BRAIN HACKERS

From conformation to transformation

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the

renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is

—his good, pleasing and perfect will.- Romans 12:2

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world…

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world…

Conform: su-schē-ma-tí-zō

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world…

Conform: su-schē-ma-tí-zō

Refers to the act of an individual assuming an outward expression that does not come from within him, nor is it representative

of his inner heart life.

“the impact of external forces that [render] the young person

temporarily helpless and [break] past ordinary coping and defensive operation. . . . [This includes] not only those conditions marked by intense surprise but also those

marked by prolonged and sickening anticipation.”

Terr, L.C. (1991). “Childhood Traumas: An Outline and Overview.” American Journal of Psychiatry, 148(1): p.11.

 

TRAUMATIC EVENTS

TRAUMATIC EVENTS

ABUSIVE/invasive

80% of young adults who have survived abuse suffer from at least one mental

health problem, including clinical depression, anxiety or eating disorders, or post traumatic stress disorder. Childhelp,

“national child abuse statistics,” 2006, www.Childhelp.org/resources/learning-center/statistics

TRAUMATIC EVENTS

ABUSIVE/invasive

ABANDONMENT

Our brains are sculpted by our early experiences. Maltreatment is a chisel that shapes the brain to

contend with anticipated strife, but at the cost of deep, enduring

wounds.”    

Dr. Martin Teicher; 2005; Keynote Address; Family Policy Council Partners’ Summit

“A single traumatic experience can alter an adult's brain: A horrifying battle, for instance, may induce the flashbacks,

depression and hair-trigger response of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

And researchers are finding that abuse and neglect EARLY IN LIFE can have

even MORE DEVISTATING consequences, tangling both the

chemistry and the architecture of children's brains and leaving them at risk

for drug abuse, teen pregnancy and psychiatric problems later in life.” 

"The biology of soul murder: Fear can harm a child's brain. Is it reversible?” U.S. News & World Report; Nov. 11, 1996

(emphasis added).

 

“The brain's exquisite sensitivity to experience in early childhood allows

traumatic experiences during infancy and childhood to impact all future emotional, behavioral,

cognitive, social and physiological functioning.”

Perry, B.D., & Pollard, R. (1998). Homeostasis, stress, trauma, and adaptation: A neurodevelopmental view of

childhood trauma. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 7, 33-51.

 

“The brain's exquisite sensitivity to experience in early childhood allows

traumatic experiences during infancy and childhood to impact all future emotional, behavioral,

cognitive, social and physiological functioning.”

Perry, B.D., & Pollard, R. (1998). Homeostasis, stress, trauma, and adaptation: A neurodevelopmental view of

childhood trauma. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 7, 33-51.

 

“The brain's exquisite sensitivity to experience in early childhood allows

traumatic experiences during infancy and childhood to impact all future emotional, behavioral,

cognitive, social and physiological functioning.”

Perry, B.D., & Pollard, R. (1998). Homeostasis, stress, trauma, and adaptation: A neurodevelopmental view of

childhood trauma. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 7, 33-51.

 

“The brain's exquisite sensitivity to experience in early childhood allows

traumatic experiences during infancy and childhood to impact all future emotional, behavioral,

cognitive, social and physiological functioning.”

Perry, B.D., & Pollard, R. (1998). Homeostasis, stress, trauma, and adaptation: A neurodevelopmental view of

childhood trauma. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 7, 33-51.

 

“The brain's exquisite sensitivity to experience in early childhood allows

traumatic experiences during infancy and childhood to impact all future emotional, behavioral,

cognitive, social and physiological functioning.”

Perry, B.D., & Pollard, R. (1998). Homeostasis, stress, trauma, and adaptation: A neurodevelopmental view of

childhood trauma. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 7, 33-51.

 

“The brain's exquisite sensitivity to experience in early childhood allows

traumatic experiences during infancy and childhood to impact all future emotional, behavioral,

cognitive, social and physiological functioning.”

Perry, B.D., & Pollard, R. (1998). Homeostasis, stress, trauma, and adaptation: A neurodevelopmental view of

childhood trauma. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 7, 33-51.

 

“The brain's exquisite sensitivity to experience in early childhood allows

traumatic experiences during infancy and childhood to impact all future emotional, behavioral,

cognitive, social and physiological functioning.”

Perry, B.D., & Pollard, R. (1998). Homeostasis, stress, trauma, and adaptation: A neurodevelopmental view of childhood trauma.

Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 7, 33-51.

 

BRAIN STRUCTURE: The brain will cut off neurons that are learning to trust and bond because trying to trust and bond results in pain,

fear, and stress.

 

BRAIN STRUCTURE: The brain can actually cut off neurons that are learning to trust and bond

because trying to trust and bond results in pain, fear, and stress.

NEUROCHEMISTRY: The brain “medicates itself” by pushing you to engage in behaviors that alter

your neurochemistry (emotions), driving unwanted thoughts, unwanted

feelings, and unwanted memories temporarily out of your conscious

awareness.

 

The ADDICTIVE CONDITION sets in

The ADDICTIVE CONDITION sets in

a neurochemically reinforced intimacy disorder…

“Brain dysfunction is the number one reason why people fall victim to addiction, why they can't break the chains of addiction, and why they

relapse” Daniel G. Amen and David E. Smith; Unchain Your Brain, 2010, pp.17-

18

“If it is an addiction, there’s no choice.

The limbic system is driving it.…The brain focuses on the things the

neurochemical system needs. Dr. Doris Vincent; certified sex-addiction therapist and registered

psychologist

“You can have the greatest treatment plan available or enter the most well

respected treatment center, but if you have underlying brain dysfunction, chances are you won't be able to

follow through with the program. For lasting success, the brain

problems must be treated in addition to the addiction.”

Daniel G. Amen and David E. Smith; Unchain Your Brain, 2010, p. 56

“We are making unprecedented advances in understanding the biology of addiction, and that is finally starting to push the thinking from moral failing

to legitimate illness.” Jeneen Interlandi, “What addicts need,” Newsweek, 3 March 2008

There’s GOOD NEWS…

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be

transformed by the renewing of your mind.

- Romans 12:2

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be

transformed by the renewing of your mind.

- Romans 12:2

Renewing: an·ak·ah·ee·no·sis

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be

transformed by the renewing of your mind.

- Romans 12:2

Renewing: an·ak·ah·ee·no·sis

A renewing or a renovation which makes a person different than in the past.

A complete change for the better.

January 29, 2007Find this article at:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1580438,00.html

“For decades, the prevailing theory in neuroscience was that the adult human brain is essentially hardwired, fixed in form and function, so that by the time we reach adulthood we are pretty much

stuck with what we have.” 

 

“But RESEARCH IN THE PAST FEW YEARS has overthrown that dogma. In its place has come the realization that the adult

brain retains impressive powers of "neuroplasticity"--the ability to change its structure and function in response

to experience. These aren't minor tweaks either…

the brain can be REWIRED.”TIME magazine Friday, Jan. 19, 2007 Find this article at:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1580438,00.html

“What I mean by ‘neuroplasticity’ is the fact that the brain is the

one organ that is built to change in response to

experience. More than your heart, your kidney, your liver, the

brain is built to change in response to experience and in

response to training.”Richard Davidson, “Shaping your child's brain,” talk given at Appleton

East high school (Appleton, Wisconsin) 13 May 2008

BRAIN HACKING

From conformation to transformation

the brain is built to change in response to

experience and in response to

training

A discipline is an activity in our power that we engage in, in order to become able to do what we cannot do at the moment by direct effort.

The RESULT of engaging in disciplines:

The conditioning of the body’s automatic responses…

The RESULT of engaging in disciplines:

The conditioning of the body’s automatic responses…

Recovery disciplines are activities in our power that we engage in, in order to achieve a level of moral integrity that we cannot achieve at

the moment through our direct efforts.

Recovery disciplines are activities in our power that we engage in, in order to achieve a level of moral integrity that we cannot achieve at

the moment through our direct efforts.

L.I.F.E. group meetingsCounseling Phone calls Journaling Self care Prayer Meditation

The RESULT of engaging in RECOVERY disciplines:

the re-conditioning of our mind’s automatic responses to triggering

events (stress/shame)

The conditioning of the body’s automatic responses…

The RESULT of engaging in RECOVERY disciplines:

the re-conditioning of our mind’s automatic responses to triggering

events (stress/shame)

The conditioning of the body’s automatic responses…

“The very structure of our brain--the relative size of different

regions, the strength of connections between them, even

their functions--reflects the lives we have led. Like sand on a

beach, the brain bears the footprints of the decisions we have made, the skills we have learned, the actions we have

taken.” TIME magazine Friday, Jan. 19, 2007 Find this article at:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1580438,00.html

“The powerful shaping experiences of childhood can be modified through subsequent

personal relationships, psychotherapy, and self-

awareness.”

Siegel, D.J & Hartzel, M (2003) parenting from the inside and out: how a deeper self understanding can help you

raise children who thrive. New York: Tarcher/Putnam

“So much of my childhood between the ages of four and nine is blank....It's almost as if my life was smashed into little pieces . . . The trouble is, when I try to remember, I come up with so little.

This ability to forget was probably my way of surviving emotionally as a child…”

“I'm still afraid of being hungry. . .I never leave my house without some food....

Again, I don't remember being hungry. I asked my sister and she saidthat we were hungry. So I must have been! I just don't remember.”

“I'm still afraid of being hungry. . .I never leave my house without some food....

Again, I don't remember being hungry. I asked my sister and she saidthat we were hungry. So I must have been! I just don't remember.”

Ava Landy, Holocaust survivor. Marks, J. (1995). The hidden children: The secret survivors of the Holocaust. Toronto : Bantam Books, p.188.

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which

is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of

your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness

and holiness. - Ephesians 4:22-24

Exercise daily in God—no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the

gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever.

- 1 Timothy 4:7-8 (The Message)

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the

renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will

is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.- Romans 12:2

The PLEASURE CENTERWithin a portion of the limbic system we find the brain’s pleasure center and reward circuit - a number of brain

structures that control and regulate our ability to feel pleasure.

This part of the limbic system is activated by anything that gives us pleasure

We only have one pleasure center and ALL PLEASURES have to pass through this

center.

The brain’s process for getting pleasure is the same for healthy fun activities as it is for cocaine or other destructive activities

The PLEASURE CENTERWithin a portion of the limbic system we find the brain’s pleasure center and reward circuit - a number of brain

structures that control and regulate our ability to feel pleasure.

This part of the limbic system is activated by anything that gives us pleasure

We only have one pleasure center and ALL PLEASURES have to pass through this

center.

The brain’s process for getting pleasure is the same for healthy fun activities as it is for cocaine or other destructive activities

The PLEASURE CENTERWithin a portion of the limbic system we find the brain’s pleasure center and reward circuit - a number of brain

structures that control and regulate our ability to feel pleasure.

This part of the limbic system is activated by anything that gives us pleasure

We only have one pleasure center and ALL PLEASURES have to pass through this

center.

The brain’s process for getting pleasure is the same for healthy fun activities as it is for cocaine or other destructive activities

The PLEASURE CENTERWithin a portion of the limbic system we find the brain’s pleasure center and reward circuit - a number of brain

structures that control and regulate our ability to feel pleasure.

This part of the limbic system is activated by anything that gives us pleasure

We only have one pleasure center and ALL PLEASURES have to pass through this

center.

The brain’s process for getting pleasure is the same for healthy fun activities as it

is for cocaine or other destructive activities

The PLEASURE CENTER

When you do something that makes you feel better the pleasure center is activated

The PLEASURE CENTER

When you do something that makes you feel better the pleasure center is activated

When this takes place within the context of a traumatic environment, the limbic

system associates the pleasurable activity with SURVIVAL

The PLEASURE CENTERWhen you do something that makes you

feel better the pleasure center is activated

When this takes place within the context of a traumatic environment, the limbic

system associates the pleasurable activity with SURVIVAL

Reward chemicals (neurotransmitters) are released in your brain, producing

even more good feelings for the behavior because the behavior has increase your

chances for “survival.”