STUDY THIS 7

10-11-6

copied here from chapter 50 regulation

emotions and their regulation are central to the organization of the mind and of the self  (siegel/tdm/245)

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“…emotion reflects the fundamental way in which the mind assigns value to external and internal events and then directs the allocation of attentional resources to further the processing of these representations.  In this way, emotion reflects the way the mind directs the flow of information and of energy.  The modulation of emotion is the way the mind regulates energy and information processing….emotional regulation can be seen at the center of the self-organization of the mind.  (siegel/tdm/245)”

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emotions —- value —-belonging NEED through attachment DRIVE is, to me, how we learn what to value —- i.e. what to approach (pleasure) and avoid (pain) —-  it is this basic

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“This patient’s amygdala was probably exquisitely sensitized to the sight of a dog….a preconscious feedback loop involving the perceptual system and the amygdala would have allowed for the flight-flight response to be initiated even before he became aware that he had seen a dog.  These functional circuits have been evolutionarily helpful to us as human beings:  Once we are hurt, our amygdalas will do everything they can to keep us from allowing it to happen again.  (siegel/tdm/249)”  (copied FROM chapter 50 regulation and to STUDY THIS)

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Add this to chapter 21

“By increasing the amount of stimulation a value center needs to become activated, the brain can directly decrease its sensitivity to the environment.  Later on, modifications in the appraisal system can decrease or increase sensitivity….Recent experience primes the mind for context-specific change in sensitivity.  (siegel/tdm/248)

“Repeated patterns of intense emotional experiences may engrain chronic alterations in the degree of sensitivity.  For example, overwhelming terror, especially early in life, may permanently alter the sensitivity of an individual to a particular stimulus related to the trauma….Furthermore, early trauma may be associated with an increase in release of stress hormones in response to daily life experiences.  Early alteration of the circuits of the brain involved in evaluative processes can deeply influence the appraisal mechanisms that directly influence the nature of emotional experience and emotion regulation.  [For me, it’s basically PEOPLE!]   (siegel/tdm/248)”  (this is copied from chapter 50 REGULATION and is also copied into study this 7)

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“By increasing the amount of stimulation a value center needs to become activated, the brain can directly decrease its sensitivity to the environment.” (siegel/tdm/248)

[Is this part of what “being numb” is?  How about people without a conscience?  Value system has screwed this up – what brain reacts to –]

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“Repeated patterns of intense emotional experiences may engrain chronic alterations in the degree of sensitivity.  For example, overwhelming terror, especially early in life, may permanently alter the sensitivity of an individual to a particular stimulus related to the trauma….Furthermore, early trauma may be associated with an increase in release of stress hormones in response to daily life experiences.  [he doesn’t say here what this means exactly].  Early alteration of the circuits of the brain involved in evaluative processes can deeply influence the appraisal mechanisms that directly influence the nature of emotional experience and emotion regulation.  (siegel/tdm/248)”  [this is copied from chapter 50 regulation into end notes chapter 21 trauma and into study this 7]

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“specific appraisal of the excessively sensitive general arousal stage can be changed”…. “cognitive override” mechanism (siegel/tdm/248)

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“This patient’s amygdala was probably exquisitely sensitized to the sight of a dog….a preconscious feedback loop involving the perceptual system and the amygdala would have allowed for the flight-flight response to be initiated even before he became aware that he had seen a dog.  These functional circuits have been evolutionarily helpful to us as human beings:  Once we are hurt, our amygdalas will do everything they can to keep us from allowing it to happen again. (siegel/tdm/249)”  (copied FROM chapter 50 regulation and to STUDY THIS)

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“…impediments to mental health may often be seen as blockages in information processing and energy flow.  Experiences that allow for these fundamental elements to achieve a more flexible and adaptive flow or “circulation” through the mind can contribute greatly to emotional well-being.  (siegel.tdm.250)”  (from chapter 50 regulation)

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“Emotion regulation can also determine which parts of the brain are activated by arousal.  By determining the specificity of appraisal – the ways in which the value centers are establishing meaning of representations – the brain is able to regulate the flow of energy through the changing states of the system.  (siegel/tdm/250)”  from chapter 50 regulation

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“The specificity of elaborated and differentiated appraisal directly shapes arousal and thus determines the specific type of emotional experience that unfolds.  (siegel/tdm/251)” [copied from chapter 50 regulation]

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“The specificity of appraisal may be influenced by several elements of the evaluation of the stimulus, such as the individual’s assessment of its relevance to the achievement of current or future goals, its threat to the capacity of the individual to cope and to maintain the self as the locus of control, and its meaning to global issues regarding the self and the self in relation to others.  (siegel/tdm/251)”  [copied from chapter 50 regulation]

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“The specificity of emotional experience is determined by the specific complex layers of appraisal activated in response to a stimulus.  These evaluative processes, mediated by our socially sensitive value centers in the brain, emerge within our individual constitutions and interactional histories.  It is for this reason that in the same situation two people often have such qualitatively different reactions.  Unique personal meaning is created by the specificity of our emotional responses.  (siegel/tdm/252)” [copied from chapter 50 regulation]

[I am thinking about “criminal minds,” etc., how they form differently]

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“In its essence, emotion is a set of processes involving the recruitment of various circuits under the umbrella of one state of mind.  Thus the appraisal and arousal [again, appraisal put before arousal] processes create a neural net activation profile – a state of mind – whose characteristics in turn directly shape subsequent appraisal and arousal processes. (siegel/tdm/252)”

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“Value circuits determine specific appraisal, creating the basic hedonic tone of “this is good” or “this is bad” and the behavioral set of “approach” or “withdraw.”  Value circuits also continue to assess the meaning of these initial activations as they are elaborated into more defined emotional states, including the categorical emotions.  What determines the nature of the appraisal/value process itself?  How does the mind “know” what should be paid attention to, what is good or bad, and how to respond with sadness or anger?  (siegel/tdm/253)”  [this is interesting, how does the mind know how to respond with a specific feeling?  Does he mean that literally, like HOW TO RESPOND physiologically (mechanically), or how to decide which specific emotion to feel in response?]

“For human beings to have survived, this complex appraisal process had to be organized by at least two components.  According to the fundamental principles of evolution, the characteristics of those individuals whose genes shaped the appraisal process in a direction that helped the individuals to survive and pass on their genes are more likely to be present today.  This is one explanation, for example, of why some people are frightened of snakes though they may never have seen one before.  This may also explain why infants have a “hard-wired,” inborn system to appraise attachment experiences as important.  (siegel/tdm/253)”

“A second evolutionarily crucial influence on the appraisal mechanism is that it had to be able to learn from an individual’s experience.  Individuals who did not learn, for example, that touching a flame hurts would have been more likely to be repeatedly injured and unable to defend themselves, and therefore less likely to survive and pass on their genes.  Those individuals whose brains could alter their evaluative mechanisms would have been more likely to survive.  Hence, the appraisal system is also responsive to experience; it learns.  Emotional engagement enhances learning.  (siegel/tdm/253)”  [copied from chapter 50 regulation]

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they still don’t name it, that the need is to belong to learn about belonging in its hugest sense – hand does not belong in fire – human does not belong in proximity to snake —  yes, the infant has a hard-wired system to appraise attachment experiences as important – that is the DRIVE – but the REASON for the attachment is to learn all the aspects of BELONGING – which is the NEED — so they know what is good or bad – and how to respond accordingly

when things go bad as with chronic peritrauma from infant abuse, our states of mind don’t even belong to and with one another and we do not belong to or with them in any whole or organized fashion

Don’t just frame it in the language of attachment – it is the language of belonging that matters most

Infant Abuse and the Language of Belonging

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“Some individuals have extreme difficulty recovering from emotional flooding of any sort.  For these people, life may become a series of efforts to avoid situations that evoke strong emotional reactions.  These avoidance maneuvers are defensive, in that they are attempts to keep the individuals’ systems in balance.  For those whose windows are quite narrow for certain emotions, such avoidance behaviors can shape the structure of their personalities and their ways of dealing with others and the world.  If recovery processes are unavailable, then such individuals become prisoners of their own emotional instability.  (siegel/tdm/260)” copied from chapter 51 regulation continued

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REPAIRING THE RUPTURES

From chapter 51 regulation cont

“Recovery means decreasing the disorganizing effects of a particular episode of emotional [over] arousal.  (siegel/tdm/260)”

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“As our appraisal mechanisms operate and as our primary emotions are differentiated into categorical ones, our minds are influenced by our value systems in every aspect of their functioning. These influences occur without the necessity of conscious awareness.  The idea (siegel/tdm/262) presented in this book is that emotion is a central set of processes directly related to meaning, social communication, attentional focus and perceptual processing.  Emotion is not just some “primitive” remnant of an earlier reptilian evolutionary past.  Emotion directs the flow of activation (energy) and establishes the meaning of representations (information processing) for the individual.  It is not a single, isolated group of processes; it has a direct impact on the entire mind.  (siegel/tdm/263)”  copied also to emotion notes 7

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“The ability to involve conscious processing with something as fundamental as the creation of meaning, social relatedness and perceptual processing certainly does give the individual an increase in the flexibility of response to the environment.  Having a consciousness of emotions is especially important in the social environment.  Without it, we are likely not to be aware of our own or other’s intentions and motives.  Awareness of emotional processes has a value for our survival as a social species:  We can know our own minds as well as those of others, and can negotiate the complex interpersonal world with increased skill and effectiveness at meeting our needs.  (siegel/tdm/265)”

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“What role does consciousness itself play in the regulation of emotion?  Consciousness can influence the outcome of emotional processing. Conscious awareness allows for self-reflection, which can enable the mobilization of strategic thoughts and behaviors and can therefore enhance the flexible achievement of goals.  This can be seen as the achievement of new levels of integration. …. Given the fundamental role of the appraisal system in distinguishing what is good and should be approached from what is bad and should be avoided, emotions being accessible to parts of cognition that can consciously mobilize behavior can be crucial in having emotion be effective in certain adaptive ways as a value system.  Consciousness allows emotion to play a more adaptive role in the individual’s behavior.  (siegel/tdm/266)”  copied from chapter 52 regulation con’t to study this 7 and emotion notes 7

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“In formal terms, the mind develops the metacognitive capacity for the “appearance-reality distinction,” which allows an individual to comprehend that what something looks like may be different from what it actually is in the world.  The notions that one’s perceptions and ideas can change over time, and can be distinct from the equally valid ones of other people, are called “representational change: and “diversity,” respectively.  Metacognition also includes the awareness that emotion influences thought and perception, and that one may be able to experience two seemingly conflictual emotions about the same person or experience.  (siegel/tdm/267)”

“These metacognitive abilities often, but not necessarily, involve consciousness…

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“The effects of attachment relationships and the process of attunement on the mind have been postulated by Schore to have direct impacts upon the orbitofrontal cortex.  The orbitofrontal cortex can facilitate the regulation of bodily arousal by pushing down a kind of emotional “clutch” that disengages the sympathetic “accelerator” and activates the parasympathetic “brakes.”  The parasympathetic system is later deactivated with realignment, and the proper adjusted or regulated level of arousal is established through reactivation of the sympathetic system.  In other words, the brakes are applied with the disconnection; the repair process allows the child’s energies to be redirected, and then the accelerator is applied again with resumption of the emotional connection during the repair process.  The child essentially learns this:  “My parents may not like what I am doing, but if I change my activities they will then connect with me; things in the end will be OK.”  There is a balance between the accelerator and the brakes.  This is the essence of affect regulation.  (siegel/tdm/281)”

“The band of tolerable levels of activation of the autonomic (siegel/tdm/281) nervous system – of either the sympathetic or parasympathetic branches – may vary widely among individuals.  Movements beyond this window of tolerance, in either the sympathetic or parasympathetic branch direction, may be accompanied by diminished ability to function in an adaptive and flexible manner.  Neither excessive, nonregulated arousal (sympathetic activity) nor excessive inhibition (parasympathetic activation) is healthy for the development or the ongoing function of the brain.  (siegel/tdm/282)”  copied into chapter 51 regulation con’t

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