In Recovery circles and groups we are often struck by the common use of ego defense mechanisms in negotiating social interactions. We have often queried why such a common use of these maladaptive means of regulating one’s emotions and one’s self, if you like, when interacting with others? […]
Part 4 “Theory Underlying Compassion-Focused Therapy The neurobiological model of CFT sees key anxieties as emerging from the interaction between the life history of the person and the “tricky” nature of our evolved brains (Gilbert, 2000, 2009, 2014). Traumatic memories are tagged by the brain’s threat-based alarm system, […]
Part 3 Impaired Self-Soothing and Emotional Regulation ” Liotti and Gilbert (2011), Fonagy (1996), and many other developmentally based researchers describe how people cannot learn to emotionally regulate in the same way as they learn facts. Social encounters can soothe us when in distress, and it is through […]
Part 2 Impact of Trauma on Compassion “The capacity to be sensitive to suffering and the motivation to facilitate well-being are connected to a sense of belonging and secure safe relationships (Gilbert, 2009). Such social conditions create internal capacities to regulate emotion and the ability to trust in […]
Following on from yesterday’s blog on The Emotional Brain… Part 2 TRAUMA AND THE BRAIN “When human connections go awry, especially early in life, brain circuitry can be impacted. Chronic misattunement, neglect, or abuse on the parent’s part can severely affect the baby’s brain, impairing the corpus callosum, […]
An overview of how the emotional brain is altered due to the effects of insecure attachment to primary caregivers and the consequences this may have on later emotion processing and regulation.
This article (1) presents the results of a study on alcohol dependent patients attachment style and its various dimensions. This study demonstrated that that people with alcohol dependence significantly differ from non-alcoholics in terms of attachment style and its dimensions. They also receive significantly lower scores on secure […]
Attachment Style, Alexithymia, and Psychiatric Disorders in Alcoholic Inpatients This excellent article (1) presented the idea, formulated by Fonagy et al. (2002) that the way people’s attachment system is organized, corresponds both with their representational capacities and with their style of relating to others. They combine a measurement […]
PART 2 Following directly on from our Previous blog on Maternal Neglect: Oxytocin, Dopamine and the Neurobiology of Attachment Fig 2 “Infants of caregivers who are available, responsive and sensitive to their emotional and physical needs tend to manifest patterns of “secure attachment”. However, if the care […]
I have always asked myself if other recovering alcoholics have the same insecure attachment issues as me – can I really extrapolate my straw poll of alcoholics in recovery, whom I know to have insecure attachment issues, to the whole recovery movement? And if other alcoholics do suffer from […]
Engaging the unconscious in everyday life with Chuck Bender
BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH
It started when I gave up smoking and went from there!
mostly poetry, partly peculiar.
Mostly addiction and recovery stuff
Practical Lessons for Everyday Life
This blog is about my journey towards a life grounded in balance, gratitude, creativity, and love.
Get your head on straight
The Courage To Shift is my Life Coach business that focuses on moving the client from victim, to VICTOR, regardless of their personal goals! Is there anything in life that you would like more of?
never judge a girl by her weight
Heal the past. Free the present. Bless the future.
Espiritu en Fuego -- A Fiery Spirit Expressing Herself
Ditching the drink and waking up
Transmissions from the heart, because in the end, we're all just walking each other home.
Life, Sober
Inside The Alcoholic Brain 
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