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Neural pathway Formation

The brain is made up of literally billions of cells. These cells have numerous connections with other cells in the brain and body. Cellular or neuronal networks that are connected to other cell groupings are known as neuropath-ways. A neuropath-way is responsible for all behaviors, thought processes, emotions, and physiological experiences that a person may have.

Learning

There are five types of learning that an individual goes through. All of these types of learning impact how an individual responds to stress and influences whether one will develop an addiction or not.

Cognitive learning - Learning information that is retained either in short or long term memory. The process of transferring information from short term to long term memory where it can be recalled at a later time on demand and at will is called consolidation.

Emotional learning - Emotional learning is the process of associating specific emotional responses with other processes. For example, you may have come to associate a computer with emotional experiences that have come from viewing pornography, or you may have come to associate going to a morgue with feelings of depression and trauma. If this specific type of emotional learning has taken place, you can simply walk by a morgue and feel certain negative emotions without even going in.

Psychological learning - Psychological learning takes place when a person develops a specific psychological response to an external incident. For example, if your spouse begins to speak to you about things he/she would like you to change you may immediately become defensive. This is an example of psychological learning.

Biophysiological - This is learning that actually takes place at the cellular level. Examples of biophysiological learning included being able to perform specific athletic tasks, training yourself how to ride a bike, etc.

Spiritual learning - Spiritual learning takes place when an individual develops specific spiritual beliefs and responses that impact later choices. Certain spiritual responses also occur as a result of specific behaviors and choices that are made.

It is important to know that rarely if ever does one specific type of learning occur all by itself. Most of the time there is a great deal of interface that takes place between the different levels of learning. For example, if an individual experiences in a traumatic event he or she will experience this on a number of different levels. There will be specific thoughts that are experienced about how a certain stimulus is dangerous. This will also be experienced emotionally. This in turn will impact specific bodily functions. It is a well known fact that stress reduces the hand temperature in humans and increase heart rate.

Principles of Neural path-way Formation

- All learning is a result of neuropath-way formation.

- The more emotionally intense an experience is, the greater chance there is of learning taking place.

- The greater the repetition, the greater the learning.

- The longer the duration, the greater the learning.

- The more consistency that an individual places on a process, the greater the chances of learning takes place.

- Traumatic experiences and those that impact the pleasure center of the brain are highly emotional experiences, hence learning takes place very quickly.

- Addictive processes and traumatic reactions are learned processes but they are unhealthy processes. The good news is that more effective ways of dealing with the trauma and addiction can also be learned, thus enhancing ones choice.

Examples of neuropath way formation include learning to play an instrument, language skills, motor development and other positive processes. Negative neuropath way formations include anger problems, learned anxiety and phobias, learned helplessness, etc.

Addictions and traumas typically involve learning at most of these levels. In order for true healing to take place, re-learning at each of these levels must also take place. The more types of learning that take place, the greater the chances of healing there will be.

Cognitive-Neural Restructuring Therapy is a therapeutic model to help create healthier neural-pathways in your brain. Each of these areas of learning will be utilized. This will be done through a structured approach that will activate all of these processes.