What is Psychoneurology?
Psychoneurology is a new approach to creating wellness and thriving that does not require a diagnosis or labeling of the patient. Psychoneurology's underlying premise is that each individual human being is already perfect and whole as opposed to broken or diseased. Therefore, rather than trying to focus on fixing a broken person, psychoneurology helps the patient develop new resources, or learning’s, that will help enhance their lives in the service of reaching the highest level of thriving.
The Fundamental Distinctions Between Psychoneurology And Other Systems Of Mental Health
Beginning from these fundamentally different points of departure, psychoneurology, and typical systems of mental health care, will diverge in their objectives and methods. While typical methods employed in mental health treatments will focus on the defining of the disorder and then the negation of its symptoms or "treatment”, the psychoneurologist will look at the situation and ask the question: "what resource, or learning is specifically needed here that will help this child or individual, enhance the quality of their life?"
An Example
The child diagnosed with social disorders will be made aware of their new label for diagnosis and measures will be taken to help negate their "disorder". Psychoactive drugs may be employed to help them with their apparent issues of nervousness, which understandably come from lack of understanding in how to respond to new social situations, and various treatments may be embarked upon with the intention of helping a child build their self-esteem or other methods employed to help them overcome this "disorder".
The psychoneurologist by contrast will assure the child immediately that they are in no way damaged, diseased, or suffering from a disorder of any kind; they merely have not yet developed the new learning’s or "resources" that will help them have and enjoy the social contacts and friendships that they might like. Since there is nothing fundamentally "wrong" with this child the psychoneurologist will not spend any time assigning any kind of label (diagnosis) to their lack of resource, but rather put their entire focus on helping the child develop the resource or resources that will create the desired result.
Which Approach is More Helpful?
While both these approaches may be driven from the same good intentions, which approach would be more likely to generate the right questions and to direct the therapists focus towards creating the desired result?
The pathology driven approach will strive to identify and label, or diagnose the "problem" at hand. The therapists focus will then be upon the particular disease or disorder and trying to eliminate it, or at least its symptoms.
The approach of the psychoneurologist will be to focus upon the desired outcome. The therapist’s focus will be upon this particular outcome and adding whatever resources necessary to achieve it.
Fundamentally, the pathology oriented approach (the approach now used by traditional psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and marriage family therapists) places its focus on eliminating the blocks (known as disease, disorder, or problem) to the desired result, with the implication being that if the blocks are removed, the desired results, or state will be achieved.
Psychoneurology focuses upon implementation and achievement of a specific desired result directly and therefore renders the need for labeling a diagnosis (the disease, disorder, or problem) irrelevant and even potentially harmful, because once the child takes on the label of a particular disease or disorder, it can become a part of their identity often creating as much or more harm as the lack of resource itself.
The Old Approach Being Used For Change
As already stated, the old approach to change was based on the premise that the reason why the patient or client is not where they want to be (the desired state or outcome) is because of the challenges or "blocks" to reaching the desired outcome. Much of this understanding was based on Freudian psychology with misunderstandings about the mind and the subconscious which are approximately 100 years old.
You would be unlikely to drive a car that was 100 years old today as your primary transportation, this was not an efficient way to get from one place to another. You would be even more unlikely to receive treatment based upon 100-year-old medical technology! Could you imagine being operated on by a physician who didn't even know about sterilizing a scalpel?!
One of the understandings that we have gleaned over the last 50 years in our understanding of the mind is that the subconscious, unconscious, or automatic aspect of our mind does not process negation. This is why if you are told not to think of something like a WHITE HORSE, what comes to your mind? This is because the part of your mind that visualizes does not process negation.
This also is the part of your mind that regulates most of your daily activities like tying your shoes, driving your car, and is the source of all your emotions. Virtually all disorders and mental diseases are stemming from emotional and automatic patterns from this part of our minds. Therefore, placing your focus upon what you do not want is very likely to expand its very presence in your awareness.
Sigmund Freud based his methodology on the allopathic (or mainstream medicine) medical model. This is an approach that makes perfect sense for negating, or erasing symptoms on the physical level. For example imagine a physician approaches a patient who is bleeding: the physician is going to want to stop the bleeding and therefore negate the bleeding as a symptom. By closing the wound, perhaps with direct pressure, or with stitches, then covering the wound, they are successfully eliminating the problem or "presentation" of these particular symptoms. Certainly in the case of a physical emergency, this kind of action to relieve the immediate symptoms is crucial and effective. However, concerning the mind, since the unconscious, or subconscious mind does not process negation, this approach will be much less effective since it merely focuses on the undesirable condition as oppossed to creating the desired one.
So, the approach that most therapists, (psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, MFT's, and even most life coaches) employ is the idea that the only reason you're not where you want to be is because of the blocks that are holding you back. As we have just explained, the part of our mind that we are looking to change, simply does not operate in this manner.
Imagine someone running East, looking for a sunset:
they don't actually have any blocks, but without an effective strategy, how likely are they to find a sunset?
In most traditional mental health care practices the therapist would then go about doing their best to diagnose the presenting problem:
"In this case, we have determined, that your child has Sunset Denial Disorder, or SDD." This determination would be made by finding this disorder by searching through the book of diseases where all mental diseases are currently cataloged, known as the Diagnostic and Statistics Manuel or DSM IV.
After a diagnosis has been rendered, the well-meaning therapist would then combine forms of treatment, combining possible prescriptions of various psychoactive drugs to help the patient eliminate their sunset-denying tendencies, usually combined with some form of talk or other therapy oriented towards the same focus: that the patient has SDD and to help them navigate the world with this new "understanding" of their "special challenge", (the new label).
The psychoneurologist would look at the individual running east, looking for sunset, and ask the question: “what resource will help this person to find a sunset?”
In this metaphor, the psychoneurologist would notice that the patient was running in an eastward direction; this process is known as calibration.
He or she would then ask themselves: "where is the sunset that they are looking for and how can it be located?" This process is known as identifying the resource.
Upon observing that the sun sets in the Westward direction, the psychoneurologist would set about informing or teaching the patient to alter the trajectory of the run in a Westward direction; this process is known as integration of the resource.
Upon this patient's utilization of this new learning, where they now alter their running trajectory toward West, the new learning has rendered their would be diagnosis of SDD, irrelevant, unnecessary, and even harmful.
This example is particularly relevant in cases of children and adults diagnosed with Acute Anxiety Disorders (AAD), Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder (ADHD), and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), to name a few. In psychoneurology we are able to show consistently that merely by adding new choices, learnings, or resources, we render the processes of diagnosing, and labeling, as outmoded, unnecessary, sometimes harmful and in some cases even crippling.
Before considering putting your child or yourself into a situation where they're going to be labeled, and in some cases given drugs (medications) for anxiety or learning disorders, please take the time to examine another alternative that can be safer and more effective.
Call 310-877-2872, or 310-892-5483 (892-LIVE )
and get a good clear sense of your options.
"If most people put the same energy and attention on the care and treatment of their and their childs mind, that they put in to purchasing an automobile or home, the majority of challenges facing youth today and their families could be overcome."
Dr Colbey Forman, Developer and Chief
Psychoneurologist, American Board Of Psychoneurology.
"The best we can hope to accomplish with psychopharmacological intervention is to hinder the brain from performing the functions that it is attempting. To date, no one in the field of allopathic, or other medical endeavor, has ever managed to come up with a medication or chemical that is able to actually educate or teach the brain to do something new. Psychoneurology is an introduction of a new set of processes where we actually educate the patient either consciously or unconsciously to be able to use their brain and nervous system much more effectively, so that they can create completely new results. This is a radical new innovation, applying leading edge technology to ancient wisdom."
Dr. Colbey Forman, Chief Psychoneurologist, American Board of Psychoneurology
To find out more about the philosophy of Dr. Colbey Forman, the founder of Psychoneurology and research currently being conducted by Barron University Doctoral Students and Faculty, click here.
For more information of policies and practices of this new field please visit The American Board Of Psychoneurology web site.