Today's recording · Parenting Adult Children Today

Today's recording

I wasn't able to write the pearl in the chat box before the session ended but the bit about being curious when emotions get intense (which brings things out of the emotional brain and into the thinking brain) really reinforced a few things I've been learning from other sources this week. I actually saw a post on social media which stated that when you named an emotion, it was as effective in reducing emotional pain as acetominophen was in reducing physical pain. I did a trek down the cyber rabbit hole and discovered the scientific study that supported that. In addition it showed that suppress emotions makes makes emotional pain worse. Google the work of Matthew Lieberman, Professor of psychology, psychiatry at UCLA.

The addition of "being curious" in the moment.....talking to oneself about what one is feeling, naming the feeling...has that same result of bringing the intense emotional pain/reaction/fight,flight,fright reaction out of the amygdala (historically reactive emotional part of the brain) and into the prefrontal cortex (thinking area) and apparently taking the amygdala "off line". It's pretty convincing and amazing research. Glad I learned that this week and it was reinforced today!

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