APPLICATION OF THE METHOD "AFFECTIVE RESTRUCTURING" IN CONCRETE CASES OF NEUROTIC DISORDERS

Orlin Baev

web | Transpersonal psychology. Sacred sexuality

Recurrent Depressive Disorder

The duration of the separate depressive episodes is between three and twelve months. The cognition is oppressed, the mood is dark, painfully pessimistic and negative. The experienced autoaggression frequently is projected onto the surrounding people in the form of aggression. Social communications are avoided. Desire for isolation and ill extreme introvertness occurs. In addition to the drug treatment, prescribed by an expert, the psychotherapy "Affective Restructuring" works in two directions:

• Treatment of the hormonal breakdown and optimization of the endocrine process and brain mediation through training in "Holotropic Sexuality".

• Affective restructuring of the depressive affective state.

1. Holotropic Sexuality as a Therapy of Depression

The training in holotropic sexuality in a case of a patient with depression is optimally conducted with both partners, i.e. with the patient and his / her intimate partner. Thus it is achieved understanding of the importance of the holotropic sexual intercourse and the crucial role, which it plays in the treatment of the depressive state, because it works directly on the physiological basis, which causes it - at hormonal and neurotransmitter level.

The remedial holotropic sexuality impact on the depressive episodes is powerful, fast, direct and reliable. The dopamine level in the brain is optimized without reaching to peaks and refractory failures. The increased secretion of dinorphin - dopamine blocking mediator is minimized in this way. The secretion of prolactin is also minimized by the optimally kept up dopamine level, because the reduced level of dopamine is a major factor for its production and secretion. The dinorphin and prolactin are the biochemical triggers for the psychologically experienced states of depression and the related states of irritability, social phobia, lack of motivation and tonicity.

The state of depression is directly transformed into feelings of trust, joy and love, activated by the secretion of oxytocin, vasopressin, endorphins and encephalins during the mastered long valley orgasm.

The above hormonal-mediator changes in turn affect the level of serotonin, and the depressive despair is replaced by a joyful harmonious tranquility.

The harmonized level of serotonin in turn optimizes the melatonine production of the pituitary gland, which eliminates the sleeping disorder, typical for the depression.

2. "Affective restructuring" of the depressive affective state

It is possible, in some cases, the depression to be caused by purely hormonal mechanisms. Then, the most appropriate solution in regards with the treatment of the state is the drug treatment, as well as exercising of remedial sexuality.

However, rarely the etiology of the depression is only hormones-related. Most frequently, the psychological and hormonal factors are closely connected and interwoven in a complex knot. A reason for the depressive disorder can be the systematic relations of the patient - office, family, social ones, etc.

Another possible reason are the embedded in the early years cognitive and affective schemes, maladaptive implicit cognitive matrices, major believes and models of attitude towards the stress and daily circumstances. These internal maps of perception of the world are set during the first months and years of the life of a child as a result of the upbringing style and family relations, and subsequently the whole information is filtered through these Top-down processes, passing at unconscious and foreconscious level of mental functioning.

A third possible reason for aptitude for depressive states could be the negative prenatal upbringing, transmitted to the child from the mother. Prenatal psychology is currently powerfully coming into the process of development of the scientific psychology. The important role of the prenatal process for the future state of the whole mental life of the person is realized more and more completely.

Even deeper predispositions to depressive states can be set in the genogramme (the genealogical tree) of the individual. The cognitive, affective and behavioral heritage of our ancestors is deeply engraved in our genetic memory. The cognitive matrices set in out genogramme are the deepest and most difficultly changed elements. Second by the degree of difficultness are the schemes, set during our prenatal period. The models set during the early years, are just on the third place by its weight.

The psychotherapy "Affective restructuring" starts with cognitive monitoring - analysis of the relations of the patient (family, friend, work environment and relations), the childhood, his/her genogramme, as well as the prenatal process (by deriving information from the mother or regressive visualization).

After the maladaptive cognitive schemes, evoking depressive emotional states and behavior, are identified, the patient is guided to their realization and the way they affect his/her life. Their grafting follows. Such can be the following maladaptive schemes (paraphrased, by Jeffrey Young):

• Emotional privation and suppression - the belief that to the emotional needs never will be adequately responded, the feeling that nobody loves us, does not sympathize us, does not care about us and will not help us. The belief and feeling that we have to control each of our activities, in order not to be rejected by the society

• The feeling and belief for Alienation and loneliness, that everybody leave us - the belief and expectation that the others will leave us, that we cannot rely on anybody; expectation that the relationships, which we establish, will inevitably fall apart and that loneliness is unavoidable. The feeling and belief for alienation and social isolation

• Mistrust and vulnerability - the feeling and the belief that the others are manipulative, cruel, that they use us and want to hurt us. The belief and feeling that we are vulnerable, that the world is a dangerous place and misfortune will by no means happen to us

• The belief and the feeling for inferiority and incompetence, for failure - the belief that we are defective, second-rate, worthless, that we deserve nobody’s love and that we cannot cope with our daily tasks

• Pessimism - the feeling and belief that the negative aspects of life prevail the positive ones

After the maladaptive cognitive - affective scheme is identified, and the traumatic circumstances - related to its causation - clarified, the working pattern in regards to the depressive disorder is the following:

1. Awareness

А. Intellectual - it is necessary the patient to reach to comprehension of the automatic thoughts, unconscious and foreconscious rigid rules of cognition, affective reactions and the standing behind them deeply pushed out cognitive schemes and major believes.

B. Emotional - the patient must realize, feel and consciously experience the effect of the deeply set in his/her mental system cognitive-affective schemes and the caused by them depressive emotional states and models of behavior. This awareness, happening during the cognitive monitoring-analysis (during the therapeutical sessions), puts the beginning of the further identification of these schemes, their realization and the work on their transformation in the course of the daily activities.

2. Self identification

As it is described above in this book, the patient is guided in a state of progressive relaxation and through guided visualization and meditative techniques, he/she is directed to establishing and strengthening the connection to the center of metacognition in him/her - his/her supreme Self.

3. Deep Diving

When the connection to the internal integrative center, the source of light, joy and power is established, the patient is carefully guided, in a state of deep relaxation, to the epicenter of his/her state, to the core of the emotional experience of the depression. The identification with the supreme Self is held back throughout the "diving".

In the core of neurotic disorders lie the affective changes and it should be accented exactly on them during the therapeutic intervention.

The purpose of this stage of the therapy is the establishment of a relatively comfortable experience of the depression, look at it and its experimentation through the perception and eyes of the Self. The patient is guided through a proper visualization, which metaphorically expresses the process of conscious penetration into the abyss of his/her depression and achievement of comfort during the experience. The fundamental difference of this conscious causation and entry into the deepest water of the depressive state is the Self identification, which "arms" the individual with the "weapons" of his/her own superconsciousness: bright intuitive wisdom, calm joy and active life power.

Appropriate metaphors for the depression used during the visualization are: abyss, chasm, ocean depth, volcanoe, dark scary forest, dark wild river, dragon, wolf, vampire, swamp, black hole ... The patient is guided though the visualization as energetically as it is possible, with the inclusion of all five modalities: vision, hearing, touch ... The most crucial element during the "diving" is the dipping into a real intensive emotional experience of the problem state.

4. Dragon taming

At this stage of the therapy "Affective restructuring", the feeling of connection and identification with the joy, light and power of the superconsciousness, supreme Self, which serves as an internal support center, embraces the experience of depressive affects so that their power flows into the power of the Self. In each neurotic disorder, and in depression in particular, the personality’s mental energy converges around the emotional, cognitive and behavioral symptoms of the disorder, as well as in the mental process of symptoms causation. This locked power is released in the process of therapeutic intervention - through awareness of the pushed to the unconscious cognitive-affective schemes, causing the symptoms, awareness of the resistance and mental protective mechanisms, which keep up the neurotic disorder, as well as through their direct "grafting".

At this stage of the therapy, a key moment is the acquisition by the patient of an actual ability to provoke, aware, feel and experience the connection and channeling of the energy of his/her depression to the power of his/her supreme Self. As it is described above, the first element of this process is the Self identification, the second - the "diving" into the abyss of our problem, but already armed with the light, joy and power of the internal metacognition center. The third stage, the "dragon taming", occurs when, dipped in the center of the tornado of our problem, in full presence of mind, we transfer the control completely to our superconsciousness - the so called Mahamudra! The feeling is for absorption of the fixed in the problem state energy in the center of supreme cognition in us.

At this stage of the therapy, the maladaptive cognitive schemes are replaced by positive ones. The patient is prepared for realization of the recidivisms of the manifestations of these schemes and their transformation into positive ones in the process of his/her everyday life.

5. Beta grafting

The process of Self identification, conscious "diving" in the depressive experience and "dragon taming", i.e. its grafting to the supreme cognition, is executed in the usual state of the consciousness - in beta cerebral frequency.

"Affective Restructuring" and Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder characterizes by long depressive episodes and comparatively shorter mania episodes.

Bipolar disorder can be allegorically characterized with a pendulum, with which the mental goes from one pole to another, and the periods of remission are the passing of this hormonal and mental pendulum through the middle zone of normal mental, neuromediative and hormonal functioning.

Thus, during the depressive episode, the individual needs to be symbolically "pulled" out from the abyss of his/her depression. In the same way, during the maniacal episode, he/she needs to be grounded from his/her dopamine peaks to more fluent optimal cognitive regime of work.

The maniacal state is a desperate attempt of the organism to compensate the depressive failure. It is the other side of the same coin - cognition with a missing stable implicit center, a support, round which one non-manifested Self to unite all of its mental components and processes.

During the maniacal episodes, the aim of the therapist is to channel the excessive libido energy so that its consumption to be harmless and even useful for the others, as well as for the patient.

One wonderful method for normalization of the hormonal and neurotransmitter balance is the holotropic sexuality. The patient, together with his/her partner, is trained in the remedial sexual process, the execution of which directly normalizes the body biochemistry to an optimal level, which eliminates the roots of the maniacal symptoms. The superb effect of such a type of healing sexuality is psychologically expressed in centering and integration of the psyche, in its connection to the higher Self - the superconscious levels of the metacognition. This binding occurs from the position of both extremes of the mental bipolar "pendulum" - the manic and depressive ones.

The purely psychological work on grafting of the manic states, in addition to the analysis, consists of dynamic meditation. During dynamic physical, breathing and energy exercises, the patient is guided to connection and identification with the internal center. Appropriate exercises are holotropic breathing (bhastrika), free movements and baby talk, kiay - primary cry, meditative rotation, various physical exercises and asanas, guided by the therapist, accompanied by formulas - affirmations.

The individual is taught to become aware of and watch his/her manic state as an outside observer, from the position of the Self, of his/her metacognition. The standard steps of affective restructuring follow!

The key word in bipolar affective disorder is CENTERING! Centering of the psyche in the internal center of will, calm joy, mastered power and intuitive wisdom!

Affective Restructuring and Dependences

While, when we talk about all other disorders, the method of affective restructuring, described above, works together with the standard method of cognitive restructuring, the affects (emotions) are a basic starting point for work on dependences.

Concerning the dependences, the affects are so strong that the rational cognition is literally swept and its weak voice is only a powerless background of the powerful desire. Therefore, the emphasis in the treatment of dependences is on the emotions.

Step 1) Awareness and identification with metacognitive mental center (Self, the Internal Witness)

With the help of the above methods - mahamudra, guided meditation and visualization, the patient is guided in the process of awareness of his/her internal mental core, the center of his/her creature. This center is the rock onto which he/she will hold and pull out from the vicious circle of his/her dependence.

Step 2) Deep diving

Already firmly connected to his/her internal center, the patient "dives" boldly into the hell of his/her addiction. In practice, at this stage, physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms are experienced, but in a state of permanently kept up connection to the "Self". This connection, expressed in prayer and meditative aspiration and zeal, redirects drug thirst or the action, causing the dependence in the direction of an expanded consciousness.

Step 3) Dragon Taming

With the help of guided visualization, prayer and meditation, the obsessive desire is channeled, grafted to our higher superconscious cognition. In this way the whole experience of addiction appears to be a valuable fuel for the expansion of our cognitive capabilities and expansion of the consciousness (of course, it is far better this expansion to be achieved by a safer and healthier way).

© Orlin Baev
© Galina Markina - translated from bulgarian
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© E-publisher LiterNet, 29.12.2010
Orlin Baev. Transpersonal psychology. Sacred sexuality. Varna: LiterNet, 2010.