The current mental health crisis is a global phenomenon that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are experiencing a perfect storm of stressors including social isolation. By nature, humans are social creatures, driven by their need to survive. Our ancestors discovered that living amongst others helped protect them from predators more efficiently, or enabled them to avoid predators altogether. Through evolution and biology, our brains enlarged to maintain this advantage of socialization as we emerged from cave dwellers to citizens of an inclusive industrialized society, adrift in the modern wonders of science and technology.
Science explains how things work but not always why they work and this has been especially true in researching human behavior. For example, the phenomena of “connection” or “pure consciousness” achieved in meditative states or with psychedelic interventions such as Ketamine is difficult to describe because of the ineffable quality of the experience. Thanks to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology, researchers can now create pictures of what they’ve been unable to express in words.
Developed in the 1990s, fMRI technology allows researchers to study the human brain, even in the process of activation, illuminating structural changes that occur when brains are absorbed in tasks, as well as when they are not. It was assumed that upon completion of a task the resting brain would enter a somewhat dormant state, but with advanced technology researchers discovered that upon task completion, certain areas of the brain “light up” and become more awake. This state is referred to as the Default Mode Network (DMN), the brain regions that are active when a person is not focused on external stimuli, but engaged in repetitive self-generated thought, such as autobiographical cogitation. It is the ongoing message about what we can, should, and are likely to do. This network of brain regions allows us to reflect on what we have done, and how we feel and think, as well as how we think others feel and think about us. It is reflexive, instantaneously activating when the mind completes a task, and can be altered by activities such as meditation or taking medication. The DMN is “online” even before conscious interest develops, but not before nine months of gestation. Interestingly, it is not present in premature newborns.
Despite physical evidence of changes in the DMN while engaged in meditation, psychedelics or psychotherapy, some still view these modalities as insignificant, trivializing these constructs the way they might view stage hypnosis or bloodletting. However, the results of quantifiable and qualitative research indicate that although we maintain limited control over our lives, a willingness to change a static point of view can alter the way we see ourselves in relation to the world, and can even alter our behavior.
Much has changed since our early ancestors roamed the earth and our brains have evolved to become larger while living in the natural world as well as a virtual one. In this vast social arena there is increased opportunity for connection, but paradoxically more so, for disconnection. Through missed-connections, feelings of loneliness, anxiety and depression arise and DMN pathways often become wired in rumination and negative thoughts.
Psychotherapy and therapeutic relationships have been associated with changes in DMN activity and improvements in mental health. When therapists present as stable, reliable, and trustworthy figures without judgment or expectations, it can eradicate the effects of parents and others who were harsh, erratic, or critical. The consistency of the sessions and the repetition of positive experiences allows patients to begin to trust others and create a different self-generating message, reframing negative thoughts and emotions, developing new coping strategies, and ultimately changing negative patterns of behavior into a positive lifestyle.
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