Alpha-Theta Training for Chronic Trauma Disorder,
A New Perspective -- Section III. Toward A Synthesis

TABLE OF CONTENTS

III. TOWARD A SYNTHESIS
    A. A MULTILEVEL MATRIX
    B. COEX SYSTEM
    C. THE TRANSPERSONAL DOMAIN

TOWARD A SYNTHESIS
Section II of this chapter covered views of the effectiveness of neurotherapy from the viewpoint of generally accepted constructs in psychology, that is, varying states of arousal associated with different EEG frequencies, state- and context-dependent learning and memory, and effects of early stress and trauma on subsequent development and behavior. These perspectives on the effectiveness of the alpha-theta protocol seem to have common threads which lead to the possibility of a synthesis. To get to that point it is important to view these seemingly disparate approaches not as isolated viewpoints, but as parts of a system. In this section I attempt to do this by first discussing the concept of chronic trauma disorder.

Colin Ross (1989), an authority on multiple personality disorder (MPD), writes that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) should have a category for chronic trauma disorder, of childhood or adult onset, with and without MPD. This would be a hierarchical diagnosis of which currently disparate diagnoses are a part, with persons who had been most severely abused earlier in life and who developed dissociation as a defense becoming MPD. Those who were less severely traumatized (or less "gifted" at dissociation) might develop somatic symptoms, personality disorders, panic disorders, depression, and/or addiction, all probably exacerbated by genetic predispositions.

Ross (1989) analogized that chronic trauma disorder is a single field, with distinct regions. These different regions are called affective disorder, eating disorder, substance abuse, and so on. Numerous regions of the field can be activated simultaneously in a given patient. These subregions can occur in different combinations in different patients. From this point of view, chronic trauma disorder could be seen as a single diagnostic entity.

Following such reasoning, the core issue (the chronic trauma) may be hidden in one's unconscious, and may be viewed as permeating all levels of the self: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Thus, childhood trauma would become the source out of which multiple symptoms and disorders flow. Relatedly, results of acute trauma in adulthood would correspond to PTSD. Severity and chronicity of previous trauma could account for the varying severity and multiplicity of diagnoses seen in clients. Perhaps a core diagnosis of trauma disorder would be most appropriate, with modifiers of acute versus chronic, childhood versus adult onset, and with or without dissociative features.

We all have experienced some degree of trauma or "wounding." That is, we all were born small, helpless, and dependent in a world of giants who controlled our lives and abused some of us. How could we escape some trauma at an age where we may not have been permitted, or had the opportunity, to process events of emotions and, in most cases, were not capable of processing them had we been allowed to? So, in this view, each of us carries with us core issues based on earlier trauma that helped form the foundation of present and future patterns of beliefs, reactions, and emotions. The more deeply wounded carry with them repressions that manifest themselves as symptoms leading to multiple psychiatric diagnoses.

In the following paragraphs I attempt to explain how the alpha-theta neurofeedback protocol may be effective in overcoming or ameliorating trauma disorder. In doing this, there will be some reiteration and elaboration of ideas presented in Section II, along with introduction of some additional ideas mainly from the field of transpersonal psychology.

A. A MULTILEVEL MATRIX

The Peniston protocol (Peniston & Kulkosky, 1989), initially focusing on the reduction to elimination of addiction, has, in my opinion, created a multilevel matrix approach that can simultaneously treat multiple diagnoses such as affective disorders, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorders, personality disorders, and some somatic complaints along with addiction. As shown in graphic form in Fig. 13.1, 1 perceive these disorders as ranging along a horizontal continuum. Juxtaposing certain aspects of self-the unconscious, physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, and transpersonal aspects in this case-along a vertical axis creates a multilevel matrix describing the potential reach of this protocol. Computerized EEG feedback, a therapeutic relationship between patient and clinician and the imagery of desired outcome, succeeds in interfacing technology with compassionate personal contact. I believe this protocol concurrently affects the physical addictions, the underlying neurological conditions, psychological states, and the client's spiritual nature.

Major details of the dynamics of this matrix of intervention may be further understood by considering concepts such as COEX systems, and various concepts from the transpersonal domain.

FIGURE 13.1 The Peniston protocol creates a multilevel matrix of intervention with its horizontal axis of diagnoses and presenting problems and its vertical axis of levels of the Self and Self connected to All That Is.

B. COEX SYSTEM

In deeply altered states, when people experience abreactions and flashbacks, they are encountering what some refer to as the psychodynamic realm. These experiences are associated with and derived from material from the subject's life, particularly from emotionally highly relevant events, situations, and circumstances. They seem related consistently to important memories, problems, and unresolved conflicts from various periods of the individual's life since early childhood. These flashbacks can take the form of reliving memories of traumas not accessible in normal states of consciousness. The memories may take the form of a variety of experiences that reflect unconscious material in the form of symbolic disguises, distortions, and metaphorical allusions, often presenting as hypnogogic imagery that seems to spring into consciousness from unconscious sources. This concept relates to the writings of Stanislav Grof (1976, 1980, 1985) and his work at the National Institute of Mental Health with LSD psychotherapy, another consciousness-altering type of therapy used in the 1950s and 1960s until the drug was scheduled by the federal government. Grof offers the principle of specific memory constellations, for which he has used the name COEX systems (systems of condensed experience). A COEX system can be defined as a specific constellation of memories from different life periods of the individual. The memories belonging to a particular COEX system have a similar basic theme or contain similar elements, and are accompanied by a strong emotional charge of related quality. The deepest layers of this system are believed to be represented by vivid memories of experiences from the period of birth, infancy, and early childhood, and seem to represent a summation of the emotions belonging to all the constituent memories of a particular kind. A given individual can have several COEX systems. Entering the deeper state evoked by alpha-theta neurofeedback training, with its apparent access to deeper layers of repressed emotion, perhaps affords one the opportunity to confront certain COEX systems containing unprocessed energies related to past trauma (state-dependent retrieval).

In "normal" or waking consciousness, in both our internal and external perceptions, we experience ourselves as existing within the boundaries of our physical body and are confined by the usual spatial and temporal boundaries. We vividly experience our present situation and our immediate environment. We recall past events and anticipate the future. We live in our "life drama." In the training with feedback tones of a computerized EEG, as the patient obtains deep alpha and theta states, there appears to be a disidentification with the "ego self." It is within this state that many of our clients spontaneously report experiences of flashbacks of earlier forgotten and traumatic times, events that may have been etched in memory systems because of their perceived survival value. From this detached state, the intensity of the emotional reaction is greatly lessened. "Ego bracing" is lessened to eliminated. In this state, which I call "suspended animation," with the encounter with suppressed material facilitating inner resolution of the earlier trauma, the personality system seems to move to a higher order of functioning (White & Martin, 1998).

As noted earlier, COEX systems are said to be specific constellations of memory accompanied by strong emotional charges of related quality. When consciously accessed, affect related to traumatic memories may be discharged (catharsis) and neurochemistry modified in a positive manner. When trauma is "released" in this manner, it may make it possible for new, more desirous "programs" to be entered into the "unconscious" by way of the prescribed, intentional imagery involved in the alpha-theta protocol.

If one ascribes to the theory of chronic trauma disorder and to the idea that, as children and perhaps as adults, all of us have lived on a continuum of actual or perceived abuse, we all may have a need to explore related COEX systems. What causes one to experience test anxiety or fear of talking before groups? What causes the athlete to clutch in that moment when ultimate performance is needed? Could it be anxiety of many possible etiologies, most of which involve childhood adaptations? Many peoples' lives show evidence of excessive fear of not being good enough, an obsessive need to prove oneself, extreme need for approval, a perceived need to perform extremely well, a need to be loved and accepted at any cost, or a need to be number one, all possibly growing out of some early trauma related sense of inadequacy and low self-confidence. While there could be as many degrees and specific causes of these as there are people and childhoods, alpha-theta neurofeedback may, for the reasons suggested earlier, have value in most such cases.

To summarize Section III thus far, alpha-theta neurotherapy seems to enhance the ability of the brain to shift state. By encouraging the brain to move toward the lower end of the arousal continuum, the protocol may access theta state-dependent memories of early traumas, which when retrieved, can be altered in a positive way, with accompanying positive changes in neurochemistry.

C. THE TRANSPERSONAL DOMAIN

While the preceding paragraphs are an attempt to synthesize several views on dynamics of neurofeedback, no examination of the effectiveness of the alpha-theta protocol would be complete without commenting on the transpersonal realm reportedly often encountered using this protocol. Observations of the transpersonal realm are beginning to suggest that consciousness is involved in the so-called material world in ways previously unimagined (Grof, 1993). Amit Goswami (1993), professor of physics at the University of Oregon, even offers the premise that consciousness creates the material world. In any event, the material world and the world of consciousness and creative intelligence, rather than being from two distinctly different realms with discrete boundaries, appear to be engaged in a constant dance, their interplay forming the entire fabric of existence. This is echoed by physicist Nick Herbert, in his book Quantum Reality (1985), and is a notion that is being confirmed in research by others in modern physics, biology, thermodynamics, information and systems theory, and other branches of science (Grof, 1993). Out of his government research with 4,000 patients in LSD psychotherapy in controlled settings and a further 20,000 "Holotropic Breathwork" sessions with people from all walks of life, Stanislav Grof, M.D., formerly a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, offers a cartography of inner space that transcends linear space and time and includes, but goes beyond, one's individual biographical domain to the transpersonal such as out-of-body experiences, spirit guides, visions of light, sense of being pure energy in the cosmos, and so on. In general, this realm moves beyond the Newtonian cause-and-effect world and parallels ancient views of human consciousness that have existed for millennia. Philosopher and writer Aldous Huxley called this the "perennial philosophy." There are parallels with shamanism, the great spiritual philosophies of the East (such as different systems of yoga), various schools of Buddhism or Taoism, the mystical branches of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and with many other esoteric traditions of all ages. This mystical reality is said to bring knowledge and insight from sources beyond, and can happen in an altered state if the barriers separating self from nonself become fluid, and the imagination reaches beyond the intellect (Achterberg, 1985). Related to this, it is not unusual for some neurotherapy patients to report experiencing an "inner guidance." This takes many forms, on a continuum from deep insight to the sense of another being or animal appearing to them.

Among the transpersonal experiences reported by many alpha-theta neurofeedback patients, three concepts seem to be especially common and facilitative of major positive change. The first of these is what some have called the "witness consciousness." In this phenomenon the client appears to be transported into a suspended, objective state wherein he or she experiences an observing self. Deepak Chopra (1989, 1993) offered a metaphor for this type of process with a verse from an ancient Indian Upanishad: "A man is like two doves sitting in a cherry tree. One bird is eating of the fruit while the other silently looks on." This dimension of self seemingly is able to experience and perceive a "bigger picture" of any original trauma, enabling the patient to perceive from a broader domain and experience less judgment and more acceptance. This capacity to go beyond the pain of the original trauma seems to allow one to release and discharge prior unexpressed emotional pain. There seems to be a carryover when the patient returns to what one might call "normal" waking consciousness, with one then living more in a state of acceptance of "what is" rather than how one wishes it to be, and more able to "let go" of unwanted thoughts and feelings.

A second concept is the "resource self." This seems to be an aspect of the witness consciousness although there is a different quality to the experience. Whereas the witness consciousness could be defined more as an "observing self" that watches with interest and without judgment, the resource self is experienced as the personal adult self available to the child being abused in the abreactive flashback situation and becomes "his" or "her" champion and rescuer. In essence, it seems the individual incorporates the protective and nurturing "inner parent" for representing/rescripting his life. A part of self thus is reclaimed that is not the victim and can take care of and care for oneself.

The third concept is that of the "inner healer." The deeply altered state of consciousness that some neurotherapy practitioners term the "theta" state may also produce this inner healer that "targets" somatic issues, strengthens the immune system, and, otherwise, physically energizes the subject (Schummer, 1995).

One middle-aged professional man, who had no prior experience of the transpersonal realm, reported during treatment that he had experienced a guide that he referred to as his "higher power," which appeared in different guises. Initially his guide appeared as a hawk. Frequently, the guide appeared as a Native American who told him he was his great, great, great grandfather (who was known to have been an American Indian). In one alpha-theta session, the hawk reportedly appeared to him and took him on its wings and soared out into the cosmos. From there, the hawk pointed out the earth to him and then the pinpoint that was his home. He explained to him the insignificance of his local reality in comparison to the vastness of the cosmos. No sooner had he absorbed this idea, than he claimed he was quickly propelled to earth where he was taken to the microcosm world of the earthworm. It was then explained to him the significance and importance of all things. Truth is often found in paradox (White & Martin, 1998). This same man had had a difficult relationship with his father for most of his life. They were not close and he did not understand his father and his coldness. During one session, he was "taken back" in time to where he reported experiencing that he was his father as a child. He returned to normal waking consciousness with a new understanding and compassion for his father (White & Martin, 1998). Again Grof (1993) confirms this: ". . . people in non-ordinary states have reported that they experienced episodes occurring long before their own conceptions. For example, many report being able to enter the consciousness of their parents during their mother's and father's childhoods and to experience through their parent's consciousness events from that time."

To help understand these transpersonal experiences that seem to positively alter attitudes and create healings, one might turn to quantum physics, which claims reality is an undivided wholeness and that, in spite of its obvious partitions and boundaries, the world in actuality is a seamless and inseparable whole (Herbert, 1985; Capra, 1975). Similarly, the English physicist David Bohm states that one is led to a new notion of unbroken wholeness, which denies the classical analyzability of the world into separately and independently existing parts. The inseparable quantum interconnectedness of the whole universe is the fundamental reality (Bohm, 1983). On the other hand, one might consider such experiences simply as akin to dreams experienced in the altered state of sleep that, nevertheless, appear to facilitate positive behavioral change. Perhaps these phenomena also could be conceived of as resulting from neurofeedback-induced changes in neurochemistry. In any event, they often are reported and seem to be important correlates of successful healing experiences.

The alpha-theta neurotherapy protocol may recapitulate the Hero's journey (Campbell, 1988) where life sends us on our odyssey from the warmth of the oneness and safety of the womb (naivet6) to experience the "sacred wounding" of the young child, to the adult's healing of the wounds and the insightfulness that follows that healing, to the return to more conscious oneness with conscious knowing (maturity). This is a cycle in which the external journey becomes the journey inside the self, spiritually and psychologically, perhaps returning to the center of our own existence.

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