March Read/5

Title: Untangling the Mind: Why We Behave the Way We Do

Author: George, David Theodore

Call Number: 152.4 G347U 2013

Subjects: Emotions; Neuropsychiatry; Neuropsychology

Number of Pages: 276

ISBN: 9780062127761

Book Description (from the front flap):

            We have a much greater understanding of human behavior now than we did just a few decades ago. Yet even with this greater understanding of the human mind, why we do what we do can sometimes seem like a mystery. People are often left with unsettling questions about their own (or others’) behavior.

            We ask ourselves, why did I make a spectacle of myself? Why am I so stressed? Why am I constantly so negative?

            In his years as a clinician, Dr. Ted George has been struck by how much easier it is for people to say they have a physical illness than it is to admit they feel out of control with an emotion-be it anger, fear, or depression. With a physical issue, you have the source of the problem in concrete terms, such as in a lab report, but with an emotional issue, it can be much harder to define what’s gone wrong. Untangling the Mind helps make sense of what’s happening-and why. With knowledge of how the brain translates sensory signals into emotions, you with increase your understanding of your own-and others’-behaviors. As you learn about your psychological and neurological makeup, you will begin to see new possibilities for optimism, motivation, and well-being.

            We can control our behavior and our feelings, no matter how much they may have ruled us in the past, and Dr George helps us know how. Once you understand the deeply rooted instincts that activate your emotions, you can live more peacefully, behave in ways that are more in keeping with the person you’d like to be, and enjoy your life more fully. And you’ll be better able to remain unaffected by the drama of other people’s emotional storms.

My Read:

            I found myself hooked and intrigued as I was turning the first pages on the very first day I checked out the book from the public library. As I finished the book I reviewed the questions the author lists in this interesting book and believed that if you read the book you might find some answers from this book for the following questions: “Why am I the way I am?” “Why do I behave this way?” “What produces an emotion?”

            David Theodore George is a psychiatrist and a neuroscientist. He borrows many his real life cases to introduce and educate the readers why people behave the way they do. He develops a model he calls PAG (PeriAqueductal Gray) model to explain the relationships between emotions and behaviors. Here is what the model looks like:

                                                                    PAG Model

Emotions	(Survival) Behaviors
Anger	Fight
Fear	Flight
Depression	Shutdown
Absence of Emotion	Predatory

            “Your senses are your primary survival tools Behavior is essential, too, but the survival response begins with information from your senses: a sight, sound, smell, thought, or memory.” (page 31) In the book the author talks about the pathways among the thalamus, the amygdala, and the cortex. “When you see an angry face, your thalamus delivers it almost instantly to the amygdala while sending it on a slower route to the cortex.” (page 51) The amygdala is the subconscious detection system and the cortex is where we think and reason. As one can see what is going to happen if the amygdala takes charge and doesn’t correspond with the thoughtful cortex. As if the emotion button is always on. “…Our brain has a propensity to focus more on negative sensory signals than on positive ones.” “A damaged amygdala can cause a person to misread facial expressions.” (page 52). And “Speed is of the essence.” (P104) If a message is sent and the right part of the brain receives it later and responds later than the amygdala that means the emotion charger takes over and the thoughtful part doesn’t have enough time to respond. It says it all on page 117: “A strong connection between the cortex and the amygdala is needed for people to be able to regulate feelings of fear.”

            I found the following saying in the book pretty helpful for the readers: “You reset by constantly reminding yourself that your reactions, your rheostat, can malfunction and need regular attention. You do this by instructing your ‘servant’ that the rheostat has to go back to normal. The servant, of course, is your thoughtful, cognizant brain.” (page 142)

As I read and reread this statement it reminds me of the reasons why we need to reflect frequently on the happenstances in our life: why, what, how, questions, answers, solutions and plans for the next best steps we are going to take.

            “One last thing. Despite all the neurological realities and evidence of hardwiring for our errant emotions, I believe that in most cases, treatment works.” (Page) For instance, in addition to the usual talk therapy and the antidepressants, there is the shock therapy, ECT (aka electroconvulsive therapy). The first and the most crucial and essential step is to acknowledge that you have a problem. Seek help from the professionals.

            One has to read the book to acquire the information and knowledge the author delivers and introduces. Chinese have a saying: one has to help oneself so the Heaven’s assistance will be delivered.

Reading this book opens my eyes and allows me to have a deeper thought about things happened around me. It also piques my curiosity about one thing: if science can help at the mental and physical areas then where the spiritual of ours comes from and how it would influence our life. Religion originated from the sought of the spiritual. What else? Meditation? Reflection?

            I wonder….