Seven Primary Affect Systems
Working in his lab with rats, Jaak Panksepp found seven primary-process emotional systems built into the brain by evolution. We and all other mammals are born with these innate neural systems in our brains. We are always on the lookout for something that we might need or want, or something that might just interest us or satisfy our curiosity. Our SEEKING systems keep us in a state of engagement with the world. “Beginning at birth, it is “a goad without a goal.”
- SEEKING (expectancy)
- RAGE (anger)
- FEAR (anxiety)
- LUST (sexual excitement)
- CARE (nurturance)
- PANIC/GRIEF (sadness)
- PLAY (social joy)
These seven primary affects converge on the periaquaductal gray (PAG) at the lower midbrain or or atop the brain stem.. Here, all the emotional action systems, especially negative affective systems with their powerful and effective charge, converge.
Core Self
Sitting atop the PAG in the upper midbrain, sandwiched between the frontal cortex above and the PAG below is the superior colliculus (SC), a layered structure of the midbrain. The upper layers of the SC are optical neurons and the lower layers are motor neurons. Both layers of the SC connect with areas in the frontal cortex.
Primal raw affects of the PAG filter up through the lower motor and upper optic layers of the SC, then up into the frontal cortex. The frontal motor regions of the neocortex are brain regions where idiographic selves begin to “incubate” as a function of our evolving lives. So moment by moment the ideographic functions we call personality form the wordless ideographic selves creating our “Core Self.”
Core Self
We are emotional creatures. We make seemingly bizarre decisions and take self-defeating actions to ourselves and harmful to others. We are emotional animals with an adjunct dinner napkin-layer-thin thinking neocortex.
Poor Childhood Attachment
One of the functions of our neocortex is to surpress emotionality. But for those of us with poor childhood attachment, our neocortex has difficulty modulating emotions. That is why University of Washington professor James Mazza’s middle and high school “social and emotional learning curriculum” may fall short of its goals. It has all classroom teachers attempt Dialectual Behavior Therapy as a part of their regular coursework. But especially kids with early adverse childhood problems will have no way of modulating their emotions at will. In fact many students will be unable to self-modulate their emotions.
Self-Therapies
Effective therapies need to include Attention Therapies, like Insight (Mindful) Meditation, Open Focus, and Ki Breathing Meditation. These therapies may be easier to present to a class of students with reminders now and then to practice on a regular and needed basis.
These are my go to self therapies. My daily therapy is Ki Breathing Meditation. When I was teaching I presented Ki Breathing Meditation to my high school junior English classes, but one presentation was all the time I could devote to this, so I have no idea whether any of the students followed through with it for any time.
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
