Are we really all that different?

The latest buzz phrase within the medical community is that we humans are all different. Leading the way in this evolving world view are the geneticists, who are busy trying to look into our DNA to find the genes that cause the individual disease states, both physical and mental. I keep reading of the latest breakthroughs in gene research, where they have isolated some gene or group of genes that are correlated with certain disease states. Then with great excitement they announce that isolating the defective genes will (somehow)lead to drugs that will correct these particular genes.

The promise is  that in the future we will be treated in different ways according to our particular gene profile.

Within the psychological industry there are many different ways of looking at disease states, with no obvious coherent way of bringing everything together. I read many books, websites and media articles to try and keep up with the latest trends and research. Below is just a small example of the many ways disease is understood.

EARLY LIFE STRESS   is said to lead to depression.

LACK OF CONNECTION to another person is the root cause of addiction.

CHILDHOOD EMOTIONAL NEGLECT causes many mental disorders.

HEAL THE MOTHER WOUND for good relationships.

ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES the number of bad experiences in childhood predicts the severity of mental and physical disorders later in life.

PEACE CODE IN THE EMPATHY CENTRE OF THE BRAIN (Robin Grille).

THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE. Brain mind and body in the healing of trauma.( a book by Bessel van der Kolk).

THE POLY VAGAL THEORY the polyvagal nerve  innervates large areas within the chest and stomach cavities.

SELF COMPASSION  to deal with shame.

EARLY LIFE EXPERIENCES leads to demoralisation, the driving features of which are individualism, materialism, hyper-competition, greed, hurriedness, debt.(J.F. Schumaken)

The list of possible cures for our human problems is huge and growing by the day. As the latest ‘cure ‘is embraced other hopefuls of the past eventually show their ineffectiveness and drop by the wayside. This process goes back as far as several centuries, when bloodletting was common practice. In more recent times lobotomies were often performed in cases of severe mental illness. It is interesting to note that ‘electrical’ lobotomies are now being experimented with.

Most of the common cures of today involve many forms of cognitive behavioural therapy and of course the myriad of medications. Also becoming popular are the latest forms of meditation and yoga, with ‘mindfulness’ being the key word.

When I got sick in my own mind to the  stage I was becoming dysfunctional, nobody could tell me what the cause was, and most frustratingly, what the cure was.

Compare all the above to what Primal Theory and Therapy and the three distinctly different levels of mind can bring to the understanding of human sickness.

The damage to the human psyche happens at the first level, or basement, of our minds. This is the level of sensations, and the level where the feeling of love originates. Most of the damage is done in early childhood, as much of the present day  research is showing. Not getting needs met in early childhood causes a level of emotional pain, which can be referred to as Primal Pain. It is the need to repress primal pain that causes neurotic behaviour.

Primal theory would say that nearly every human on the planet is suffering from some level of primal pain, which blocks access to our feelings of love. In this respect, at the deeper level of functioning (the basement level) we are all the same. The differences we see at the third level (cognitive mind) are mostly superficial in nature. For example a person can choose to believe in a certain religion one day and then change their mind the next.

In  Primal Therapy we know there are many thousands of symptoms on the third level but only one cure, and that is to release the Primal Pain that is stored at the first level. When the pain is gone the need for repression of all feelings goes, and then the person is free to experience loving feelings. It is the feeling of love that heals our physical and mental bodies, provides for a meaningful and happy life, and also drives our ethical and moral behaviour.

At this first level of  sensation the human race is all the same.

To Summarize : There is only one major cause of mental and physical disease – the lack of love which causes pain and dysfunction to the human psyche. There is only one cure – the release of the repressed pain.