PTSD Changes in the Brain.

If you were to punch yourself over and over in the leg every day, there are (at least) 2 different things that you would notice beginning to happen:

1 - Your leg would begin to hurt. You would be in pain every day.

2 - Your leg would begin to bruise. You would notice physical evidence of the actions and the pain.

Now... What if you didn't really pay attention to the fact that you were punching yourself all the time? What if you went to someone who didn't exactly have that piece of information or who didn't take that piece of information seriously and ask them to figure out what the problem was?

You would tell them, "Well, I have this pain in my leg every day and it's really bothersome. I don't know why it's hurting and I don't know how to make it stop. Could you help me figure it out?"

So, this person takes a look at your leg and goes, "Well... the situation is obvious! Don't you see that huge bruise on your leg! That is so clearly the cause of your pain! Your leg is not supposed to look like that. That discoloration and inflammation on your leg shouldn't be there and that is why your leg hurts."

Well... I mean... the person isn't entirely wrong. There is certainly a connection between the bruising on your leg and the pain that you're experiencing every day, but the bruising isn't the CAUSE of your pain... it is a REFLECTION of your pain. It is the body's physical response to the trauma that you are subjecting your leg to every day by punching it. It's the physical appearance of blood vessels breaking under the skin.

Now, what would happen if you tried to make the pain go away by focusing on that physical appearance? If you covered up the bruising with makeup, would the pain go away? What if you even went a little deeper and dealt with the inflammation by putting ice on it and used some advanced (hypothetical) infrared treatment to repair the blood vessels under the skin on a daily basis... would the pain go away?

Not if you don't stop hitting yourself in the leg!

Here's the point...

People insist to me all the time that because researchers have found physical evidence of PTSD, Bipolar, or borderline personality disorder in the brain, that the root cause of the ongoing pain is in fact these evidentiary markers in the brain.

They believe that - even though it's obvious, for example, that PTSD is caused initially by trauma - that the reason they are in emotional pain is because of the changes they see in the brain, and therefore that the ONLY way to solve this is by treating the brain with medication.

But that's just putting makeup on a bruise.

Now, please don't take that the wrong way... I am NOT saying that medications should never be used, and I am ABSOLUTELY NOT SAYING that if you are currently using medication to treat your emotional distress that you should just stop taking them.

I am merely saying that just because we notice evidence of changes in the brain in people who suffer with ongoing emotional distress does NOT mean that the physical changes in the brain are the CAUSE of that distress. I am saying that I firmly believe that this is a misinterpretation of the data. An understandable one... but a misinterpretation nonetheless.

Since we can't examine someone's inner experience directly, it's the job of medical science to look at the observable effects and deduce what it can from them. But, emotional issues are NOT like physical ones. You can't just look at the physical body and deduce everything you need to about the inner experience that is causing these problems in the first place, and you should NOT be fooled into putting makeup over the core problem, ignoring the fact that you keep punching yourself in the leg, and assuming that treating the physical symptoms will provide the ultimate relief to your inner experience that you're looking for.

I know that we see evidence of neurological changes in the brains of people who suffer under the labels of PTSD, Bipolar, GAD, clinical depression, and Borderline Personality Disorder...

...but I am arguing that these changes are REFLECTIONS of the problem... not the causes of those problems, and I back up my claims through the changes that my clients have seen when they've chosen to ditch the diagnosis and fully heal.

If you are struggling with any of these issues and are ready to choose a different approach to healing, then I suggest you watch my free webinar, called "Healing Feelings First" at the link below, and if everything that I have to say resonates (and if you're willing to invest in yourself so that you can change the course of the rest of your life), then you can book a call with me to discuss if my coaching program is right for you.

Best and love and thanks for reading.