The Triangle of Well-being is made up of three vertices consisting of the mind, interpersonal relationships and the brain. The harmony of integration is present to us, revealed as empathic relationships, a coherent mind and an integrated brain. The brain is the mechanism for the flow of energy and information throughout the nervous system distributed throughout the body.
Interpersonal relationships are the sharing of the flow of energy and information. Mind is the embodied or embodied or even embodied, relational process that regulates the flow of energy and information.
Let us then look at what the flow of energy and information is: The movement through time of energy, and the swirls of energy, which have a symbolic value, representing something more than the pattern of energy flow alone. Energy and information can flow within the body (an embodied, embodied mechanism) and be transferred between people in relationships (sharing energy and information, which in itself is a relationship).
Mind can be seen as an emergent process that arises in the form of subjective experience (subjectivity) and self-organisation (regulation) as energy and information flow within and between people. Even more clearly, information is patterns of energy that have meaning and "represent" or symbolise something other than energy itself. Information (according to Siegel, 2010) is a verb in the sense that it gives rise to further processing in cascades of linked associations and meanings that emerge over time. Siegel, an eminent professor of child, adolescent and adult psychiatry, as well as a specialist in adult attachment interviewing, psychotherapist and IPNB educator, says that the Neurobiology of Interpersonal Relationships has a rather curious casuistry in terms of how much we know about the mind and how much we psychiatrists, psychologists, educators and coaches talk about it. The professor says: "95% of professionals who want to make use of their own and their patients' minds, students and trainees, have not received formal teaching either in their faculties or in postgraduate courses". Thus we remain on the surface of the results we can observe in others and the repercussions on ourselves.
The Triangle of Well-Being first involves the integration of the three elements mind, brain and relationships in each of us, i.e. within us and, if there are two or more people, between those people. As an example, think of the clinically proven fact that the mind shapes our brain (in us) and that of others (between others).
The wellbeing and resilience triangle model, developed by Dr Dan Siegel (2010), demonstrates how our thoughts and experiences literally shape the physical connections between the various parts of our brain. Each point of the triangle interacts with the other two to create continuous feedback loops. The model demonstrates that our mind, brain and relationships are part of an open system that continually responds to new experiences. This capacity for change (neuroplasticity) is a new idea. Not long ago, scientists were certain that once the basic structure of the brain was formed in infancy and the physical reworking of the connections in the brain was impossible.
Dr. Siegel goes further to say that the "mind", our thoughts and feelings, can and do interact with the physical nervous system to influence how we respond to experiences throughout our lives. What we intend and pay attention to directs and regulates electrical and chemical signals so that physical changes can be detected by scans that measure activity (such as blood flow) in the living brain.
INTEGRATION DOMAIN
Integration of consciousness
What can be differentiated within consciousness? The subjective experience of consciousness (the quality of knowledge) and the object of consciousness (what is known) are separable elements of our conscious experience. Furthermore, the various objects of consciousness can be differentiated from one another: the five senses, from sight to touch; the sixth sense of the interior of the body; the "seventh sense" or of mental activities; and our "eighth sense" or of our interconnections with others and the world. When these aspects of consciousness are not differentiated, the experience of being conscious can have a blurred quality, like an out-of-focus photo. The resulting image lacks depth, clarity and stability. What we see is blurred in the focus of our attention. We can also see the object of attention as the totality of our identity when we do not distinguish the awareness of that object of which we are aware. An intense emotion becomes who we are, not what we temporarily feel at that moment.
One practical approach to cultivating the integration of consciousness is the practice of the 'Wheel of Consciousness', a way of focusing attention in an integrative and conscious way, as discussed in Chapter 7. In this metaphor of the mind, the hub represents consciousness and the points on the rim of the wheel represent what we can be aware of, from images and sounds to our sense of the body, our thoughts and feelings, and even our sense of connection with others. These are the elements of consciousness that can be differentiated from each other and then linked. A metaphorical spoke can be sent systematically from the hub to any point on the rim. This integrative practice has been found to be quite useful with a wide range of people, including primary school children. It is designed to be an integrative mindfulness practice, but it also meets all the criteria for a mindfulness practice: it cultivates curiosity, observation, acceptance and a loving attitude towards oneself and others.
Mental Health
Remind the Mind that there are still fierce disputes over defining Mental Health and it is still not clear to eminent scientists who claim not to go beyond the idea that the Mind is just brain activity.
We all struggle in life at one time or another, and the journey of life has many ups and downs, twists and turns. Life is never a straight and even path and may require an occasional detour to get to where we want to be in life. Whether you have experienced traumatic events or not, and most of us have, we all experience times when we doubt ourselves, are afraid, insecure and feel inadequate. This is part of being human.
Many people think that mental health is simply the absence of mental illness. However, mental health and mental illness are two very different things. Mental health is the sense of well-being that comes from knowing that you can cope with many of the situations you encounter in your life. We have just gone through a confinement in the year 2120 and the so-called waves of the presence of sick people with a virus that may or may not be deadly. Panic was among us, it conceptualised, assessed and treated as mental disorders, skyrocketed exponentially, as did violence.
Mental health is about quality of life and finding balance between all aspects of our lives: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. The World Health Organisation defines mental health as "a state of well-being in which a person realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and can contribute to his or her own well-being and that of his or her community". The Public Health Agency of Canada defines mental health as "the capacity of each of us to feel, think and act in ways that enhance our ability to enjoy life and cope with the challenges we face. It is a positive sense of emotional and spiritual well-being that respects the importance of culture, equity, social justice, interconnectedness and personal dignity.
In fact, good mental health can prevent mental illness. It is understandable and quite normal that when we experience traumatic events we may feel less confident in our ability to cope with what life throws at us, you may feel more cautious, less confident, less sure of yourself and others. It can change the way you see and interact with the world around you. This can affect your mental health, disrupt your sense of balance in life, your confidence, your connection with others and interfere with your quality of life. Their responses, if they can give them or reactions, if nothing else, are normal to events and the lived experience within them are not normal.
The Dr. Corey Keyes described three types of well-being; emotional, psychological and social well-being. We will also include spiritual wellbeing. All these types of wellbeing contribute to our mental health and recovery if we have temporarily lost it.
Olaf Holm - Psychiatrist, Therapist with a special focus on post-traumatic stress disorders and relationship disorders, trained in the ISSTD or International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, USA and the ESTD or European Society for Trauma and Dissociation.
Training in the Mindsight Institute in Sª Monica, LA, CA, USA:
- Psychiatrist/Therapist/ Educator in: IPNB & Mindsight (6 modules).
- Master's level in IPNB-Mindsight & Wellbeing.
- EMDR o eye movement therapy for desensitisation and reprocessing (especially trauma).
- AAIAdult Attachment Interview, Adult Attachment Interview.
- TRSCC+ Therapy with symbolic representations that change the brain's reactions and allow after monitoring.
- IFS o Internal Family Systems, or TSFI now Neurobiologically Informed.
- Trauma Focused Therapy, TFT(It is above all a psycho-social approach to trauma for therapists who wish to give a social approach to the detection, analysis and correction-healing of complex childhood trauma). ) Useful in the school classroom, accessible and accessible - with supervision for teachers and professors.
*The texts reflect the views of the author and are independent of the opinions of PROA.