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? […]
RELATIONAL POWER: CULTIVATING EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE Part 4 “…Emotional intelligence, according to Goleman (1995), includes the capacity to self-regulate, delay gratification, empathize, be selfaware, and motivate oneself. In extending his focus to social intelligence, Goleman (2006) considers both social awareness (primal empathy, attunement, empathic accuracy, social cognition) and […]
Part 3 “ATTUNEMENT: ‘‘FEELING FELT’’ Secure attachment is built on the attunement of the parent with the infant. Attunement entails both low- and high-road circuits; ‘‘primal empathy,’’ including nonverbal synchrony, is a subcortical, emotional resonance between individuals; and ‘‘empathic accuracy’’ requires activation of the prefrontal cortex as […]
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 blogged recently about how insecure attachment is linked to various addictive behaviours. What is important is to establish a mechanism by which insecure attachment contributes to later addictive disorders. It may not be enough to say attachment and addiction are linked but that they are linked via a […]
In this article (1) we look at attachment in relation to affect regulation and interpersonal functioning among substance use disorders inpatients. The conclusions of this study give some therapeutic insight into how these individuals with insecure attachment even in adulthood need to be facilitated to learn and earn attachment […]
Sewing, knitting, crafts, inspiration...
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 
Recent Comments