Mindfulness Training Helps IBS

Posted on by
1

Recently I came across a new research paper showing efficacy of mindfulness training for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) – see also this other paper on mindfulness for IBS.

The researchers identified the likely mechanism as “non-reactivity to gut-focused anxiety and catastrophic appraisals of the significance of abdominal sensations” – in other words to a change in attitude on the part of the subjects towards their own gut sensations, and to the thoughts they had about them (though the thoughts themselves didn’t necessarily change).

Does this mean that either the IBS itself is all in the head (brain, rather than imagination), or alternatively, that the improvement is all in the head and nothing to do with the gut itself? After all, IBS tends to be the diagnosis you get when your doctor can’t find anything wrong with your gut. Continue reading →

EEG Assessment and Neurotransmitters

Posted on by
Reply

Let’s summarise the drift of my last few posts.

  1. I find EEG assessment to be useful and percipient in clinical practice.
  2. I think it has more potential yet. The system I use derives from neurotherapy where it is used for selecting neurofeedback protocols, but I think it’s use can go beyond that. My ambition is to use it to inform my decisions in nutritional therapy.
  3. A lot is known about how neurotransmitter brain chemistry relates to symptomatology in mental, emotional and neurological disorders. Mainstream medicine’s approach targets brain chemistry adjustment – even though for the most part no attempt is made to objectively assess patients’ neurochemistry.
  4. There are EEG patterns that correlate to symptom patterns, albeit loosely rather than definitively. So it might be possible to use EEG patterns to predict which nutritional interventions are more likely to be successful. Continue reading →

The Role of Neurotransmitters in Mental Health

Posted on by
1

Mainstream medicine views mental and neurological disorders in terms of neurochemical imbalances, and attempts to correct these using medications. For example depression is seen as a serotonin imbalance, and the most common class of anti-depressants (SSRIs) target the serotonin network. Whether or not depression really is a serotonin imbalance is a matter of controversy, but at least we can agree it would be a step forward if we had a means of objectively assessing the individual’s serotonin status, or the likelihood of SSRIs actually working (they don’t work for everybody). At present there is no reliable lab test that can do this. Continue reading →

Making Sense of EEG Assessment

Posted on by
1

In my last post I made the case for EEG assessment as a useful and powerful tool in therapy and coaching. In this post I hope to put some flesh on those bones by explaining just what EEG is and what it can tell us.

EEG (short for electroencephalography) is simply an oscillating voltage measured from the scalp, and deriving from activity in the brain’s cerebral cortex. We can analyse the EEG to make sense of how the brain is functioning. Continue reading →

Making Use of EEG Assessment

Posted on by
Reply

In recent months I’ve been using a simple system for assessing my clients’ EEG. (I actually developed the software myself and hope to market it for others to use in the not-too-distant future.)

I’ve been really impressed with the findings in the light of my clients’ presenting symptoms. The technology is cheap and recordings only take 15-20 minutes. I see a lot of potential for this tool, so I decided to write a blog post attempting to summarise my understanding of it and communicate something of its value. Continue reading →

Book Review – Dan Siegel – Mindsight

Posted on by
Reply

The advances of neuroscience are everywhere these days. Whatever the media, whether television, radio, internet or newspaper, there always seems to be at least one article highlighting some new finding on the brain and its effect on behaviour. Many of the reported findings are both fragmentary and contradictory relying more on shock and impact of the headline than on the rigor of the research. So Dan Siegel’s Mindsight is both timely and important and adds much needed clarity of how the mind as a whole actually works. Continue reading →

Flow States and How to Access Them – Part 1

Posted on by
2

The concept of flow is in some ways as old as the hills but it was systematised and brought to prominence by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, in his classic work ‘Flow’. Flow states are a mainstay in the world of positive psychology, which studies what it means to be happy. For example see Martin Seligman’s work.

Csikszentmihalyi wanted to know what characterised people who were happy – in the sense of being fully engaged in life. The essence of a flow state is that you become so absorbed in whatever it is you’re doing, that you lose awareness of yourself as a separate being, and things just happen naturally (they flow) without any need for willed effort on your part. It’s still you doing it, but if feels effortless, as if you are moved by some force beyond yourself. Flow states are very enjoyable – but you only realise it in retrospect. Flow states are common, at least for some people, and can happen in almost any context but are most typically encountered while playing sport, or music, or practising some art form, but also in more mundane contexts. A lot of people find flow at work! Csikszentmihalyi researched flow states in a wide range of cultures and contexts, and distilled a set of characteristics of flow states: Continue reading →

How To Stop Thinking in Mindfulness Meditation

Posted on by
2

Admittedly this title is somewhat provocative – a more important question is, should we even be trying to stop thinking in mindfulness meditation? And the answer to this question is no.

Recently I read Andy Puddicombe’s book, ‘Get Some Headspace’, and he points out, as lots of other writers do, that it’s a common misconception that meditation is about stopping thinking. People get frustrated because the more they try to silence the thinking mind, the more their thoughts come back at them – a classic example of the “quicksand” dynamic that I mentioned in an earlier post.

But it really begs the question, why should people think meditation is about silencing the thinking mind? After all, good mindfulness teachers make it clear that it isn’t. Perhaps it’s more that people naturally seem to want to shut off thoughts. Continue reading →