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A Mild Traumatic Brain Injury An Orphaned Disease, the Brains Ability To Change and the Benefits Of Meditation.
Dr. Peter Van Houten, is a graduate of UCSF Medical School, founder of the Sierra Family Clinic and co author of several books on yoga for health problems. He lectures on relaxation, meditation and its effects on the brain. He has a special interest in the brain, behavior and spiritual development.
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Interview with Dr. Peter van Houten
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]“Dr. Peter” shares how the focus has been on severe TBIs while often mild or moderated TBIs have been overlooked by the medical system. The person might have not lost consciousness at the time of the injury but nevertheless experiences drastic changes in behavior, health and day to day life. Often symptoms are being treated rather than looking at the underlying damage that caused the symptoms. He shares that it would be easy to experience patients as over emphasizing things that happen to them, that they are too sensitive or over playing their symptoms. Only when taking in the medical history one might discover that the onset of the health and behavioral issues occurred after a mild/moderate TBI, an injury no one picked up before.
The diagnosis of a TBI can come as a relief as well as the realizing that there is no magical thing offering a cure that one might have overlooked. To find out :“It is not a failure of character that they are not doing better.” Or “I am not crazy” is part of the learning. He has seen how higher functioning patients become disabled but have nothing to point to since it is an invisible disability. Depression might be subtle and mild but over time they lose interest and isolate. Some other changes might be in sleep patterns, appetite, mood and being less active and instead spending more time in front of computer and TV.
Recent research showed that the master gland of the body, the pituitary gland, can get injured in a TBI. Heightened sensitivity to sound, light, people, conversation can occur when neurons in the prefrontal lobes get damaged causing loss of the governing function over the limbic system. Pre injury the same stimulus was easily handled but is too much now.
Dr. Peter explains what happens to the brain when it experiences trauma. A blow to the head or a sudden acceleration-deceleration of the brain when the head is moved quickly (i.e. whip lash) can “bruise” the brain without having to have lost consciousness. The outer layer of the brain, the thinking part gets impacted. These brain cells can get damaged permanently. In this covering, gray matter of the brain is were the neurons that direct our ability to move and make decisions. If these cells do not respond normally we might experience a permanent deficit. He explains why we can’t think when we are emotional. With a TBI often the normal interaction between the executive, governing, higher functioning part of the brain, located in the prefrontal lobes and the emotional instinctual structure, the limbic system is interrupted. Normally the prefrontal lobes can override the limbic system. This makes it possible to control our emotions and stay focus even when something upsetting happens. With a TBI this governing ability can be lost and the person gets easily triggered causing for example anxiety or depression. They do not have the same ability to calm the limbic system without the normal functioning of the pre frontal lobes.
He describes long term effects of a TBI that he has observed in his patients. There might be changes in behavior and daily functioning such as sleep, appetite, mood, loss of interested, mild depression, isolation. Life “collapses in on themselves” over time. A blow to the head or a sudden acceleration-deceleration of the brain when the head is moved quickly (i.e. whip lash) can “bruise” the brain without having to have lost consciousness. The outer layer of the brain, the thinking part gets impacted. These brain cells can get damaged permanently. In this covering, gray matter of the brain is where the neurons that direct our ability to move and make decisions are. If these cells do not respond normally we might experience a permanent deficit.
He explains why we can’t think when we are emotional. With a TBI, often the normal interaction between the executive, governing, higher functioning part of the brain, located in the prefrontal lobes and the emotional instinctual structure, the limbic system is interrupted. Normally the prefrontal lobes can override the limbic system. This makes it possible to control our emotions and stay focused even when something upsetting happens. With a TBI, this governing ability can be lost and the person gets easily triggered causing for example anxiety or depression. They do not have the same ability to calm the limbic system without the normal functioning of the prefrontal lobes.
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