Neuroplasticity



Gerry Douglas has travelled to the US on numerous occasions, over a period of more than 20 years, to attend advanced trainings in various body-brain approaches to counselling. This includes EMDR, and Somatic Experiencing. These are powerful and effective counselling approaches. There’s research to indicate that EMDR in particular can produce beneficial neuroplastic changes in brain activity patterns.

Gerry has also had advanced training in a completely different and often complementary approach to counselling, and remediation of various learning difficulties -the use of Brain Computer Interface (BCI) systems. BCI technologies provide a range of experiences needed to induce beneficial neoplastic change. There are many different trainings available that can do this. The technologies he’s trained to use are: 

Repeated exposure to the training experiences provided by these technologies allows dysregulated (or in the case of concussion, damaged) neural connections in the brain and body, to reconnect into regulated neural connection patterns. This results in numerous challenging conditions, previously thought to be permanent, literally being changed for the better -for example:

  • Numerous symptoms of PTSD

 Please read the full Terms of Engagement page

Neural networks in the brain are physically shaped by what we think, feel, eat, and do repeatedly. Grasping the significance of the sentence you’ve just read is the key to understanding neuroplasticity.

The neural wiring patterns in your brain filter the way you experience the world, and your response to the world. There are many contributing factors to the neural wiring patterns in anyone’s brain: The neural wiring we share in common with other animals; family genetics; epigenetic influences; the pre-birth environment; our age, and all the experiences we’ve had -both positive and negative- since birth.

Many of these neural wiring patterns in our brain are set, however we are discovering more and more about how much our neural wiring isn’t set. Accompanying this, at a rapidly growing pace, people are working out how to bring about beneficial re-wiring of our neural circuits.

In short, neuroplastic healing involves being sufficiently exposed to a course of repeated sensory training experiences. This strengthens existing functional neural circuits, and / or creates significant alternative neural circuits in the brain.

Dr Norman Doidge MD

Professor Danny Siegel MD

By way of an introduction to the burgeoning topic of neuroplasticity, a useful up-to-date place to start is the work of Dr Norman Doidge MD; and the original & editorial work of Assistant Professor of Psychiatry Dr Daniel Siegel.

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Here’s a really important point that cannot be over-emphasised:

Engagement of the neural circuitry associated with the stress response inhibits our capacity to make beneficial neuroplastic brain changes. However, the animated approving presence of another trusted human being helps to “dial down”  the engagement of the neural circuitry facilitating the stress response. For this reason face to face positive affirmation and championing of  achievement by another trusted person present in the room during neuroplastic training, really helps to accelerate positive neuroplastic change. 

 

In addition to the above point, there are 5 features of experience that facilitate neuroplastic healing. They are:

  • Intense conscious focus
  • Instantaneous performance feedback
  • An increasingly difficult challenge
  • Frequent repetition
  • Frequent practice exposure

Computers are proving to be very useful in providing experiences that have the five features bulleted above. This application of computing comes under the heading of Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technology.  

BCI neuroplastic healing has been available in a variety of forms in the US for more than two decades. There have been numerous reports in the US media, including Neurotiming training using Interactive Metronome technology and software, as exampled in these videos below:

 


We also know that positive neuroplastic change is enhanced by:

  • Good nutrition 
  • Adequate sleep 
  • Regular physical exercise
  • Abdominal breathing
  • Good social relationships

In order to optimise the healing capacity of your brain, in addition to the BCI technologies already mentioned, the help you get when working with Gerry Douglas incorporates the 5 bullet points immediately above. Gerry will discuss with you the benefits of working with an additional professional(s) as needed, to achieve this. For example Gerry may recommend a referral to a Functional Nutritionist, as there is growing scientific recognition that the gut’s health status, and the brain’s health status, are intricately interconnected. In Fact a strong case can be made for stating that all inflammatory diseases begin in the gut. Gut-brain interactional health issues and inflammation-based illnesses have markedly increased over the lat 2-3 decades, at an accelerating pace. There’s growing evidence that a key contributor to this is the exponentially increasing use of Glyphosate (Roundup weed-killer) in main-stream agriculture world-wide, including here in NZ. 

Wondering why you haven’t heard about neuroplastic healing  before now? It’s simple -there’s been very limited exposure in NZ’s main stream media, and to date only a small number of professionals in NZ offer this type of remediation training. One of the few other professionals is Dr Elizabeth Harris. Dr Harris uses a different range of BCI technologies at the Brain Health and Biofeedback Clinic in Dunedin.

Gerry keeps up to date with facilitating neuroplastic healing through participating in associated specialist internet groups, based in the US.

Further Enquiry:

More questions? Book a discounted  30 minute introductory online appointment. Cost: $60.00

Note: Results will vary between trainees, therefore individual results cannot be guaranteed. Please read the full Terms of Engagement page

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