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April 20, 2014 By Admin

Self Medication – The Human Brain

Inner Workings of Self-Medication Process

To continue our discussion about the self-medication process we will first turn to the human brain. The human brain is the most complex system known to science. Here, my comments will be basic. Self-medication often has roots in the quality of our earliest childhood experiences (attachment and object relations with significant care-takers). Insecure attachment sometimes leads to low frustration tolerance and internal self-discomfort as well as interpersonal insecurities. Such vulnerabilities cannot well serve a person facing serious emotional challenges, especially if such challenges occur early in life. Attachment style and personality variables may play significant roles in the realities of mind, brain, body and heart.

The frontal/prefrontal brain areas deal mainly with executive functions; the limbic area deals mainly with survival needs and emotional reactivity as well as memory of such experiences; and, the reward centers release dopamine in the process of consciously rewarding experiences (habits) – like changing mood for the better via drug use. Positive reinforcement occurs when consequences of behavior are desired (feeling “high”); negative reinforcement occurs when behavior leads to avoiding expected negative experiences ( depression, anxiety or reactivity especially when trauma is involved). In these situations, unhelpful habits are born and eventually may dominate. When we are conscious of the relationship between stimulus, behavior and consequence it is operant/instrumental conditioning. When are not conscious of the relationships (stimulus, behavior, consequence and environmental cues) it is classical conditioning. Both forms of conditioning exist in the formation of both unhelpful habits and helpful habits.

Let’s focus on chemical addictions as a example. Humans want to be happy and do not like to suffer any form of physical or psychological pain. We also dislike boredom. According to the mindfulness traditions, life gives us three core options: happiness, suffering, and boredom. Our emotional responses to whatever life brings to us is an inside job. When people suffer – especially when they do not have wise-mind skills for living – they want immediate relief. We humans do strange things to control this desired clinging to joy and avoiding pain. In fact even when we escape/avoid pain, it feels like a form of joy. Suppose a person feels very sad/depressed; it will not take long for that person to discover that taking stimulant drugs results in almost immediate short-term relief (an improved mood). Suppose a person is very anxious (stressed or fearful); likewise, it will not take long to discover that taking a depressant/sedative drug reduces the anxiety. In both cases the person likes the consequence of their behavior; however, the improved mood does NOT last. Effects are short-lived, about the half-life of the drug being ingested. This form of self-medicating is reliable for a while until biological and/or psychological tolerance sets in. Consequently, dosage and frequency of self-medicating behaviors increase as the person becomes reinforced by their drug-taking behavior. The self-medicating habit takes on a life of its own – as a strong habit to reduce emotional suffering. Often recovery from drug use problems begins with small, more helpful, competing habits. In fact, early recovery may be defined as the use of newer helpful habits to weaken older self-medicating habits.

Use the helpful habits more and the unhelpful habits less, and we are on the way to recovery process. It is all about motivating a person to dare to place a helpful behavior (mindfulness habits for example) against an unhelpful behavior – a self-medicating behavior that has produced some short-term relief from suffering. In self-medication the negative state we are trying to escape from does not improve long-term, and the new behavior (drug-taking) may result in a new problem – addictions. Recovery takes time, safety, and authentic caring in a therapeutic or helping relationship with psychotherapists, body-workers or peers in recovery. Become aware of self-medication – fight it with helpful habits that produce lasting improvements.

Anthony R. Quintiliani, Ph.D., LADC

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE to Order!

April 12, 2014 By Admin

Self-Medication as Unhelpful Habit:

A Primary Source of Unhappiness

Self-medication to reduce or avoid pain and suffering is a major unhelpful habit in the United States. It is a desperate human effort to reduce pain and suffering in physical and psychological experiences. Therefore, we humans may be hard-wired for it. When we suffer and do not utilize effective wise mind skills, we are simply doing our best to improve this emotional moment. It will require skilled mindfulness practices to improve our happiness.

Self-medication was once thought to be caused by personality types and deep-seated learned emotional reaction to discomfort (fear, shame, unmet emotional needs, an array of desires, and strong attachment to craved objects). More current, evidence-based interpretations expand this view into the area of social-emotional reinforcement and conditioning. Outcomes are always negative in the long-term; the original emotional cause becomes more serious (anxiety, depression, traumatic symptoms, substance misuse, eating problems, digital addictions, anger, etc.), and the habit of self-medicating leads to “addiction” to whatever behavior improves the moment. The best one can hope for is very short-term relief from immediate suffering – only to be followed by repeated efforts to reduce and/or avoid more suffering. Since the process becomes a habit via both positive and negative reinforcement (reward and avoidance of punishment/suffering) – as well as brain plasticity in activated brain regions that sensitize the related behaviors- self-medicators tend to remain trapped between suffering and ONLY short-term relief from it. Since impulsive reactivity to reduce and/or avoid pain is part of this process, people who self-medicate tend not to possess effective psychosocial coping skills. Thus, self-medication is their very weak, eventually unhelpful coping skill.

In future posts, we will investigate how self-medication works in the life-experience areas of substance misuse, depression, anxiety, trauma and anger. More later on this very harmful habitual behavior. It will become more clear that part of this problem relates to the automatic processes of the brain. It will take a mindful MIND to improve one’s happiness.

by Anthony R. Quintiliani, Ph.D., LADC

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE to Order!

April 11, 2014 By Admin

Basic Practice for Pacifying Your Mind

-Steps to Mind Training

Anthony R. Quintiliani, Ph.D., LADC

To pacify your mind you need to train your mind. Mind training leads to liberation from brain-mind-heart-body automatic processes and reactions. A well-trained mind allows you to utilize executive functions (attention and concentration) to alter auto-reactions of the brain, body and heart. A trained mind liberates you from unhelpful thoughts, emotions and behaviors via reduced attachment, craving and clinging. A trained mind liberates you! Often this liberation appears as both the dearth of cognition and the expansion of experiential awareness.

As you practice mind training, you may notice improved attention and concentration skills. These important skills allow you to have improved personal control over cognition, affect, behavior as well as sensory processing (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory and gustatory) in the present moment. Prolonged mind training enables you to better deal with such CABS-VAKGO experiences in your past and in your future. So often humans are stuck in the pain or longing from the past as well as fear/anxiety about the future. A very basic way to begin mind training is to practice breath meditation (or meditation on a selected object of mind). Let’s begin with a basic breath meditation – meditating on your breath.

Basic Steps

1) Sit in a dignified meditation posture, loosen your jaw and relax other body muscles, and begin to breathe gently in slower, calmer, deeper fashion. Do not force your breath; simply allow your intention to focus on a relaxed breath to guide you. It is rare that this form of breathing causes anxiety. However, if it does for you, you may need to find another breathing practice to do. Or you may breathe in a way that does not cause anxiety for you.

2) On each exhalation count one via your private speech. Hold your inner speech all the way to the end of the exhalation. This will reduce the possibility of other thoughts distracting you from attending to your breath. Count all the way to ten exhalations, then begin at one again. If you lose count, simply begin at one again. If you find yourself counting beyond ten, simply begin at one again. If you have difficulty doing this, you can visually imagine the number you are saying. Tracking the breath is a very common way to begin basic mind training in meditation.

3) Pay close attention to the nature of your mind. You may notice that you experience “monkey mind,” in which your thoughts just keep on coming into awareness – thus blocking you from improved attention and concentration. You may wish to practice simply observing your thoughts and letting them go. Each time bring your attention back to your breath and your counting. Be very gentle with yourself; this is not so easy to do. Use your mind-intention to remain focused on your exhalations and counting.

4) Each time you become aware of your brain’s autopilot taking over your mind, simply bring attention back to the breath and counting. Be gentle! Simply note and let go of your thoughts and allow your MIND to focus attention on your breath and counting. Becoming aware that you DO have some control over what you think may be an important discovery for some.

5) Continue this basic practice for as long as you can, but do not do it beyond your kind heartedness. If continuing this practice makes you upset or aggressive with yourself, stop and begin again at another time. Remain interested, self-compassionate and kind in this process.

6) You may note some small gratification that you were able to use your mind to counteract auto processes of the brain, heart and body. Try not to become attached to your success. Just practice more.

Anthony R. Quintiliani, Ph.D., LADC

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE to Order!

March 18, 2014 By Admin

Mindful Happiness –

Wind Ridge Press NEW Publication!

Author Anthony Quintiliani, a licensed psychologist with more than 35 years professional clinical experience, casts a wide net into the personal, clinical, and societal causes of prolonged human suffering and unhappiness in his book Mindful Happiness. The book’s guided interventions are aimed at helping to relieve depression, anxiety, traumatic reactivity, and addictions – together, these conditions make up the bulk of human suffering due to mental health issues. Mindful Happiness also presents psychological interventions that reduce emotion dysregulation due to chronic and acute medical conditions. Readers that wish for help in overcoming the debilitating psychological effects of these conditions will want to read and follow the prescriptions in this book. The first few chapters are designed for self-care and emotion regulation skill building – skills that may lead readers to happier and more equanimous lives. The last two chapters contain more advanced clinical interventions, all of which are evidence-based, and are best carried out by a healthcare professional with at least a Master’s Degree level of licensure. Overall, skill building is cognitive, behavioral and mindfulness-based – all focused on improving emotion regulation and reducing/ending self-medication as short-term relief from suffering. If you wish to improve your mood, reduce your anxiety or emotional reactivity, and conquer your addictions, you’ll want to read this book soon. Follow and practice its guided interventions and you’ll discover a path to becoming a calmer, more mindful, and happier person.

Anthony R. Quintiliani, Ph.D., LADC, has over 35 years of professional experience in schools, community clinics, and higher education. He is a licensed psychologist, with specialties in clinical health psychology, mindfulness, meditation, clinical training, and supervision. He has taught at The Ohio State University, The University of Vermont, Southern New Hampshire University, and Saint Michael’s College. He has consulted with schools as well as regional and national corporations for more than 25 years.

To order your copy for only $15.95 Please head to Wind Ridge Books by Clicking the link below.

http://windridgebooksofvt.com/product/mindful-happiness/

Our Publisher: Holly Johnson lives in Vermont with her three children, five horses, two dogs, and three cats. Pictured here is her bulldog and Wind Ridge’s mascot, Stella Luna.

Charitable Partnerships: Since 2012, Wind Ridge Books of Vermont has committed 10 percent of its net earnings from the sale of its books to a non-profit organization of the authors’ choosing; in addition, some authors have pledged their royalties from the sale of the book to this charity too. With Wind Ridge Books in hand, the publisher and authors join in a powerful partnership to increase the fundraising potential from the sale of each book, and spread our ability to do a world of good through good reading.