CARE is one of the seven primary emotions neurologically pinpointed in the subcortical brain. These seven primary emotions are raw affects that arise from the dynamics of large-scale neural networks that generate instinctual emotional behaviors.
CARE, like the other primary emotions, are neural networks residing deep within the subcortical brain, while the higher affects or feelings reside in the tertiary executive thin outer neocortex. You can somewhat, sometimes alter the emotions or feelings in the tertiary level with attention therapies, but you have little control of the neurological emotional centers deep within the subcortical brain.
In Affective Neuroscience the seven primary subcortical emotions and the seven tertiary affects or feelings share the same name. So you need to delineate which you are referring to. Jaak Panksepp, who coined the name “Affective Neuroscience” delineated them by putting the primary subcortical emotions in all caps. So GRIEF means the primal emotion deep in the subcortical brain, while grief means the affect or feeling you have that you perceive through your neocortex. I’ll try to use capital and lower case in that fashion, but I find there are times when the categories blur. When that happens I’ll use lower case. In any case, researchers in the field mostly just use lower case throughout.
Having unwanted feelings is discomfiting, even torturous. In the higher MindBrain affects (feelings) and cognitions (thoughts) can work productively hand in hand. But they can also wage all-out war. They are two very distinct aspects of our consciousness. All psychiatric disorders are manifested at both levels. If one modifies affects, cognition will often follow, especially with good counseling. Changing cognitions can also work, but not if the affect doesn’t follow suit. Knowing the inner workings of free-floating emotional distress is solid knowledge. Researching emerging knowledge of Affective Neuroscience has given me helpful, therapeutic insight.
Knowledge of the primary-process states generated by the seven basic emotional systems is essential for clinical work with emotional disorders. For example, if emotional problems are due to recent and specific life problems that have clear cognitive precipitants, then cognitive-behavioral counseling can be effective. But with severe emotional disorders, this is not the case. Etiology extends sometimes back to infancy, so of course, few if any explicit memories remain, just imbalanced emotional states and their associated cognitive biases.
Panksepp concludes psychotherapy is basically about CARE.
Psychotherapy may be CARE writ large. The key to an effective “therapeutic alliance” may reside in higher-order empathic resolnances, the foundation of which may be the CARE circuitry of our brains, which is well attuned to the nuances of GRIEF and PLAY.
Click! I need somebody. Public Domain Image
The key to effective therapy is empathy and care. But that can be difficult to maintain for therapists without risking eventual burnout.
Self-help books that help:
Total Self-Renewal through Attention Therapies and Open Focus
The Open-Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body
