新山《内在疗愈工作坊》 - 9/7/2017

近日的<内在疗愈工作坊>写下句点。
很感恩我的合作伙伴思坊创办人林利容的用心规划与支持。
利容姐的正能量让我深深体会到助人陪伴者最需要的还是那颗爱心。

爱真的是最伟大的解药，爱中有疗愈！

最近很荣幸美国催眠与夢學權威專家，美国心理协会（APA）心理催眠前主席愿意给予技术上的帮助，让我更有信心推出接下来的工作坊。小小声的说，真的是让我太兴奋了！

Mood Management Workshop @ Kota Tinggi

Brainwaves Analysis Assessment

Mood Management Workshop @ Kota Tinggi

Thanks for all the participants and volunteers who made our event succeed.

Special thanks to Madam Lim for serving as mentors and leaders for this workshop.

Contact us if you would like to conduct corporate health talk for your company.

[Event] Mood Management Workshop @ Life Care Diagnostic Medical Centre

Mood Management Workshop Module 1 - Brainwaves Analysis 

This workshop was led by registered clinical hypnotherapist and psychologist Hiro Koo. We have explored various techniques and strategies to best manage mood and stress issue.

This workshop also emphasize approaches for managing mood and brain arousal level. We have discussed a range of brainwaves pattern and how they relate to our emotion and stress level. 

Module 1 is also meant for the first step of healing:
Make your subconscious mind (brainwaves) conscious, so you can control your mood and life.

14-day gratitude challenge - You will notice more of the good things in the world

We need gratitude more than ever

When we’re feeling discouraged, alone, anxious, or angry, it’s hard to be grateful.

We know we’re supposed to feel grateful. It’s Thanksgiving-time after all. But you may be having a hard time tapping into gratitude right now.  Our country is in turmoil, leaving us with a heaviness that’s hard to shake. Or maybe you’re overwhelmed with personal problems. Or perhaps you’re struggling with the extra work, financial hardship, or family turmoil that the holidays can bring.

Gratitude doesn’t always come easy

Sometimes we have to work at feeling grateful. But it’s a worthwhile practice.

There are a lot of good reasons to make a daily gratitude practice part of your life. According to Happify, people who practice gratitude regularly “experience more positive emotions, feel more alive, sleep better, express more compassion and kindness, and even have stronger immune systems.”

Practicing gratitude is simple, quick, effective, and free. There aren’t many things that can claim that!

Gratitude brings us back to the present

Instead of worrying about the future, gratitude reminds us of the here and now. Gratitude helps us focus on what’s good, on what’s working rather than what’s not.

Gratitude shifts the focus from problems to positives. When we focus on the good things in our lives, we train our brains to look for the positives. So, by practicing gratitude we will notice more of the good things in the world. Our problems don’t disappear, but they can feel more manageable.

A gratitude challenge

Even when you think gratitude might be helpful, it can still be hard to get started. The following gratitude journal prompts can help spark some ideas. Start small and gradually challenge yourself to find something to be grateful about even in life’s challenges. Write as much or as little as you want, but do try to be consistent so you begin to build the habit.

For the next 14 days, answer the question: “I am grateful for ____________” using each of these prompts. And feel free to add your own and keep the practice going after you’ve done the 14 listed.

1. Something in nature
2. A person
3. Something I can see
4. A hobby
5. Something I only do at the holidays
6. A gift I’ve been given
7. Something about my health or body
8. Something I’ve done to help others
9. A possession
10. A happy memory
11. Something that keeps me safe
12. Something that makes my life easier
13. A talent
14. A favorite food

If you take the 14-day gratitude challenge, I’d love to have you add your answers in the comments below. I hope you find it to be a beneficial exercise for bringing more hope and contentment into your life.

Source: http://blogs.psychcentral.com/imperfect/2016/11/practice-gratitude-journal-when-discouraged/

Newsletter Yakult Live! (October 2016 Issue) "Watch what you eat - it affects your mood!"

Newsletter Yakult Live! (October 2016 Issue) 

"Watch what you eat - it affects your mood!" by Hiro Koo

Let's us examines the biophysiological processes that explain how our environment and what we put in our body affects our mood. 

This article is not providing nutritional advice but a psychoeducation. 

Psychoeducation is not a type of therapy but rather, a specific form of education.

Welcome to join our facebook discussion group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1000059210106659/

 

 

Beating depression the natural way - EEG biofeedback training

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) is important for "cognitive" and "executive" functions such as working memory, intention formation, goal-directed action, abstract reasoning, and attentional control. It is also known that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) plays an important role in top-down regulation of emotional processing as part of the more extensive cognitive network that is also critically involved in emotion regulation, particularly by distraction from the emotional stimulus. This dlPFC is important for the reappraisal/suppression of negative affect and a defect in this regulation of negative affect due to a dysfunction of the dlPFC appears to play a very important role in clinical depression. 

Modification of a negative attentional bias by cognitive training alters dlPFC activity in response to emotional stimuli and this is likely the primary result of successful treatment by means of cognitive and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapies. AThe results of a recent study examining the effects of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the left dlPFC on temporary reduction of negative attentional bias during learning in depressed versus non-depressed college students supports the suggestion that tDCS may actually enhance the learning of cognitive-behavioural therapeutic strategies.

 While there is some strong evidence suggesting that a reduction in dlPFC activity and/or over-activity of the vmPFC may play a major role in the development of depression brain imaging studies continue to reveal other areas of the brain that are also involved in depressed mood and suggest that depression is largely a result of reduced activation/metabolism in a number of brain areas and reports of increased activation of any particular brain area have not consistently been associated with depression. Anxiety, on the other hand, correlates with increased regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in posterior cingulate and bilateral inferior parietal lobules. Since comorbid depression and anxiety are quite common, it is important to recognize the different areas that are activated or inhibited by both depression and anxiety.

Electroencephalographic (EEG) studies have largely confirmed these findings by demonstrating increased alpha (8-12 Hz) EEG relative power in the left frontal regions of the brains to be associated with dysthymia and major depressive disorder (MDD) as well as the onset of depression in patients with damage to the left frontal lobe. Since alpha is generally viewed as a cortical idling rhythm and is inversely related to neuronal activity, increased left frontal alpha results in deactivation of the left prefrontal cortex and a functional dominance of the right prefrontal cortex. Indeed, a number of brain researchers have suggested a laterality of the brain’s affective system; with negative emotions having a bias in activating the right hemisphere and positive emotions activating the left hemisphere. The left frontal lobes may be considered to include an “approach behavior” circuit whereas the right frontal lobes may include an “avoidance-behavior” circuit. As the left becomes more active, we tend to see things as generally more interesting, more rewarding, more approachable (i.e., the cup as half-full). In contrast, activation of the right circuit causes us to see things as potentially more dangerous and less rewarding (i.e., the cup as half-empty). Brain research suggests that a person's mood may largely depend on which side of the prefrontal cortex is more active.

In this vein, Henriques & Davidson (1990, 1991) examined frontal EEG asymmetry in currently depressed versus never depressed individuals and found elevated left frontal alpha power in the depressed individuals. Other researchers have confirmed these findings as well as observing that individual differences in frontal asymmetry emerge early in life and are associated with individual differences in “approach-withdrawal” behavior and the “introversion-extroversion” personality dimension. Taken together, these findings suggest that EEG asymmetry marked by relative left frontal hypoactivation may be a biological marker of familial and, possibly genetic risk for mood disorders. 

EEG biofeedback or Neurofeedback is direct training of brain function, by which the brain learns to function more efficiently. We observe the brain in action from moment to moment. We show that information back to the person. And we reward the brain for changing its own activity to more appropriate patterns. This is a gradual learning process. It applies to any aspect of brain function that we can measure. Neurofeedback is also called EEG Biofeedback, because it is based on electrical brain activity, the electroencephalogram, or EEG. Neurofeedback is training in self-regulation. It is simply biofeedback applied to the brain directly. Self-regulation is a necessary part of good brain function. Self-regulation training allows the system (the central nervous system) to function better.
Neurofeedback addresses problems of brain disregulation. These happen to be numerous. They include the anxiety-depression spectrum, attention deficits, behavior disorders, various sleep disorders, headaches and migraines, PMS and emotional disturbances. It is also useful for organic brain conditions such as seizures, the autism spectrum, and cerebral palsy.

We offer brainwaves assessment service. It is a tool that designed to give the client’s subconscious mind a voice, and allow the Clinical Hypnotherapist to reveal the various underlying factors that shape the client’s cognitive abilities, emotional responses and automatic behavior. Contact us now for more info.


Source:
http://www.edmontonneurotherapy.com/treatment_depression.html
http://www.eeginfo.com/what-is-neurofeedback.jsp

Keeping Emotions in Check With Neurofeedback

Difficulty handling emotions and keeping them under control can cause various psychological issues, and may even lead to full-blown psychiatric problems. This is especially true in childhood. Trauma experienced in youth can contribute to later problems such as depression and anxiety. There are various techniques for helping people control their emotions. One of these is neurofeedback; a training method in which information about changes in an individual’s neural activity is provided to the individual in real-time. This enables the individual to self-regulate thier neural activity and produces changes in behaviour. While already in use as a treatment tool for adults, this method has not been used on young people until now. Researchers believe neurofeedback could help younger people by providing more efficient control of their emotions.

The new study used real time fMRI-based neurofeedback on a sample of kids. “We worked with subjects between the ages of 7 and 16,” explains SISSA researcher and one of the authors of the study, Moses Sokunbi. “They observed emotionally- charged images while we monitored their brain activity, before ‘returning’ it back to them.” The region of the brain studied was the insula, which is in the cerebral cortex.

The young participants could see the level of activation in the insula on a “thermometer” presented on the MRI projector screen. They were instructed to reduce or increase activation with cognitive strategies while verifying the effects on the thermometer. All of them learned how to increase insula activity, although decreasing was more difficult. Specific analysis techniques made it possible to reconstruct the complete network of the areas involved in regulating emotions (besides the insula) and the internal flow of activation. The researchers observed that the direction of flow when activity was increased reversed when decreased.

“These results show that the effect of neurofeedback went beyond the superficial- simple activation of the insula- by influencing the entire network that regulates emotions,” explains Kathrine Cohen Kadosh, Oxford University researcher and first author of the study. “They demonstrate that neurofeedback is a methodology that can be used successfully with young people.”

“Childhood and adolescence is an extremely important time for young people’s emotional development,” says Jennifer Lau, from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London, who has taken part in the study. “Therefore, the ability to shape brain networks associated with the regulation of emotions could be crucial for preventing future mental health problems, which are known to arise during this vital period when the brain’s emotional capacity is still developing.”

Source:

http://neurosciencenews.com/emotion-psychology-neurofeedback-3201/