While at a recent conference (ICSPP), a participant approached me after my presentation and spoke of the necessity to expand my focus to include the spiritual aspects of human beings. In addition, he spoke of his own experiences in significantly modulating serious pain from somatic injuries through belief. I have since discovered some recent research on this topic-listed on the following website:
psyphz.psych.wisc.edu/
This is the website for the Laboratory of Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Perceived Controllability Modulates the Neural Response to Pain
TimV. Salomons,1,2 TomJohnstone,1,3 Misha-Miroslav Backonja,4 and Richard J. Davidson1,2,3 1
W. M. Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior and Departments of 2Psychology, 3Psychiatry, and 4Neurology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706
The response to painful stimulation depends not only on peripheral nociceptive input but also on the cognitive and affective context in which pain occurs. One contextual variable that affects the neural and behavioral response to nociceptive stimulation is the degree to which pain is perceived to be controllable. Previous studies indicate that perceived controllability affects pain tolerance, learning and motivation, and the ability to cope with intractable pain, suggesting that it has profound effects on neural pain processing. To date, however, no neuroimaging studies have assessed these effects. We manipulated the subjects’ belief that they had control over a nociceptive stimulus, while the stimulus itself was held constant. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found that pain that was perceived to be controllable resulted in attenuated activation in the three neural areas most consistently linked with pain processing: the anterior cingulate, insular, and secondary somatosensory cortices. This suggests that activation at these sites is modulated by cognitive variables, such as perceived controllability, and that pain imaging studies may therefore overestimate the degree to which these responses are stimulus driven and generalizable across cognitive contexts.
The Journal of Neuroscience , August 11, 2004 • 24(32):7199 –7203 •
October 16, 2005
Joe, Jacob & Ron:
Light (love-compassion) may also refer to dispelling darkness (the darkness of separation-Freud's reporting a little boy's interaction with his aunt while he was in bed in a darkened room-"When you speak, it gets light").
What I meant by a transcendent gene is my (as yet unformulated) ideas on autopoiesis - the creative, self-organizing/self-remodeling process set in motion by our biology (gene-environment interactions and how they are subjectively experienced, interpreted & reacted to)-to change/be changed and remain the same, simultaneously.
Joe, I like your reference to the annihilation anxieties underlying narcissism. It fits with the concept of narcissistic injury/vulnerability. Narcissism can be seen as a traumatized state.
On a less transcendent level, I would highly recommend Sue Gerhardt's Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby's Brain published in 2004 by Brunner-Routledge.
Brian Koehler
