so significant that no two of us in the world population of nearly 7 billion humans is exactly identical. Even identical twins are different from each other.

It is that small variation in each of us that is the result of and contributes to the evolution of the specie. In a study by UCLA researchers, publishing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Markus Heilig, Faculty Member for F1000 Biology, and Chief of the Laboratory of Clinical and Translational Studies at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, MD, report that they have identified a genetic factor that causes some people to actually experience stronger physical sensations associated with emotions (in the study case, the emotion was rejection).

There is apparently a wide variation or spectrum associated with the feeling (physical sensations) of emotions. Therefore, some people who complain that they are more sensitive to sadness or frustration, for example, than others and report feeling emotionally “hurt” may be telling the literal truth.

Can these genetic factors be moderated through training or experience? What do you think? Are we “hard wired” – or can we significantly affect our emotional states in spite of genetic predisposition or genetic variations?

An abstract of the original paper, Variation in the micro-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1) is associated with dispositional and neural sensitivity to social rejection is online at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez/19706472?dopt=Abstract&holding=f1000,f1000m,isrctn.

Self Esteem and Cholesterol

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“…heightened defensiveness reflects insecurity, fragility and less-than-optimal functioning rather than a healthy psychological outlook,” said Michael Kernis, Professor of Psychology at the University of Georgia when describing those with fragile high self esteem. “We aren’t suggesting there’s something wrong with people when they want to feel good about themselves. What we are saying is that when feeling good about themselves becomes a prime directive, for these people excessive defensiveness and self-promotion are likely to follow, the self-esteem is likely to be fragile rather than secure and any psychological benefits will be very limited.”

Self esteem, it seems is a bit like cholesterol. It’s not as simple as too much cholesterol causes problems. There is “good cholesterol” and “bad cholesterol.” Further, too much “good” cholesterol can cause problems, too. So, too, with self esteem. There is “good” self esteem – called “healthy” self esteem; and there is “bad” self esteem – or “unhealthy” self esteem. Too much “healthy” self esteem can turn into unhealthy self esteem according to studies at UGA. Continue reading →

Deflating Unwanted Memories

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Take the emotional sting out of certain memories with this simple NLP technique:

  1. Turn your memory into a flat 2D image – like a picture in a book. Make it black and white. Put a picture frame around it. Hang it on the wall. Why not hang it upside down? Or at a silly angle? What would it look like if it were all in cartoon?
  2. In your mind, play some silly music. Change the voices into Donald Duck, or some other amusing voice, until it makes you laugh or starts to tickle your funny bone.
  3. Feel how flat you have made the memory now.
  4. Lastly, make a new picture of how you want to be/feel and over impose this new wonderful you in front of the picture of you smiling.

Stress and Cardiovascular Disease

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Stress at work can kill you.

A study by researchers at the School of Public Health in Berkeley, CA, discovered that work stress, resulting from pressure at the work place, may increase the progression of atherosclerosis by 46% in people who have highly reactive personalities to stress.

“Studies like these have shown that work stress is associated to cardiovascular disease,” states Dr. C. Noel Bairey Merz, Director of the Preventive and Rehabilitative Cardiac Center at Cedars-Sinai in the U.S.A., who will speak on stress at work at the XVI World Congress of Cardiology. “And, although it is difficult to estimate how many people are at risk of coronary disease because of work stress, the most recent analysis of the INTERHEART study directed by Dr. Salim Yusuf makes it possible to estimate that from 20% to 30% of heart attacks can be attributed to psychological stress.”

Continue reading →

Time for Change in America’s School System

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Americans – ready to work for better educated FOREIGNERS – as their janitors, factory workers, and house cleaners? Good thing we at least know we’re free (from choice)! The solution to the dumbing of America is so easy it hurts – just attach education money to the student – instead of the current system of funding school districts regardless of performance – and let good old-fashioned American competition do the rest. I’m confident it will work. We just have to be brave enough to say no to powerful teachers unions and bought and paid-for politicians. If you’re an American, I hope this video scares the hell out of you – enough to move you to action.

We don’t need more police in our schools – we need a new school system. When schools compete, you win!

Are Killer Repressed Memories a Myth?

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A percentage of veterans (and by extension, some civilians) who have experienced traumatic events have a built-in coping mechanism that appears to repress traumatic memories in order to make life more satisfying and livable. And the strategy works well for them!

A percentage of veterans (and by extension, some civilians) who have experienced traumatic events have a built-in coping mechanism that appears to repress traumatic memories in order to make life more satisfying and livable. And the strategy works well for them!

“Going back to the days of Sigmund Freud, psychiatrists and mental health experts have suggested that repression of traumatic memories could lead to health problems. Yet we have found little evidence that repression had an adverse health impact on combat veterans exposed to psychological trauma many years later.”

Joseph Boscarino, Ph.D. and Tulane University investigator Charles Figley, Ph.D., have been studying the effects of repressed memories in Vietnam war and other war veterans to help understand the relationship between repressed memories and physical ailment and longevity.

For years I had worked under the belief that horrific traumatic experiences should “come out” to be resolved or relieved of their emotional charge – and that suppressing those memories was tantamount to denial – leading to terrible life consequences. I’ve worked with hundreds of clients, many of whom were veterans. For those who chose to disclose their traumatic emotional baggage, swift release of the psychic energy often produced a noticeable increased sense of well-being and life satisfaction – that lasted.

However, according to Boscarino and Figley, a percentage of veterans (and by extension, some civilians) who have experienced traumatic events have a built-in coping mechanism that appears to repress traumatic memories in order to make life more satisfying and livable. And the strategy works well for them!

In these cases, “Repression is a self-regulator and a method of memory management,” Dr. Figley said. “In other words, ‘keeping your stressful memories inside or it will kill you’ is a myth.”

To both practitioner and veteran, I would say – “If what you are doing is working well for you, no need to ‘rock the boat’ for the sake of therapy.” Like my old pappy used to say, “If it ain’t broke – don’t fix it!”

To that I would add – just because you experienced traumatic events does not necessarily mean you need therapy to “resolve your issue” or that you must have repressed memories that will affect you physically if not properly dealt with – usually by expressing them. Maybe all you need to do is continue to do what you’re doing now. Sometimes the hunt for repressed memories itself is more traumatic than the memories sought after – and can cause more psychological damage than repressing the memories.

However (and this is important) – if someone close to you suggests therapy, take them up on the idea. And if you suddenly find yourself acting out for no reason whatsoever – like losing your temper when your wife tells you she’s going to brew another cup of coffee or sit in a different chair – or maybe you start losing sleep at night due to recurring nightmares – consider therapy to relieve you of some suppressed emotional charge. The investment may just make the difference between “just getting by” emotionally and loving and living your life to the fullest.