When the brain’s fear center, the amygdala is wired with early memories of abandonment, we respond to current day experiences — the rudeness of the cashier, the friend who doesn’t return the call – as if they will die. Abandonment means death for primates, and the challenge is to rewire the hippocampus which puts the amygaloid terror into perspective, questioning that fear response. Depression seems like an illness of low stress, but it is actually a reflection of high stress, and that is why The Damage Control Tool is so powerful.

The point with this tool is to meet the brain where it is: in fear, in terror, which means the cortisol cascade is affecting focus and concentration so keeping it simple is key, and they giving ourselves what we all need, which is whatever mirrors a responsive parent, what they would do in that situation. That’s evolution for your, fitting with lock in key precision to calm the brain and return to states of well-being that increase the chances of survival in the long term.

So that’s where getting an index card or two can be quite the ticket. You write the words down:

I will not judge myself or others.

Minimize harm.

Know it will pass.

Then you repeat it out loud to another person 10 times. Then you do that again. Then you take a shower and shout it. Then you go for a walk and shout it and then you get back on the phone and say it to another person 10 times.  Then you start from the top and do it again. This is downloading the wiring of secure attachment, and such treatment needs to be combined with healthy lifestyles, good medical care, and the other four EBT tools, but it’s a great start.

So if you know someone who is depressed, let them know that it’s not them. It’s just a wire, and there is help. They are not alone, and get out your own index card and read those words to yourself, and to them. Downloading Mom is something the whole world needs right now, so why not start at home?

The discovery of survival circuits, how to identify them and reconsolidate them has been the missing link in the method, and the retreat will be a time for everyone to learn how to break these circuits. Today in a group at UCSF, we tackled them, and then tonight in a survival circuit group aimed at weight loss and clipping the cords to sugar addiction we did, too. The stunning work of Jeffrey Schwartz from UCLA contributed to this based on his work with OCD. So did Elizabeth Phelps from New York University, but it’s a great time to be alive, and have the power to arouse circuits of your choosing, and, then go about the business of weakening and breaking then. I hope you will be joining us for our most exciting retreat ever!

In researching the upcoming Wired for Joy (released June 15, 2010) I became convinced that Eudaimonia, “the goal of a good life is excellence in the pursuit of fulfillment of personal potentials in ways that further an individual’s purposes in living. The brain science is fascinating in that with sufficient activation of the left prefrontal cortex associated with positive emotions from eudonic reward, the activation of the right prefrontal cortex associated with negative emotions ceases. What’s more, Davidson, 2007 is associated with an insufficient joy response, not enough of that left prefrontal activation.

Yet you can easily check this brain science for yourself by walking into the kitchen, and take out a bowl of sugar. Scoop up a spoon of sugar and place it on your tongue. Let the sugar melt in your mouth. What would you do for that pleasure? How much pain would you tolerate to have THAT? Now try it another way. Bring to mind your true love, or a moment during the last day when you did something really hard, that you were in integrity even though it was hard. NOtice what happens in your body, that surge of . . . joy, and the way that the stress disappears . . . melts away. Odd how that it: we were born to be rewarded by being good.

How do you know you are in Brain State 5? Here’s the line-up!

1. You’re doing a Cycle and forget what it was about . . .

2. If someone told you that you were at 5, your response would not be printable.
3. You KNOW FOR SURE that you are gaining weight. Your stomach looks huge!
4. You forget all about the ETB Tools. Wired at 1? Forget it!!
5. Cravings for sugar . . . fat . . . and anything you can get your hands on.
6. Your body hurts, that ache of stress.
7. It’s 2 am and you’re not even tired. What about popping popcorn?
8. It’s 7 p.m. and you’re exhausted.
9. The thoughts in your head are nothing you would share with ANYONE!
10. You say: Do Not Judge. Minimize Harm. Know it will pass . . . and it does! It’s just a wire! COOL!

Wired for Joy! :

A Revolutionary Method for Creating Happiness from Within

is now available for Pre-order.  It will be shipped in June.

Click here to learn more

How can we prevent and treat depression? It may be moving toward neural circuit-based strategies. The circuits of how we process stress are laid down primarily during the first three years of life and during the later years, during stress. The point is to prevent depression and improve resilience but acquiring the tools to process stress with precision. I have spoken with so many physicians who say, “It is all about stress. We see a patient now and then who has a rare condition, but 80 percent of visit primary care visits are due to stress symptoms.”

It’s a new option. Instead of popping a pill, to break a few stress circuits, and prevent the stress buzzer from getting stuck on.

There is no question in my mind that the industry advantage, that they have addictive foods to sell and set it in front of people every chance they get, poses a public health risk, and I’m hopeful that some kind of flat playing field for whole foods will begin to appear.

In the last 20 years, use of cigarettes, alcohol and recreational drugs has decreased and obesity rates, credit card debt and anti-depressant rates have gone up. Without acquiring the tools to process stress effectively, we will be so desperate to do something about the extraordinary expense of stress-related conditions that we will start locking up every substance with high addiction potential.

What will be left out is a sense of freedom, that we can learn to soothe and comfort from within and create so much joy in our lives that we stop needing the various excesses. I don’t think one can legislate or negotiate with cravings. They are red hot drives, survival instincts, and now we are learning how to erase the circuits that fuel them. Stay tuned in the next few years. As the “overcontrol” forces come forward, my hope is that there is another force, which is to go to the roots of problems rather than skimming the surface and forcing people to change. I hope there is a “freedom first” movement to rewire the brain so that not just one of the excesses fade, but all of them do.

I was coming in to help Dean systematize his program so that it could be replicated in more centers. I learned a lot, particularly how to get at spiritual connection and the downstream chemical effects of it indirectly. Dean had introduced me to staff, but Jim and I still needed to meet, and I remember the occasion because quite quickly we connected, sharing that both methods were spiritually based. And he taught me a lot, including that “insight plus 5 cents give you a nickel” and the essence of merging which is that “If I take care of you then you will take care of me, then neither of us has to grow up.”

Jim has had health problems in recent years, but he was the emotional anchor behind Dean’s movement, and his wisdom permeates the method. Since then, awareness has gown that he was right all along, that the emotional brain changes by repeated experience — using the tools.

Bravo to Michelle Obama for taking on pediatric obesity. If only she had identified the role of stress in the condition. The method started with treating pediatric obesity and the Shapedown Program. A comprehensive approach to problems always offers important advantages. In 1993, I write the Childhood Obesity Clinton. I attended a fundraiser for then Candidate Clinton and it was a summer evening. It was held in a palatial home in San Diego and guest were scattered around the pool. Diane Feinstein was there, and other politicians. When President Clinton arrived there was lots of scurrying around, and after a while, when he was around the pool, I approached him. I talked with him for a good 10 minutes about pediatric obesity, and his agenda for the family.  He said, “If I am elected, I will advocate for you.”  Afterwards, I asked Marion Nestle, at the time my colleague at UCSF what to do and she said, “He told you he would advocate for you, so tell him what to do.” So I contacted other obesity experts and wrote these guidelines. What that doesn’t say is the role of stress in pediatric obesity. It’s all about stress, whether from genetics, health problems, school problems, and more, and I am very sad that Michelle has not dealt with the underlying cause. At this point I have written to her, but I can imagine she may be difficult to reach. Who can argue with good nutrition and physical activity, but the children who are already healthy and happy will be apt to benefit more than those who are in stress. So those she most wants to help are those who will be apt to be least helped by the plan.

I’m hopeful that her new life as a child obesity advocate will be a learning experience. She’s not dealing with stress, but I’m hopeful that she will either catch on to that need or pass it by for now, and identify it on the second round. It is hard for me to imagine taking on pediatric obesity without seeing that the problem is the drive to overeat, and these kids need the tools to connect with themselves. Their parents need support in honoring how difficult it is to parent these days, and to get the tools to pop to 1 where it is easier to set limits and nurture, and really connect with kids.