Did You Know that Your Emotional “Hot Buttons” Could Be Causing Your Bad Health?

Did You Know that Your Emotional “Hot Buttons” Could Be Causing Your Bad Health?

Determine Your “Stress Profile” with Phototherapy and Biofeedback

Paging through old photos can sure bring back memories. Some of the memories are pleasant and some not so. Some memories are downright traumatic. Yet, memories shape our lives today. These memories created our belief systems and sustain that belief system to this day. 

It might very well happen that our memories are causing us health problems today. 

Doesn't it make sense then to understand and make peace with our memories? 

Photo therapy has been around for many years. Essentially, it involves looking at photographs or other visual means, in order to evoke an emotional response. The emotional response, especially negative, is very valuable in determining our emotional "hot buttons". 

Everyone has "hot buttons" and these create the negative stress, or distress, that causes us health problems. It is not life events that cause us stress, but rather how we react to these events. Very few of us know our "Stress Profile" or our "Emotional Triggers". 

If we want to heal or even stay healthy, we had better know our "Stress Profile". 

Here is one way to scientifically determine a "Stress Profile", determine "Emotional Triggers", or maybe even develop a treatment plan for PTSD:

1. Find out about Phototherapy. See what others have done in the past.
2. Find out what Phototherapy tools are available or make your own. Sometimes paging through old family albums is helpful. Others have used magazine photos.
3. Use biofeedback or polygraph equipment to identify emotional arousal. The patient's body will react to a troubling photo, even if there is little or no dialogue or facial expression. When a person is emotionally activated, they perspire, especially on the palm of the hands. Biofeedback or polygraph devices use this skin perspiration to track emotional response. Some devices have analysis software to view easily the results.
4. Once a person knows their emotional triggers, they can deal with them. It might involve changing their belief system. Other times it might be helpful to desensitize gradually to troubling events. It might involve getting over resentment from the past. On the other hand, it might involve forgiving someone. Forgiving for health reasons is not for the offender. Forgiving reduces internal stress and promotes patient healing.

Takeaways:

• Negative stress, or distress, creates or prolongs sickness.
• Reducing stress promotes healing.
• Phototherapy with Biofeedback can be used to identify a person's "Stress Profile".
• A person can heal from the past and learn new and better ways.

For more information:

• PhotoTherapy Techniques: Exploring the Secrets of Personal Snapshots and Family Albums by Judy Weiser, PhotoTherapy Centre, 1999
• Phototherapy in Mental Health by David A. Krauss, et al. al., Charles C Thomas Pub Limited, 1983
• Magazine Photo Collage: A Multicultural Assessment and Treatment Technique by Helen B. Landgarten, Taylor & Francis Group, 1993
• Cardiac response to relevant stimuli as an adjunctive tool for diagnosing post traumatic stress disorder in Vietnam veterans by Blanchard EB, Kolb LC, Gerardi RJ., Behavior Therapy 1986; 17:592- 606.
• Mapping Trauma And Its Wake: Autobiographic Essays by Pioneer Trauma by Charles R. Figley, CRC Press, 2006 - See section around Lawrence C. Kolb, page 103

Some Biofeedback Tools available to the public:

 

· Mindplace Thoughtstream USB Personal Biofeedback

· GSR2 Home Biofeedback Unit

· CalmLink Biofeedback Software

· Wearable 'Q Sensor' Helps Monitor Stress Levels

 

Disclaimer - Article is for information only and is not medical advice.