Last month I presented a lecture at Bastyr University addressing the relationship and causality between emotions and physical pain. I supported and addressed the use of non-pharmaceutical energetic methods for reducing and eliminating pain. By learning to unhook or rewire painful memories and associations in the brain, one can work in tandem with physical interventions like chiropractic to effectively resolve even long term chronic pain. For some, this would be an outrageous suggestion. For the room of people interested in Energy Medicine, this was a given and they were ecstatic to see that there was scientific evidence behind this perspective.
It is much easier and less complicated to believe that our physical symptoms or diseases are a direct result of purely physical causes - that makes sense to us. It is a paradigm that is influenced by our current model of disease causation. For example, if I eat too much fried fatty food I am likely to get hypertension and heart disease as a result. Genetic disease causality resulted in the human genome project being launched in part because of the idea that if we can name each gene and chromosome we might create early disease prevention with respect to diseases we are destined to have, and then we could manipulate that bad chromosome and voila, no disease!
Slow down I say! A new study shows that when twin's genetic makeup was studied with respect to genetic markers for disease and they were as likely as not to manifest the predicted conditions that they were "genetically determined to be susceptible". So if genes are not reliable as a measurement for disease, is there a more accurate predictor?
This might come as a surprise, but in the 1990's a highly accurate prognostic determiner of future conditions was discovered. It has a very strong statistical correlation between things that occurred in a person's childhood which resulted in brain changes that resulted in a wide variety of physical traits, habits and physical conditions later in life. Repeated studies have supported this idea.
The idea that a child's exposure to painful childhood traumatic events, also known as Adverse Childhood Experiences, (ACEs), was incredibly reliable in predicting major pathological conditions as an adult. The initial phase of the ACE Study was conducted at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego from 1995 to 1997 with more than 17,000 participants. These ACEs include exposure to nine situations: childhood physical, emotional or sexual abuse, witnessing domestic violence of mother, neglect, exposure to family mental illness, alcohol or drug abuse, family member incarceration or loss of a parent due to death or abandonment; including possible abandonment associated with divorce.
The most fascinating aspect of this research is that there are very specific brain structures that are more susceptible to emotionally triggered physical functional harm and trauma at very specific ages. For example the corpus callosum is the part of the brain that connects the right and left brain hemispheres and regulates negative emotions, processes social cues and promotes learning. It has been shown to be vulnerable to infant neglect and sexual abuse trauma and results in an increased vulnerability to post traumatic stress syndrome.
The cerebellar vermis is a part of the brain that regulates attention, is one of the few areas of the brain that can grow new nerve cells after birth and regulates our ability to hold focused attention. It has been found to be strongly affected by all types of maltreatment before the age of nine. Damage to this area often results in attention deficit problems and a tendency for a body to produce higher cortisol stress hormone levels.
The higher the number of these ACEs, the stronger and more direct a relationship with the many of the following: alcoholism and alcohol abuse, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), depression, fetal death, health-related quality of life, Illicit drug use, Ischemic heart disease (IHD), Liver disease, Risk for intimate partner violence, Multiple sexual partners, Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), Smoking, suicide attempts, unintended pregnancies, early initiation of smoking, early initiation of sexual activity and adolescent pregnancy.
I highlighted certain conditions that most people would perceive as predominantly physical or chemical conditions not necessarily resulting from emotionally stressful experiences.
To give you an idea of statistics, a person with zero ACEs has a 1 in 14 chance of having a heart attack. If they have 7 of the 9 categories experienced, their likelihood is 1 in 6 or two and a half times the risk. With nearly 25% of individuals studied having three or more ACEs, the acknowledgement of this important correlation could potentially save billions of health care dollars and thousands of lives in the US.
So what should we do once we understand that we cannot separate our emotionally stressful experiences from our physical conditions? As a physician it is important that with any patient that walks in my door, I must always open my perspective to look beyond the symptom and explanation that is offered as to what may seem the obvious cause of their ailment; especially in the cases of pain not directly associated to immediate injury. Some studies have shown health benefits simply by broaching the discussion with patients to discuss the connection between past emotional trauma and physical conditions. As a patient, it is worth being open to the idea that there may be a correlation and consider working to resolve past traumas as a form of preventive care that may save you from having to live through some very difficult and painful conditions that may be dormant or not currently symptomatic.
Finally, and most importantly if you are a parent, do not add guilt to the mix of what is already the world's hardest job, but just do everything within your control to affirm your children and realize that every loving comment and action that you offer them literally builds a healthier brain as a result. That, my friends, is something you can double down on!
Craig Weiner, DC has been in the health care field for 25 years, as a doctor of chiropractic, certified massage therapist, EFT practitioner, health coach, workshop leader, and creator of the Transformational Dialogues. Together with his wife Alina Frank, they are the creators of Path2Passion, a 6 week webinar series supporting couples in creating a powerful and intimate relationship. www.chirozone.net, reach at drcraig[at]chirozone.net. Providing quality counselling articles, hynotherapy writings and other mind help resources online.
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