Tag Archives: Emotion

Seeking Control of Emotions

Even if you came up with answers to someone’s deepest problems, it would likely be a long time before they might be able to  accept this help. In words attributed to Winston Churchill, “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but … Continue reading

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Primary Emotions

Primary Emotions The brain is built from the bottom up. At the bottom is the reptilian brain and surrounding the top of the brain is the neocortex or as Jack Panksepp would put it, our “thinking cap.”  In between is … Continue reading

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CARING with Oxytocin

Jaak Panksepp coined the term affective neuroscience or the neuroscience of emotions. Culminating a lifetime of animal lab research, he identified seven primary-process emotions built into the brain by evolution, hardwired into the subcortical networks of all mammalian brains:

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LUST

LUST LUST is fourth on the list of Jaak Panksepp’s seven primary affect systems. These primary affects all originate in the subcortical brain.  They are like the prime numbers of the emotional system. They can’t be divided by any other … Continue reading

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Emotional Brain Reigns

Emotional Brain Understanding past trauma does little to help in dealing with PTSD. No matter how much insight and planning, the emotional brain has a reality of its own and it is the emotional brain that reigns.

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Affects R Us

Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) proves effective if what has gone wrong is within recent and specific sets of life problems with clear cognitive underpinnings. In other words, CBT works well for everyday life problems, ie marital … Continue reading

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Laughter – Communing

Though you might think of laughter as a human phenomenon always associated with humor, such as the punchline of a joke, laughter does not require much in the way of cognitive complexity. Human laughter is rooted in the ancient PLAY … Continue reading

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PLAY for Mental Health

Jaak Panksepp called the seventh affect system the Play System. Seven Primary Affect Systems SEEKING or expectancy RAGE FEAR LUST CARING PANIC/GRIEF PLAY You might not think of PLAY in terms of emotional or affective systems, but according to Jaak … Continue reading

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CARING

Of the seven primary-affect systems, perhaps CARING is the least studied. Or maybe better put, the CARE system has been mainly studied in terms of pregnancy and motherhood.

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