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| Suzanne Moore Pruitt, Ph.D. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Exploring MIND-BODY CONNECTIONS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The mind-body connection, or the relation of biology to psychological processes is clearly a fact of clinical practice today. No where is that more evident than in the development of more sophisticated neuropharmacological interventions in the treatment of depression, anxiety, and psychosis. In addition, researchers have learned that apparent metabolic abnormalities in the anterior paralimbic regions of the brain are related to impaired or disproportionate emotional response in certain individuals. Why should counselors be interested in this complicated area of neuroscience? Clearly, there are several urgent reasons for counselors to understand that emotional response, for example, may have a lot to do with the sex of the individual. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Important research by Mark George, Medical University of South Carolina has demonstrated gender differences using PET scans of blood flow to the brain. Responses to being asked to recall their saddest times differed for men and women, with women having greater intensity and more widespread effect than men. In a study conducted at McGill University, serotonin production was 53% higher in men's brains when compare to women's. Moreover, physiological studies have tracked differences between men's and women's brains' return of blood flow to the anterior paralimbic regions and frontal lobes following administration of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) when used in the treatment of depression. At the end of this section I provide some important web sites for counselors who provide therapeutic talk therapy in conjunction with neuropharmacological intervention. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I suggest that researchers in counseling and psychological processes embrace the notion of immunological response as an appropriate explanation for the development of self, or as family therapist Murray Bowen would have said "differentiation of self." I am not speaking of adopting the concept of immunology metaphorically, which would be one step further removed from theory, but actually adopting the model directly as appropriate for describing interpersonal interactions. Humans do use defense mechanisms to protect from events and memories that are harmful to functioning. Humans do build resistance against onslaughts to character. Humans engage in self-protective behavior. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Murray Bowen's contention that a self is more attractive than a no-self became an important connection to the current literature on immunology. A psychiatrist, Bowen was known for his use of biological models in examining family therapy process, such as the intergenerational transmission process for family functioning. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| There is precedence in the literature for this concept; adoption of psychological constructs from biology (e.g., developmental psychologist Erik Erikson used the biological construct known as epigenetic to describe how one developmental stage builds upon the development attained in a prior stage). The concept of self as it relates to immunological functioning of an individual was examined more carefully by Edwin Friedman who, in developing the concept of immunology in family therapy noticed that the actual definition of immunology used in the basic sciences is a cell's ability to recognize or distinguish what is self and what is non-self. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Interestingly, human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) are said to act as markers on the surface of cells for the differentiation of self from non-self! How strange to find such familiar terminology in a seemingly disparate field! Just another of the recursions between biology and psychology. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In the case of immunology, jargon has been borrowed from psychology, and is frequently reminiscent of that used in the professional fields of counseling and psychology. The immune system, for example, is said to be a "defense mechanism" of the body characterized by the recognition of non-self in the protection of the body from microorganisms and other harmful substances. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Here are some sites that I have found useful regarding physiology and medications: Pharmacology Central is an excellent resource on drugs. Free membership in an online service that provides Readings in Psychiatry/Psychopharmacotherapy (welcomes students!), a full, in-depth book on Drugs and Brain-Behavior Relationships, and a great index of Drug Information. |
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