Epigenetics and Primal Therapy: The Cure for Neurosis (Part 6/20)

Epigenetics and Brain Development

Although the study of epigenetics can get fairly complex, one of the keys to proper understanding lies in accounting how the brain develops during the fetal period. The thalamo-cortical (thinking/feeling) circuits are established very late in gestation. Only after they have developed and the amygdala-cortical circuits are in place is it possible for us to have a mental appreciation of the pain we are in. Before then, we can experience pain without acknowledging it. Thus, pain is laid down unconsciously, without words to explain or clarify it. There was a study reported in the British journal Nature, (Garcia, Vouimba, Beaudry & Thompson, 1999) in which the investigators noted that when babies are under threat the amygdala sends a signal to the prefrontal cortex, triggering the expression of fear in behavior. The cortex becomes the “decider,” as it were, planning for action. As part of the study, the researchers trained mice to associate a tone with an accompanying shock delivered whenever the tone was issued. Each time the mice heard the tone, there was commensurate brain activity in the prefrontal area, signaling a threat. But when the amygdala was surgically removed there was no longer any prefrontal activity; the former could no longer signal fear to the top level. The same is true when we drug that structure or tranquilize it: we thereby diminish the force that mounts in the prefrontal area. As we learned earlier, gating problems in the amygdala may be part of the reason so many of us have trouble either falling asleep, staying asleep, or even concentrating. Lower level imprints thrusting upwards and forward keep us from traveling to a lower level of brain function by jolting us into a hyper-vigilant state whenever we lie down to relax. There is simply too much activity in that deeper level to permit sleep.

The primordial Primal Imprint involves the brainstem. Phylo-genetically, this is an ancient brain system that we share with sharks. It makes us hyperaware and hyper-reactive. It is the source of basic biological impulses, fight or flight. And research points to this key structure as where anxiety emanates from, something I have seen and written about for many decades. Imprints here adversely affect the serotonin system, which should help dampen panic, but it cannot. So what do we do years later for panic? We offer serotonin pills in the form of SSRI’s, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors. And what does that do? Make up for what was depleted during brainstem dominance.

What is most important from my perspective is that when the brain is marked by trauma, serotonin supplies are depleted; and when that happens, we have what I call “leaky gates’ for a lifetime. We are then less effective in our efforts to repress. Pain roils the brain. We are disturbed and cannot concentrate or learn. And later in life, we are more susceptible to mental illness. This was found by researchers in Quebec, Canada, who measured the serotonin synthesis capacity of 26 healthy adult males, recruited from a 27-year longitudinal study. The results were then correlated with reported birth trauma, especially a delivery where the fetus showed signs of physiological distress (Booij et al., 2012). The study concluded that “perinatal stressors may contribute to increased vulnerability for psychiatric disorders in which serotonin plays a major role.”

Recently, researchers have found that children with OCD, Obsessive- Compulsive Disorder, are much more likely to have suffered a birth trauma than controls (Geller et al., 2008). And the question is, why does this reaction get imprinted and last so long? Because it is essential for survival that we remember what is dangerous and how to react to it. We need to have the capacity to feel terror and get galvanized to react immediately. Part of this is that the secretion of noradrenaline affects the amygdala and elements of the brainstem, which are mobilized. We become hyper-alert and ready for action, and this alertness interacts with the memory system to direct our efforts.

If we had the ability to employ words at birth we would say, “Oh My, such terror”. But we wait years to have those words, and then we call it anxiety. Why? Because we lost the connection to the origin of it. Now it seems like a different disease with no known cause. It is the same old imprint with a new title. Yet it is a powerhouse, and when we begin our study into the development of cancer later in life we expect to see strong correlations. Remember, terror – now called anxiety – has a purpose: it is essential for memory to alert us to danger from inside and out. We try to do away with anxiety with pills when it is a life-saving mechanism and needs to be available.

Terror is mobilized so deep in the brain that an individual is often unaware of its onset. Thus, people who suffer panic attacks often say they seem to come out of nowhere, even though their bodies are trying to send early warning signals. In one experiment, scientists at Southern Methodist University in Dallas attached mobile monitors to panic sufferers and recorded round-the-clock readings of vital signs (Meuret et al., 2011). What they found was that subjects were completely unaware of physiological symptoms that could have signaled an impending panic episode, the biological precursors to manifest symptoms such as chest pain, dizziness, trembling or hot flashes. Patients were oblivious to these “waves of physiological instability” for at least an hour after the symptoms had started. Suddenly, as if on a time-delay, the patient becomes aware that he is having a full-blown panic attack. It is as though the pain/terror is on the rise and we are not aware of it until it engulfs our consciousness. (The experiment is also explained in a YouTube video posted online and featuring the study’s lead researcher, Alicia Meuret, Associate Professor Of Psychology and Director of the Anxiety and Depression Research Center at SMU(12)). Because the terror is set down so early, in the beginning months of gestation, and imprinted so deep in the brain, we have no idea where it comes from. Terror surely begins its life in the brainstem and in archaic parts of the limbic system (amygdala). It is only when the gates falter and the terror bursts through that we become aware of it. Attention Deficit Disorder means that the gates have let through scattered pain and terror, distracting our focus and attention. This means that we pay too much to a multitude of inputs. It is not a deficit; our attentional processes are overwhelmed. And what is the message it is trying to unravel? It is not one message but a myriad of them, all shouting “I hurt.”

(12) Meuret, A., Ph.D. (2011, July 26). SMU: Out-of-the-blue panic attacks aren't without warning. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3SLGt8smTw