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An Essay on Provocative Therapy and Neurobiology Humour affects the Limbic System In the long, dim and quiet hallways of our holy places of wisdom – our universities! – humour is still considered as dangerous as a lethal virus and therefore it is usually exterminated. Many psychotherapists too still look upon humour as something evil in their work, because, when the client laughs, this means that he is not serious enough. Even if humour is not considered as that bad, for many therapists humour still is nothing more than a cause for a mild and forgiving smile about the clumsy colleague who believes in humour’s power! – Nevertheless, for decades humour and laughter have been considered crucial for personal change in Provocative Therapy. Recent research about the brain gives good reasons to use a lot of humour in psychotherapy, because humour affects the limbic system of the brain which is an important system for the organization of our behaviour. Change in the Networks of the Brain is equivalent to Change in our Emotions All of our behaviour is organized by complex neuronal networks in the brain. This applies to psychological and psychosomatic disturbances too, which can be seen as expressions of conflicts or of “faulty” emotional conditionings. They correspond to specific neuronal networks in the limbic system. Once established these networks might continue to exist for our whole life. Each time one is activated it will be strengthened, e.g. by each remembering of a bad experience. Even if the brain should be unable to forget a fact, it will remain able to build new networks compensating older ones till our last day on earth. Our brain has inconceivable possibilities for building fresh connections which shows its immense capacity of learning, adapting and healing itself. As specific emotions correspond to these networks a change in the networks has to go along with a change of the corresponding emotions. Thus, change is possible when a person who is experiencing a negative emotion of a conflict or a restricting conditioning is able to have a positive emotion at the same time. This new experience can be seen as cause for the growth of new neuronal connections in the limbic system around an already existing network. Then change can happen easily and happens on an unconscious level, which means without any further efforts. Probably only this will lead to stable change. Strong positive emotions in the right moment are crucial. Of course, the stronger the existing network the more repetition of this process will be needed in order to achieve permanent change. Gerhard Roth concludes that the positive effect of psychotherapy might be a consequence of positive transference. While talking about something that makes him feel bad the client also feels secure and safe with his therapist at the same time and therefore he trusts him. Now, what can we conclude from that for the meaning of humour in psychotherapy? Evidently humour is a positive emotion and easier to observe than the quiet development of positive transference, because laughter is an external, loud and instant sign of an inner state. When Frank Farrelly provokes laughter over and over again while clients are in a restricted inner state – feeling fear, anxiety, anger or having tears in their eyes – sure enough new neuronal connections are going to build up in the limbic system at the same time. And because in Provocative Therapy humour is thoroughly provoked around specific negative emotional states, these connections are built up exactly at the right place. Clients often tell me, that in these moments they are able to see themselves from outside and have to laugh about the absurdity they discover, when they look at their behaviour from that new point of view. Now this point of view is the perspective of the Neocortex, because only this structure in our brain allows us to look at ourselves from outside. Provocative Therapy not only affects the limbic system with adequate emotions for change at the right moment, it also affects the structure of the brain, which is the most developed one and which allows deeper understanding. Fight and Flight – Using the strong Power of the oldest Structure of the Brain to Provoke Change In Provocative Therapy you often see clients defend themselves and protest against or run away from their own inadequate behaviour. Such reactions – like laughter – can be understood as specific effects of this method. To interpret them referring to Neurobiology it is necessary as a first step to understand how three basic and very different systems are cooperating constantly in our brain. The Neocortex – Location of Consciousness The largest, youngest and most developed system or part of the brain – the Neocortex – is the location of consciousness. Here those events are represented, which happen outside of us – what we see, hear, smell, taste and perceive kinaesthetically – as well as everything that happens inside of us – bodily sensations, feelings, dreams, imaginations and wishes. The Neocortex enables thinking, memorizing, language, the experience of time and certain structures in the frontal lobe enable creativity, intuition and cooperation. The Limbic System – Location of Emotions and Feelings The limbic system is an older part of the brain, which we share with all mammals. Here is the origin of social behaviour, brooding, caring and playing. The limbic system operates partially on the basis of inherited programs; partially it is able to learn by conditioning – which means by reward or punishment. One main function of the limbic system is to compare constantly each single experience with former experiences and to guide our behaviour this way. This happens before we can build thoughts about a momentary experience. The limbic system operates unconsciously. We are becoming aware of this process through emotions and feelings with a short delay, which means after having already reacted, and we are becoming aware only of parts of this process. The Brainstem – Location of Reflexes for Survival The third and oldest part of the brain is integrated in the limbic system and regulates the most important functions of survival of the individual and of the species. This system works unconsciously, automatically and exclusively on the basis of inherited reflexes. It regulates the very strong functions of fighting, defending and fleeing and further of nutrition, digestion, breathing and reproduction. Of course the three systems are connected together and are mutually influencing each other all the time. So you may imagine that the older systems, which operate unconsciously and automatically on the basis of fixed programs, could temporarily dominate the conscious process of thinking located in the Neocortex. In that moment they could restrict the activity of the Neocortex to simple loops of ‘thinking’, which we would repeat over and over again. As the older systems operate unconsciously we could be aware of our thoughts in such a moment, but without being aware of what is happening to our thinking right then! Case study – Desperate Fighting against Laziness How does the brain of a person operate who complains that she “desperately fights her laziness” instead of starting to do her work? The word “fight” is the representation of an activity of the brainstem in the Neocortex, the word “laziness” the representation of an activity of the limbic system. “Laziness” summarizes one or several undesired habits. These are based on conditioning in order to avoid frustration. In German we have a special noun for this – the ‘innere Schweinehund’. This represents the ‘marriage’ of two mammals inside of us – of a pig and a dog. As the brain of mammals essentially consists of the limbic system, the origin of this noun seems more than symbolic or accidental! – In our case the Neocortex seems to serve as a stage for a fight between the activities of two different structures of the brain: of the strong brainstem and the limbic system. A person fighting against her laziness has no chance to ever change her behaviour this way. On the contrary her intention to start her work will systematically be weakened this way. This is why she is feeling desperate. Fighting and Fleeing in Provocative Therapy In Provocative Therapy one often uses the strong power of the brainstem, however, in the opposite direction. One possibility is to direct the fight back against its source to produce a ‘mental short circuit’. The therapist praises the necessity of strongly fighting against oneself until the client begins to oppose. The other possibility is to provoke the client to run away from an inadequate behaviour, which also implies the use of a strong reflex built up for survival. – While listening to a student once who was talking about his fight against laziness I had the disgusting image of a little grey poodle with his hair done in a slushy way, wrapped in a pink blanket, smelling like sweet perfume, whining in a piercing tone and jumping up at the student’s blue jeans trying to sniff his genitals while salivating. The student cracked up with laughter and also reacted with a terrified and disgusted look. The sicker he looked the more detailed I imagined the horrible little dog. Repeatedly he requested me to stop talking about the poodle. Of course this only encouraged my imagination. Immediately after this session he started to study harder. He had run away from his laziness and therefore lost the orientation which had helped him to avoid work… So what else could he do now than to start working? The fantastic thing about using the powers of fight and flight is that you use very strong, natural powers. Once you have cranked them up they will work by themselves. Why? I suppose because it is just the way our brain operates. Fight and flight are very old reflexes, which - once started - always work automatically. Thus, it is brilliant and comfortable at the same time to use these mechanisms in order to provoke change. Now, this works really well, however, I suppose that simply reversing the direction of fighting or using fleeing is not always sufficient in order to create permanent change. Why? Looking at the example of the student you can figure out easily, that the laziness and all its conditionings have not really disappeared from his life. They are still very close – in the brain! How long will the change last? That might depend on how rewarding the student will experience his work. Will this experience be positive and strong enough to allow stable new networks to establish in the limbic system after a certain time? If not, he will fall back into fighting against himself. Fighting against oneself implies conflict. The automatic responses of fighting and fleeing may be intelligent reflexes of the brainstem, when our body is suddenly confronted with danger coming from outside. The intelligence of the limbic system consists in its ability to simplify daily life by using well adapted clusters of behaviour which – once established - will also work automatically after a certain time. However, can this be an intelligent solution to reduce the immeasurable Neocortex to an area for a battle among representatives of the two other systems of the brain? In the first place fighting against oneself leads to a waste of energy. Then fighting always strengthens the ‘enemy’, which here is another part of oneself! Third, remember that the repetition of an activity of the brain strengthens the network of all involved neuronal routines, in our case thoughts (activity of the Neocortex) about fighting (reflex of the brainstem) an undesired habit (conditioning in the limbic system). The logical consequence is that we will never solve a conflict this way, but, that we preserve, complicate and even strengthen it! Fourth, with our “solution” we have obviously added a lot of new problems to the original one, which consisted of the fact of avoiding work. Fantastic, isn’t it? Liberation of the Neocortex of restricting Conflicts This liberation assumes the end of the conflict and happens when the client no longer identifies alternately with one or the other side of a conflict but begins to see himself or herself and the whole conflict from outside – a process which is probably induced by the specific method of Provocative Therapy to mirror the client’s way of life in short vivid sceneries. And what is to be seen from outside? Strange but true: nothing else but the fact, that and how a person uses her brain to artfully construct a conflict in her mind! That is absurd and thus we laugh. This discovery seems to liberate the Neocortex immediately of the activity of neuronal connections, which restrict our thinking, and is opening it to a better utilization… Isn’t that a good reason to feel joy and to laugh? Frank Wartenweiler, Zurich (Improvement of language by Anke Könemann, Munich) Literature Damasio Antonio R. The Feeling of what Happens. Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness. New York: Harcourt Brace & Company 1999 Farrelly F., Brandsma J.M. Provocative Therapy. Cupertino, CA 95015/USA: Meta Publications, Inc. 1974 Hüther Gerald. Wie aus Stress Gefühle werden. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1999 Hüther Gerald. Bedienungsanleitung für ein menschliches Gehirn. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht2001 Hüther Gerald. Die Macht der inneren Bilder. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2004 Krishnamurti Jiddu. To Be Human. Shambala Publications, Inc. © 2000 Krishnamurti Foundation Trust, Ltd. Ramachandran Vilayanur. The Emerging Mind. London: Profile Books Ltd. 2003 Roth Gerhard. Das Verhältnis von bewusster und unbewusster Verhaltenssteuerung. In: Psychotherapie Forum. Themenheft: Neurowissenschaften und Psychotherapie. Wien: Vol. 12. No. 2, 2004 Slade Neil. The Frontal Lobes Supercharge. Copyright © 2003 Neil Slade. Servan-Schreiber David. Guérir le stress, l’anxiété et la dépression sans médicaments ni la psychoanalyse. Paris: Editions Roberts Laffont 2003 Wartenweiler Frank. Provozieren erwünscht ... aber bitte mit Feingefühl. Paderborn: Junfermann Verlag, 2003 Wartenweiler Frank. Zauber-Spiegel Spiegel-Zauber. Spiegeln in der Kommunikation: symmetrisch und antisymmetrisch. Paderborn: Junfermann Verlag 2006. In English the title means: “Magic mirror – the Magic of Mirroring. About symmetric and antisymmetic Mirroring in Communication.” Unfortunately only available in German. Translation pending… |
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