Recently a client of mine, asked me why I scrutinize the mind so carefully when examining a physical illness.
The answer isn't simple, nor is it suited for a single post.
However, I'll share some relevant aspects with you.
Who knows, maybe you've also asked yourself the same question: what does the head have to do with the body, the mind with the human foot?
Many people speculate about mental health, often mentioning the mind; related systems such as psychology, medicine, neuroscience, sociology, philosophy, and biology take it as a reference point, a subject of study, therapeutic addressability, revolving around it. But let's be honest: do we really know what the mind is?
Because it's an abstract concept, it's not accessible by scientific methods yet, nor by high-tech means; it cannot be directly perceived by the senses, nor diagnosed.
It's often confused with the brain, which has a well-defined shape, serving as the control panel of the body, palpable, studied, and directly understood.
Some researchers say it's still a mystery (similar to EEG waves, after decades of clinical use, their origin is still an enigma), a quantum computer, just a set of cognitive faculties (thinking, imagination, language, memory, perception).
Others believe it's an internal brain computer or, conversely, a complex, multifunctional entity residing in every cell.
I embrace Daniel Siegel's definition, a psychiatry professor at the UCLA School of Medicine; it seems coherent and comprehensive to me.
The mind is an emergent process (fluid, flexible, dynamic), embodied (requiring the organic infrastructure of the brain and nervous system), and relational (constructed based on what and who we intersect with in life), regulating the flow of Energy and Information in the space-time continuum.
But the Mind, in its balanced functionality, is intrinsically linked to Awareness.
Therefore, I add the theory of "orchestrated objective reduction" by Sir Roger Penrose (English mathematician, Nobel laureate) and Stuart Hameroff (renowned American anesthesiologist, professor at the University of Arizona).
It suggests that concerning consciousness, it arises from the quantum vibrations in microtubules, protein polymers inside neurons in the brain, governing neuronal and synaptic activity and connecting brain processes with other phenomena, characterized by self-organization at a very small scale, a "proto-conscious" quantum structure of reality.
Protein microtubules (parts of the neuronal cytoskeleton) are the elements that accumulate information during life and transport it after death. They best fit the role of carriers of quantum information in the brain.
Because they can retain it for long periods, they would function as components of a huge quantum computer.
Thus, the mind is a gigantic adaptation mechanism, transforming over time with the experiences humans go through.
It depends on how we develop and store the organic infrastructure that supports it - namely, the brain and nervous system.
The mind evolves with the brain and with us, from birth to death.
Although it is intimately linked to the brain, for optimal functionality, it needs a source, the informational spring: Consciousness.
The Mind is the result of the interaction between Consciousness - as a universal flow of information - and the brain, viewed as a vast unit of transmission-reception, whose neurons specialize in various neural areas by receiving varied and differentiated information.
The brain receives certain information, which it captures through microtubules and translates through neurons into an image, which at the subjective level of limited perception is interpreted as an idea or thought.
We say: "I have an idea, I got an idea!"
It's as if the brain is "fishing" from the vast ocean of consciousness for a specific piece of information.
Nervous structures act as the interface that:
-Gives logical sense to that image
-Positions it in time: today, tomorrow, yesterday
-Links it to what the person already knows, their pleasures or displeasures.
In this way, the idea gains "value" and can be categorized as beneficial or useless.
After this complex process, Emotions come into play.
Emotions are sensations supported purely by chemicals, a whole blend of endogenous chemicals, an infusion of substances secreted by the nervous/endocrine system, in response to the subjectively perceived "Truth."
I recommend Dr. Candace Pert, a neurobiochemist, one of the pioneers of psychoneuroimmunology, to understand this world of neuropeptides or as she calls them, molecules of emotions. Her research on cellular signaling molecules and neurotransmitters has shown how our mental state can directly influence our physical health through these chemicals.
We easily understand from the presented information how the brain follows the mind, and from biophysiology, we remember that the cells of the body do not deviate from the brain's directives.
And so, simply put: the body follows the mind!
Emotion is the first station of the organism towards imbalance, towards illness.
The body is a map of perceptual lenses, of unconscious beliefs and convictions, and it transforms chemically under the influence of emotions activated by the thoughts we believe in.
Let's take the example of anger.
Anger is one of the most primitive emotions we can feel.
Animals have the same basic neural system to feel the same emotion.
It has persisted over millions of years of evolution, indicating that it still serves survival.
This feeling varies on a very wide spectrum, from frustration, moderate irritation, to overt anger and violence, which can destroy everything in its path.
But why does anger arise?
Does it speak of an objective reality or a reality distorted by the interpretative mind?
Generally, anger arises when:
-Our expectations do not match what we experience
-We feel ignored, unimportant, unloved
-We feel guilty, ashamed
-We feel unfairly accused
-We feel rejected, devalued, invalidated, controlled
-We feel we are not good enough or worthy of connection.
Anger mobilizes our entire body and triggers an avalanche of hormonal responses in the brain. Among the secreted substances is noradrenaline. It is an analgesic (similar to the medications we take for pain), which is why victims of car accidents, initially in a state of shock and with extremely high levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline in their bodies, do not feel pain.
We do not experience shock every day, but unintentionally, we experience various degrees of dissatisfaction.
The more we access this reactive, angry mode of perception, the body is constantly flooded with substances that generate increased pulse, rising tension, palpitations, sweating, shallow breathing, muscle tension, various digestive disorders, decreased diuresis.
Furthermore, it's just a matter of time until certain organs and systems become deregulated!
Thank you for accompanying me this far; now, logically, I ask you:
-What fault does the organ have for deregulating?
-What fault does the emotion have, emerging as a chemical brake to mental deception, illusion, attachment, mental disavowal (here, I'm not referring to states resulting from pathological conditions in psychiatry)?
Neither one.
Seeking the origin of the origin naturally leads us to the mental space.
The philosophy of common sense, scientific and mystical, guides me:
-To alleviate the symptom (the most suitable is classical medicine, which has the most effective responses, protecting the organ from irreversible damage)
-To calm mental agitation (some might say to release the emotion, but it happens naturally through the hepatic metabolism of neuropeptides) with whatever techniques have proven useful to each individual: meditation, breathing, relaxation techniques, mindfulness, yoga, sports, etc.
-But then, I take care to carefully examine (as my client noticed) the complicated intricacies of the mind.
For a suffering or illness not to linger, not to recur, not to develop complications, we need a mind: educated, trained, vigilant to Objective Reality.
A dysfunctional mind, one that cannot be diagnosed with a microscope or other biological parameters, steps out of the bounds of normality, making its silent voice felt in all the corridors of life, as Dr. Robert Sapolsky, a neurologist and biologist, tells us in his writings. He is the one who has diligently investigated the complex interaction between chronic stress, degeneration of the nervous system, and physical health.
And now I conclude neatly, inviting you warmly to discover together, with curiosity and diligence, what lies behind illnesses but also empowerment through understanding the mechanisms of your Mind.
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