Dreaming and daydreaming, ruminating, or hearing traumatic keywords associated with a trauma can turn on enough noradrenaline to unlock the cabinet.

As I’ve discussed before in this blog, memories, particularly traumatic memories can be very inaccurate recordings of events. I think I’ve come across a good explanation for why that is so – and what can be done about it.

Neuroscientists at The University of Queensland explain how emotional events can sometimes lead to disturbing long term memories. During studies of the almond-shaped part of the brain called the amygdala – a region associated with processing emotions – Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) scientists uncovered a cellular mechanism underlying the formation of emotional memories – and it involves a well known stress hormone – noradrenaline, the brain’s version of adrenaline. Noradrenaline affects the amygdala by controlling chemical and electrical pathways in the brain responsible for memory formation.

Think of this interaction between chemical and brain structure like a file cabinet.

When an emotional event occurs noradrenaline is released in the brain – the more emotionally traumatic the event, the more adrenaline gets turned on in the body and more noradrenaline released in the brain. This chemical is like the key to the file cabinet. Once open, the drawer assigned to that particular kind of event reveals many folders full of data – images, sensations, sounds and more that are similar in nature to the current event being experienced.

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Eye movement to elicit emotionally charged memories? Maybe!

Research published by Cell Press in the September 10th issue of the journal Neuron, provides compelling insight into the relationship between activity in the hippocampus, eye movements, and both conscious and unconscious memory. Scientists may have discovered a way to garner information about memories by tracking patterns of eye movements, even when an individual is unable or unwilling to report what they recall.

I’ve done Rapid Eye Technology for over twenty years and I’ve seen lots of eye movements. In every case, the eyes would move, dilate, tear, even change color slightly due to memory recall. Sometimes these changes were dramatic – very noticeable. The report in Neuron tends to confirm my theory that the eyes are directly connected to the emotional centers of the brain in some way – and that memories, particularly emotionally charged memories, will show themselves in some fashion through the eyes.

“It is conceivable that eye-tracking could be used to obtain information about past events from participants who are unaware or attempting to withhold information,” offers Dr. Hannula. “In other words, there may be circumstances in which eye movements provide a more robust account of past events or experiences than behavioral reports alone.”

I’m very excited about this line of inquiry. Perhaps in time such studies will help develop a more reliable indicator than the current methods for determining whether someone is being deceitful. Further, perhaps such research might help us understand the workings of Rapid Eye Technology.

Researchers: Deborah E. Hannula and Charan Ranganath, of the University of California, Davis, Davis, CA.

An injection of cortisol shortly after exposure to a traumatic event could prevent the onset of PTSD.

Prof. Joseph Zohar from the Sackler Medical School, Tel Aviv University, has found that an injection of cortisol shortly after exposure to a traumatic event could prevent the onset of PTSD.

What a brilliant idea! Why wait for symptoms of PTSD to debilitate a person when prevention can address and effectively eliminate the problem altogether. Further, as inoculated trauma victims are returned to their families and societies, they are more likely to be more productive, better able to cope with their home environments, and quicker to adjust to later possible traumas.

Dr. Zohar’s idea of an injection shortly after exposure could backfire for those people susceptible to cortisol build-up or who’s bodies don’t process cortisol well. Many overweight people have difficulty processing the stress hormone and thus their bodies collect body fat instead of dealing with stress properly.

I propose that those exposed to traumatic events instead, use a quick de-stress process like RET or EFT to better utilize the cortisol they already have. In those cases where cortisol injections might be especially useful, I propose they be accompanied by RET or EFT sessions so that the cortisol is better utilized.

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Closing the eyes intensifies emotional intensity while opening the eyes tends to lessen emotion intensity.

A study out of Tel Aviv University’s Functional Brain Center provides some insight into how Rapid Eye Technology works. The study, lead by Prof. Talma Hendler, demonstrated that closing the eyes intensifies emotional intensity while opening the eyes tends to lessen emotion intensity when it comes to listening to scary music. The same conclusion might be made about scary sounds including emotionally evocative words and phrases (though this was not specifically studied).

In essence, the study showed that closing the eyes intensified the actions of the Amygdala, an emotional area of the brain associated with memory management. This association offers the possibility of creating therapies for Alzheimer’s and other degenerative memory conditions. It also could explain why RET seems to work so well.

“It’s possible that closing one’s eyes during an emotional stimulation, like in our research, may help people through a variety of mental states. It synchs connectivity in the brain,” Dr. Hendler says. “We don’t know exactly how or why this happens – it’s like a light switch gets turned off, allowing the brain to better integrate the highs and lows of the emotional experience when the eyes are shut.”

During RET, the client blinks their eyes as fast as they can while listening to emotionally evocative words and phrases provided by the RET technician through scripts, audio CDs, and discussion with the client. Based on the Tel Aviv University study, the eyes closed condition would tend to intensify emotions (positive and negative), while the eyes open condition would tend to calm or lessen emotional intensity. Repeated blinking (eyes open/eyes closed in rapid succession) may tend to even out at a lower level the emotional intensity of the issue at hand.

Experience with RET has show me that this rapid blinking along with rapid movement of an eye directing device (wand) suggests to the mind to “look” into all memories associated with the present issue and relieve them of emotional energy – a more holistic approach than one that focuses emotional relief onto one emotion for one issue at one time.

Prof. Hendler’s latest study with scary music is “just an example of how a small manipulation in one’s physical state such as eyes open or shut can change our mental experience,” she says.

Study source:
George Hunka – American Friends of Tel Aviv University. Dr. Hendler’s research was published in PLoS One and builds on her 2007 study published in Cerebral Cortex.

You can make those life changes you want to make in the blink of an eye.

New research out of MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research, shows that brain neurons can change in as little as two minutes even in adults. For years scientists have known about the plasticity of the brain – that it can change neuronal connections and even grow new brain cells. But until recently, no one had studied the speed at which these changes can occur.

It is unlikely that a brain cell would grow to maturity and make all those dendrite connections in just two minutes. Some other mechanism must be at work.
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