Does Our Brain Control Us?

Are we ruled by our body or our minds? Scientists and doctors have studied for years about the correlation between our physical bodies ruling us, and health. Fewer studies have been done about the power of our minds to cause our ailments. However, we are moving into a more enlightened age and now there is a great deal of research regarding our minds.

For the person with psychological problems, battered women, abused children and poorly-parented children there is information coming to light about the affect of their disabilities in relation to their experiences.

You cannot walk away from a bad childhood, or traumatic adult occurrences without paying a price that will stay with you all your life. Each person of course will have a severity that depends on their strength or intelligence, and capability to overcome problems.

There is a malady called Hyper-vigilance Syndrome that shows definite corollaries between painful childhood experiences and how we react in adulthood. The childhood symptoms or experiences are, among others, sexual abuse, neglect, physical abuse, poor parenting and domestic violence in the home.

These are the disorders found in adults who had these childhood experiences: fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, depression and as much of a surprise as it may seem, allergies, chronic fatigue and panic disorder.

Our brains are coded when we are too young to even respond to much stimuli. Researchers are finding that the problems adult have cannot be medicated or done away with by therapy. These problems are hard-wired into our brains. Our brain "becomes" in childhood and those wires stay through our older years.

Why? This is still a mystery even to scientists. The thinking is, a child does not receive the same attention from abusive or neglectful parents and the brain is not wired in the same way as other children. Learned responses were never stimulated. A child must receive attention and stimulation to form its thinking patterns.

If the brain is left empty of proper input, there is no development of things such as honesty, morals, conscience and the ability to determine if their behavior is proper. A woman once told her psychiatrist that her parents were completely neglectful and never "taught" her anything. She took her learning from the television watched constantly. Mimicking becomes a disturbed person's ally. When they aren't sure how to react, they mimic the behavior of others. If those others happen to be bad people, there will be bad behavior learned.

Let's take a look at hyper-vigilent. A survivor of domestic violence, an adult, walks down the street toward the store. She may seem perfectly normal, but if you look closely, her hands may be held in defense posture - ready to fly up and defend. Many abuse survivors wear backpacks for this reason. They want to be ready when trouble comes. Sounds a bit much? It isn't. It's fact. The person's eyes seek everywhere...not just watching where they are going, but being on guard for "wrong" things. They fear their abusers coming upon them unawares. Many watch for hiding places they can quickly get to if necessary.

There is definitely a connection between brain and body. The brain has the capacity to modulate itself in many ways, not all of them healthy. We are at the mercy of those who raise us, who key in our coding by their actions or lack of action. By their love or withholding of their love. That is why childhood is a time utmost importance. These are the years in which we become ourselves. . . for good or bad.