As with any oversimplification of complex subject matter, there has been some sacrifice of scientific accuracy for the sake of clarity. I am aware, for example, of currently extant theories which suggest dendritic connection proliferation, rather than macromolecular encoding, as the basis of some types of memory storage. I know that it now appears that the class of biochemicals known as neuropeptides are the probable mediators of emotional response and psychosomatic phenomena. I have even encountered results of recent research in which investigators are once again attempting to demonstrate an organic/genetic basis for psychological dysfunction, such as schizophrenia, chemical dependence, etc., by pointing out structural differences in the brains of certain mental patients. With respect to this latter topic, I am confident that, as more pieces of the puzzle fall into place, another, more correct, explanation will suggest itself, as occurred with the "endogenous hallucinogen" theory of psychosis some years ago.

     During the 1950's and 60's much of the investigation of the etiology of psychoses followed the biochemical approach, stemming from a hypothesis advanced by Osmond and Smythies in 1952 that an aberration in the metabolism of neurotransmitters could produce an endogenous hallucinogen, resembling mescaline, that could explain the distorted perceptions characteristic of certain serious emotional disturbances.⁽¹⁾  The possibility of the existence of such a compound found support in that some aspects of schizophrenia are produced in healthy subjects under the influence of LSD, peyote, mescaline, and related substances. The clamor of speculation was further inflamed by the controversy surrounding the report of the presence of 3,4-DMPEA in the urine of schizophrenic patients.⁽²⁾  Many millions of dollars went into the experimental use of hallucinogens to create a model psychosis which could be studied clinically, though subsequent research revealed shortcomings in this approach.⁽³⁾  It was later demonstrated that DMPEA, although structurally similar to mescaline, possesses no hallucinogenic activity⁽⁴⁾  and is a natural byproduct of metabolism present in everyone's urine. As investigational tools, hallucinogenic compounds began to fall into disuse, and even disrepute,⁽⁵⁾ progressing, unfortunately, to a reactionary phobia with the escalation of drug abuse and the advent of the so-called "war on drugs."⁽⁶⁾

     It seems probable that any actual somatic (ie. structural / biochemical) changes, for which a true relationship to emotional dysfunction is proven, will turn out to be secondary to the mental processes involved, rather than the other way around. The majority of current research efforts seem to support this premise.⁽⁷⁾

     Homo Sapiens is not a weak, mutation-ridden species. Abnormalities do occur but they are statistically rare and usually lethal. A robust, well-adapted species, such as ours, is hardly going to be rife with genetic flaws in the vast numbers necessary to account for all of the suggested connections to such things as emotional problems, shyness, aggression, addiction, etc. Hair color, certainly, but alcoholism - ridiculous. Even though over half of the 100,000 genes in the human genome direct the development of the brain and central nervous system, this is not nearly enough to code for subtle complex behavioral traits in humans. Genes code for only the general parameters for the development of the brain and CNS. The "fine tuning" of specific characteristics unique to each individual is completely the result of environment and experience. A recent news article quoted Harvard medical researchers as saying: "What wires the brain is repeated experience . . . experience is the chief architect," and that critical early windows, requiring certain types of input to create or stabilize certain long-lasting structures, occur during the first ten years of life (the majority by age 6, with the first three years being the most critical to personality formation).⁽⁸⁾  Another such article reported that Michael Meany, biologist at McGill University, has demonstrated experimentally that early experience can actually alter the genetic makeup and can even determine how the genes that code for brain receptor chemistry are expressed.⁽⁹⁾

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     It is actually irrelevant, to a large extent, what the outcome of such research turns out to be with regard to the practice of psychotherapy due, in part, to a physiological phenomenon known as plasticity, due also to the unique two-way reversibility of many psychosomatic processes, and due to the fact that the mental and physical (somatic) aspects of brain function actually represent the two ends of a cause/effect continuum. These concepts are somewhat difficult to explain, since the dividing line between the classifications of mental and physical has become less and less distinct.

     Ultimately, of course, all mental processes are biochemical in nature. Our genes carried instructions which directed the structural development of our brains. They also encoded for the development of the complex interlocking biochemical mechanisms which are the basis of neural function. These mechanisms are self-regulating through information feeding back from our bodies and coming in from our senses. They can also be affected by our thoughts and feelings.

     Stress is caused by circumstances and events which involve change and produce anxiety and psychic tension (see appendix c). It affects behavior and health, both physical and mental, when the proper mechanisms for dealing with it are faulty or absent. Endogenous (internally originating) stresses, such as existential tension within the personality and script imperatives, as we shall see, drive our life scripts at fairly predictable levels of severity, unless there is a rapid recent accumulation of exogenous (externally originating) stress. These external stresses may be probabilistic (random life events) or they may be precipitate (unconsciously created by not-OK parts of our own personalities). A fully developed, healthy, and emotionally balanced personality copes successfully with difficult and painful experiences, permitting resolution of stress-induced tensions before they build to harmful levels. Unfortunately, this seems to be the exception, rather than the rule, in contemporary western society.

     For the majority of us, the failure of the socialization process to evolve to meet the demands of this high-speed, high-tech, post-industrial information age has resulted in some degree of dysfunctional development within the personality. This is especially true with regard to the Emotional Self, and the result is the accumulation of unhealthy levels of internal tension from inadequate stress management. The physical and mental manifestations of stress decompensation may appear as physical deterioration and/or illness from compromised bodily defenses. The aggravation of behavioral lifescript tendencies may also result which, in turn, increases the malignancy of functional and interpersonal difficulties. Stress reduction techniques can lessen these effects but the tendency toward their development remains. Some form of psychotherapy is usually necessary in order to eliminate the underlying dysfunction and establish effective coping skills. If we are limited solely to mainstream approaches and methodologies, then even this may prove ineffective.

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     Medical science has long recognized that certain mental states, those in which unresolved stress is allowed to accumulate excessively, can give rise to actual physical illness, the so-called psychosomatic (or psychophysiological) phenomena. For example, it is known that chronic anxiety produces changes in the lining of the stomach, changes in its muscular activity, and an over production of digestive acid, facilitating the development of a bacterial infection which leads to the formation of gastric ulcers. We also know that the brain possesses the ability to change itself. The loss of some somatic function, as occurs when part of the brain dies from a stroke or is removed surgically or when there is sensory loss, such as blindness, may precipitate processes which reassign function to other areas of the brain. This phenomenon is known as plasticity and is a capacity that is greatest when we are young, though some reorganizational capacity persists throughout life.

     What we are only just now beginning to discover the physical evidence for, is the vast scope of psychosomatic processes and the fact they can be made to work in reverse order. It is well known, for example, that the quality of a patient's mood, will, and outlook can have enormous impact upon health and healing. It has only recently become evident, however, that psychosomatic is no longer just asthma, ulcer, hypertension, migraine, etc. A recent college-level text on Abnormal Psychology states: "Almost any physical disorder, from cancer to the common cold, can be, to some extent, psychophysiological."⁽¹⁰⁾  The body's defense and repair systems are the areas where our feelings most directly impact the state of our health.

     The brain directs the immune system by producing messenger chemicals, neuropeptides, that stimulate the production of defense cells, such as macrophages, which destroy invaders. These and related immune cells, which, by the way, are also responsible for destroying malignant cells when they form, secrete other messenger chemicals which communicate back with the brain in elaborate feedback pathways, directing the fight against infectious agents and metabolic errors like cancer.⁽¹¹⁾

     Similar processes are involved with the body's repair mechanisms which correct damage and deterioration, such as that seen in cardiovascular disease. When the mind is depressed, the processes of the brain are, by definition, affected. Since these processes regulate the functioning of everything else, it follows that mental depression and the repression of powerful emotional issues can cause or aggravate physical disease and speed up the deterioration of aging, by compromising the body's defense and repair mechanisms. From all of this, we can see that our emotional balance has a profound effect upon our health, both mental and physical, and therefore, upon the length of our life spans.

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     Just as mental disharmony can cause or aggravate disease, proper emotional balance and internal harmony can not only promote good overall health; it can also help to correct existing pathological processes. Advanced treatment centers are currently practicing a form of psychosomatic therapy, called Behavioral Medicine, which utilizes techniques very similar to the visualization process (which is described in section II of this book for helping mediate personal growth and change) to combat life-threatening illness. Patients with cancer and coronary artery disease are taught to create mental images of turning on their body's defense and repair functions and to envision them carrying out their jobs, attacking and correcting pathology at the diseased sites. Significant increases in recovery and survival are being seen.

     A major turning point in my thinking began with the realization that the mind and brain are not only the ultimate directors of bodily function and arbiters of physical health, but that they are, in addition, their own best self-regulating and repair mechanisms. From this, it seems to logically follow that the most appropriate and most promising possibilities for correcting psychological disturbances lie in promoting and developing the ability to consciously influence these processes. This is fortuitous, since the almost unimaginable complexity of the brain virtually precludes physical intervention, given the present level of our understanding and technology.

     At the current state-of-the-art, even utilizing computerized techniques, brain surgery is still in a state of stone-age like crudity when compared with the structural complexity of the organ upon which these procedures are perpetrated. Whereas, neurosurgery can be of some benefit with certain physical maladies, like aneurysm and epilepsy, this will probably never prove to be a viable approach to emotional difficulties. With the ill-considered prohibition on the use of entactogens and perceptatropics, we are left with only the standard arsenal of psychotropic maintenance drugs for medicinal therapy. These are clumsy tools at best, and are, more often that not, blunt and barbaric weapons; the only legitimate use of which should be as an extremely short-term adjunct to the control of life-threatening situations, until more humane and appropriate therapy can be brought into play. The deliberate application of electric shock to a human brain should be made a criminal offense of malicious aggravated assault and battery most heinous.

     It is my belief that the most efficacious of future approaches to the correction of mental and emotional difficulties will be based in the more compassionate and holistic types of techniques, like those outlined in this and other such books, whereby, the mind is taught how and encouraged to heal itself. Our children must learn to understand the importance, care, and feeding of each of their Physical, Emotional, Intellectual, Animal, and Spiritual Selves. They should know how their personality is organized and how what they do with what they think and feel affects the state of their mental and physical health and the quality and direction of their lives. Parents should be shown how their own emotional well-being and behavior affects that of their offspring and how these things affect the destiny of those children - what type of adult life experience they can expect. When problems do develop, those that suffer must be taught how to bring about their own healing.

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     Neurophysiological research is fascinating and of immense importance, but, in order for a suffering person to begin to take part in the healing process, it is not necessary for that individual to understand, in intricate detail, the exact biochemical mechanisms by which thoughts and feelings, themselves biochemical events, influence other chemical and physical changes in the brain which, in turn, produce further mental and behavioral phenomena within the person's sphere of experience. It is enough that he or she have a basic understanding that such things do, in fact, occur and develop the ability to visualize being able to control those types of processes through the use of analogical imagery.

     Imagine, for instance, that some thoughts have a certain sound that, with repetition and reinforcement, become the equivalent of a form which can then affect physical reality in much the same way as we understand, for example, that sound in motion, such as the echo of a voice across a mountain valley, has been observed to be able to trigger an avalanche. With this or similar imagery devices we can begin the see how the sealing-off or repressing of parts of our personalities; of fears, insecurities, or upsetting experiences from childhood; and of other information with powerful emotion content could result in the trapping of tremendous destructive forces.

     This psychic pressure cooker triggers cascades of neurochemical reactions, affecting health and behavior, which, if they persist over time, can lead to structural accommodations within the brain, causing changes in the type of processing for certain thoughts and feelings in the future. By the same token, acknowledgment and resolution of issues in those hidden stores of toxic mental energy, the pursuit of learning and activities aimed at restoring harmony and balance to the personality, and going forward to live in such a way that needs are constructively met, will act to influence the underlying biochemistry and physiology in positive directions so that healing may occur naturally.

     One of the great pioneers in the study of the mind, Carl Jung, stated: "The most significant task facing the individual is the achievement of harmony between the conscious and the unconscious mind."⁽¹²⁾  It is clear to me that the most significant impediment to the maturation of humanity as a whole and to the resolution of the difficulties we face is our failure to recognize and address these issues and the failure of our institutions to evolve in such a way that this is possible. The most pertinent challenge to the world society of the new millennium is to find a way to make this happen.

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     Finally, let me say that there has been no attempt to undermine or impugn the validity or the importance of medical and scientific knowledge with this book. I am not repudiating my training or forsaking my scientific roots. On the contrary, being an explorer by nature, I will probably always be a scientist at heart. Science is the interface between imagination and reality and legitimate science has my fascinated attention and unqualified support.

     I am, however, strongly opposed to bad science and the abuse of the fruits of research. The passing-off of unsubstantiated conjecture as fact, misrepresenting data to support pet theories, and the ugly entrenched inertia which would stifle the new in favor of the familiar, are anathema to me. I oppose pessimism and the attempt to place limits upon possibility by those with special interests and personal agendas and by those who, having lost the will to achieve, squat in their ruts, perched upon their laurels, while devoting their sedentary efforts toward halting the forward motion of the world around them out of a fear of having the futility of their existence exposed, rank and stagnant, either to their own consciences or to the eyes of others.

     Let us avoid the temptation to engage in some form of the Blemish game here, searching out some small flaw or mistake with which to reject the whole in order to keep some false self-image blind to the need for change. Rather, let us take heart in the hopeful prospect of a better tomorrow which these ideas suggest, bringing new meaning to the concept of mind over matter and promising great expectations to those of you who care enough to dare to make a difference.