Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash
Dr. Greg Siegle is director of the Programme in Cognitive A'ffective Neuroscience (PICAN) at the University of Pittsburgh. Last month, June 2019, he was also awarded the Honorary Chair in Cognitive Science at the University of Amsterdam. He’s devoted to understanding interactions of cognition and emotion, particularly their associations with mental disorder and recovery such as depression and anxiety.
1:00 Lecture at the University of Amsterdam: “what if freaking out and shutting down are completely normal?"2:50 Most interventions in mental health is to decrease emotions4:10 “Healthy” people dissociate every day4:57 Freaking out and shutting down are both part of the process (e.g. spider-phobia)6:11 Dissociation is stigmatized in mental health field7:33 There’s a continuum from compartmentalization to total dissociation.8:26 Detachment in mindfulness share a lot with dissociation9:02 Pre-frontal cortex lets us put the choice back to our hands10:02 We’re already doing emotional regulation unconsciously all the time10:15 Naked card experiment12:13 Emotions at the workplace - can you cry and completely disengage like a zombie?13:10 Performance suffers when emotions are suppressed14:00 Not preventing a person from using the coping mechanism that helped them survive14:44 Greg’s lab policy - What if doctors and nurses, not just patients, are also allowed to have emotions?15:30 A real-life example in Greg’s workplace18:50 Including “allowing emotions” during the interviewing process19:54 Some Asian employees do not feel like expressing emotions, which is also okay21:00 Communicating and checking in as the new normal23:00 Black employees feel less safe to express emotions24:58 Allowing people to shut down makes it safer for them to come back when they’re ready25:24 Orgasmic meditation - when the environment is safe, women having sexual abuse histories do not have problems to have arousal26:52 It’s the lack of safety that prolongs shutting down28:28 Set and setting are made explicit in psychology and psychiarity29:20 Lab may not be the ideal place for either stimulation or intervention31:26 What does it mean by “leaning in” to the emotions?33:03 To allow the regulatory mechanisms to shut off33:50 Chinese saying “wuwei”34:26 What if you don’t work too hard? Allow the process to play out35:12 Not regulating emotions might work as well35:40 Depression: leaning in to the rumination; take the power back38:11 Give anxiety a “worry time”42:05 “Play time” - Does the world end if I ruminate right now? People actually ruminate less if it’s made explicitly as a process.44:20 “Surfing” high emotions, even enjoying it44:47 People like BDSM and haunted house playing with high arousal46:00 Why is it hard to play with emotions in daily life?47:42 Not just individual efforts to regulate emotions, but also power relations48:25 Women are more stigmatized to show emotions at workplace50:00 What if workplace training includes “really hearing the content and saying I hear you when someone’s expressing emotionally”?51:15 Shutting down in relationships52:45 Emotions are stored in the body53.45 The somatic marker hypothesis, formulated by Antonio Damasio55:21 “Where are you feeling emotions in your body”56:01 Body awareness can be double-edged57:31 Our relationship with pain - what’s it telling me?59:40 Arousal is arousal - why not playing with that61:01 One story about arousal may not be more valid than other ones62:58 The time course of arousal is slow; make use of it64:24 Make-up sex can be a valid re-direction of arousal65:30 Artists using their hard emotions to create66:38 Vibration can lead to vigilance that’s neither positive nor positive67:30 Meditation is not just about distancing68:20 Philippe Goldin, laughter meditation69:30 Detaching as spiritual bypassing72:05 First learn to swim and surf, and then dive into the extraordinary state of mind72:35 What does neuroscience say about when to surf, and when to dive?73:51 Allowing the dark side as part of every day - it’s all one person74:03 Use your “darkness” as a great resource, as a superpower75:25 The middle way76:40 Not stigmatizing the reactions is healing77:55 Embodied dissociation78:25 Not just regulating individual patient’s emotions, but change their environments as well80:23 Better environment for depression - not isolating, but also ok to want to stay alone81:20 Interpersonal therapy82:01 Depressive realism82:20 What about the socio-political cause for depression - fetishizing productivity?85:16 Both personal an structural changes needed85:50 Local changes can make a difference - have hard conversations, reclaim power87:25 **Be your own scientist, play with emotions, do not be scared of them **