Do you ever wonder why methods like meditation, mindfulness, grounding, breath work and other somatic or relaxation-based techniques work for some, while for others they produce suboptimal, limited or temporary relief, adverse effects or worsening of symptoms?
Do you find it hard to find support when traditional methods don’t work, or feel frustrated by limited alternative options?
Or have you ever wondered if there’s another reason for chronic, persisting difficult thoughts, emotions, behaviors, sensations, anxiety, overwhelm or stress besides trauma, being stuck in survival mode or nervous system dysregulation?
Current methods, theories and research tend to take a relaxation-based approach, based on the underlying understanding that the sympathetic nervous system drives illness and distress, while the parasympathetic system drives wellness and comfort.
However, a growing number of people report opposite effects, experiencing increased agitation, anxiety and distress when trying to relax, be mindful, sit with emotions, clear or focus the mind or increase paraysmpathetic tone, especially those with neurodivergent brains.
Leaving many overlooked and struggling to find methods that actually work for their unique experiences.
To bridge the gap, The Truth About Calm aims to evolve current theory and methods via the youstate approach™.
An approach that uses inductive and deductive reasoning, pattern observation and current knowledge, information and research to unify and expand on past theories.
To fill in gaps and inconsistencies in current theories and methods.
To incorporate physiological and physics concepts to clarify and improve current psychological methods.
And to create a pathway for possible future research.
The Truth About Calm courses are built on the three core concepts of the youstate approach™, explored below: outlining how they compare to past theories and approaches, highlighting supporting studies and research, and pinpointing areas for possible future testing and research.
The Truth About Calm Core Concepts
The Truth About Calm Core Concept One: The physiological mechanisms of the stress response, fight, flight or freeze, sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation, and the difficult thoughts, emotions, behaviors and sensations (DTEBS) associated with them all lie on a physiological spectrum that isn't designed just for survival, demand or threat, but also plays an important role in optimization of our systems and their environment, through driving preventative action and maintenance, even in the absence of imminent danger, negativity or threat.
Rather than working in opposition to the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), the SNS and PNS work together to create a wide spectrum of dynamic, shifting states that help to optimize the brain-body system in a wide range of changes and environments. And the SNS plays an important role in mobilizing and directing the energy needed to gather the resources and carry out the activities necessary to prepare for and optimize the recovery and repair mechanisms of the PNS.
Chronic, reoccurring distress is most often caused, not by a deficit in PNS activity or being stuck in a dysfunctional, pathological. sympathetic-driven survival state, but by a breakdown in the physiological mechanism of recognizing and channeling the energy of the SNS in a way that drives optimization of the system and its environment, prompting automatic PNS activation.
Overemphasis on relaxation techniques designed to boost PNS activity can hinder the ability of the system to optimize itself, and the key to long-term relief is recognizing and understanding the energy of the SNS and how to effectively channel it along all points of the physiological spectrum of activation toward optimization, prevention and maintenance.
The Youstate Approach™ Core Concept One Summary : The Optimization Theory: the physiological mechanisms of the stress response and fight, flight or freeze aren't just survival mechanisms designed for danger, negativity, demand or threat, but optimization responses designed to guide and maintain optimal function and optimization of the inner and outer environment, and can arise anytime the brain-body system strays from or approaches the limits of its optimal state or acts in a way that might interrupt its optimal state, regardless of whether there is imminent danger, negativity or threat.
The Optimization Theory and Past Studies, Current Knowledge and Future Research
In the 1910's, renowned physiologist Walter B. Cannon discovered the fight or flight response and conceptualized it as an emergency response, driven by the SNS, designed for danger, great demand, struggle and threat. (1)
In the 1920's, Cannon went on to coin the term homeostasis to describe the optimized physiological ranges which the body monitors and maintains via various mechanisms, that respond to and counterbalance internal changes that arise from interacting with the external environment. (2)
At this point, Cannon expanded the previous emergency theory, recognizing that sympathetic activation was driven, not just by emergency, but any change that interrupted or had the potential to interrupt this optimized range. (3)
Writing, "And of the autonomic system the sympathetic division is especially concerned with keeping the organs fit for action. It mobilizes the bodily forces, and is a stabilizing agency when homeostasis is threatened."
"The development of the idea that the sympathico-adrenal system is concerned with the maintenance of homeostasis, that it acts reciprocally with the exterofective system to prevent marked disturbances of the internal environment, is not a fundamental modification of the emergency theory. As already indicated, if emergencies do not arise—indeed, if reactions to the outer world do not occur—the sympathico-adrenal system is not a necessity. It plays its normal role, however, not only in emergencies of a grave character, but also in the minor adjustments of the organism required by responses to the environment."
In subsequent decades however, this original interpretation was eroded.
And rather than associating sympathetic activation with a threat to (i.e. interruption of) homeostasis (i.e. the dynamic changes that maintain an optimal physiological range).
SNS activity became synonymous with threat (i.e. danger, lack of safety or threat to life). And subsequent conceptualizations drifted away from the idea of sympathetic driven responses as everyday physiological mechanisms designed for optimization, toward survival-based pathological mechanisms designed for danger and threat.
The stress response and general adaptation syndrome were put forward as major sources of physical illness, wear and tear and distress, driven by real or perceived demand or threat.
And this idea was mirrored in psychological concepts, where chronic, reoccurring distress was attributed to pathological or prolonged overactivity of the SNS, or ongoing experiences or perceptions of danger, negativity or threat.
Some acknowledgment of good stress aka eustress was made, but "good stress" was conceptualized as stress that can be perceived in a positive way, can be overridden by pleasant feelings, can drive short periods of increased focus, energy and action, or is of short duration or mild intensity, whether or not it serves the purpose of optimization.
Rather than conceptualizing the SNS- mediated stress response as a good or positive physiological mechanism in of itself, that once understood and channeled into appropriate optimization, can drive the balance and health of the organism regardless of how it is perceived, felt or its intensity or duration.
One practical implication in making this seemingly small but critical distinction is in understanding and managing the neurodivergent experience, which tends to be associated with high levels of overwhelm, burnout, anxiety and stress.
And under the emergency conceptualization, this chronic, reoccurring distress is attributed to the presence of a sensitive nervous system that gets stuck in survival mode. Or rigid cognitive states that increase danger perception and drive nervous system dysregulation.
However, even in the absence of danger or threat, neurodivergent conditions come with complex and unique needs for optimization of the inner and outer environment.
Like the need for specialized schedules and routines, precise communication styles and unique sensory experiences.
These optimizations can promote drastically increased and even superior functioning, but can be hard to come by, as they tend to run contrary to typically-accepted societal standards.
And neurodivergent people in non-optimized environments report limitations in function and various levels of distress, even when they fully recognize that there is no risk of danger or threat.
Under the optimization theory, this discrepancy can be explained by seeing chronic, reoccurring, distress as a physiological mechanism designed to bring attention to optimization needs and urge action toward obtaining them.
And when distress is framed as being safety-related and solely managed by trying to decrease SNS activity, increase relaxation and change threat perception, it takes away from focusing on this optimization process.
Which is put forward here as a possible explanation for the chronic, reoccurring, refractory distress often experienced by neurodivergent people engaging in these methods.
Future research might step away from the emergency only model and explore the ways in which the stress response, fight, flight or freeze response and SNS activation support optimization of the brain-body system and its inner and outer environment. (This is explored extensively in The Truth About Calm courses)
And future studies can also explore the physiological differences in distress due to danger, lack of safety or threat vs due to poor optimization of the inner or outer environment (comparing events of similar intensity).
With the hypothesis that both states should produce similar profiles of stress hormones and SNS activation effects.
However, classic signs associated with fear like changes in amygdala activity should be absent in non-threat states.
Cooperation Vs Opposition
As it relates to the cooperative efforts of the SNS and PNS, in any physiology textbook you will find evidence of how these two systems, while creating opposite effects, still work together in dynamic ways at precise times, in precise sequences to produce optimized overall effects.
For example, the SNS drives the muscular effort needed to obtain, prepare and ingest food, while the PNS promotes the digestive secretions and peristalsis needed to break it down and digest it. And as food is digested and absorbed, SNS-mediated increases in blood flow both to and away from the digestive tract aid in nutrient distribution.
This precise, harmonious interaction is optimized and maintained by the organism acting in ways that align with it. And attempts to increase or decrease PNS or SNS activity at the wrong time can cause symptoms that seem pathological despite the presence of a perfectly normal, well-functioning system.
E.g., If you engage in deep relaxation rather than seeking food, eat during strenuous activity, or engage in intense effort or deep sleep immediately after a big meal, then you're likely to experience indigestion.
But if you flow with the natural shifts in energy of the SNS and PNS—increasing activity to seek food, eating in a relaxed state, and engaging in mild activity after a big meal—working with the dynamic efforts of the nervous system improves digestion and leads to a more optimized state.
In contrast to this precise, dynamic physiological dance, psychological dysfunction is often conceptualized in a more black and white way.
Where psychological distress is caused by increased SNS activity and relieved by increasing PNS activity, through various approaches like mindfulness, meditation, talk therapy, somatic experiencing or a wide range of relaxation methods.
While some consideration is given to SNS driven activities like problem-solving and taking action to adjust and shape one's challenges and environment, inadequate consideration is given to the precise timing and sequencing of these approaches and how they align with the dynamic ebb and flow of SNS and PNS activation.
And treatment methods often encourage action that opposes the natural SNS or PNS state, like relaxing in the face of tension or taking action in the face of withdrawal or stagnation.
Future research might consider stepping away from the black and white PNS vs SNS model and exploring the ways in which emotional, mental and behavioral states naturally ebb and flow between SNS and PNS activity or feature combinations of these states.
And how to better align interventions with the natural sequencing and timing of these states. (An approach that is explored extensively in The Truth About Calm courses)
Future research might also compare the short and long-term efficacy of traditional methods that focus on shifting from a sympathetic-driven to parasympathetic state vs. methods like the youstate approach™ that focus on encouraging actions that align with whatever state the system is in, supporting the completion of the physiological mechanisms necessary for overall optimization.
The Optimization Theory References
(1) Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage | Project Gutenberg
(2) ORGANIZATION FOR PHYSIOLOGICAL HOMEOSTASIS | Physiological Reviews | American Physiological Society
(3) Sympathetic Role in Homeostasis | PDF | Vasodilation | Homeostasis
The Truth About Calm Core Concept Two: In moments of discomfort or distress, the brain-body system creates 12 patterns of difficult thoughts, emotions, and behaviors with associated physical sensations that reflect the underlying needs of the system and the precise actions needed to restore and maintain its optimal state.
And just like the uncomfortable patterns of hunger, thirst, cold, or heat, each of these patterns arises from an automatic, subconscious, interoceptive monitoring and assessment of the internal state of the system in relation to its internal and external resources and environment, and what is needed for system optimization.
These patterns combine in unique ways to form a physiological blueprint: a "youstate youprint" that follows the principles of the physiological negative feedback loop and shows the organism how to take the most effective action to close the feedback loop, allowing distress to automatically dissipate.
And most cases of chronic, reoccurring or escalating mental, emotional, behavioral or physical distress occur, not because of pathological, dysfunctional or dysregulated mechanisms, but due to a breakdown in understanding and working with the normal physiological mechanisms that close the negative feedback loop, driving system optimization and dissipating distress.
In the physiological negative feedback loop, a disturbance in optimal balance (that cannot be corrected by automatic internal mechanisms) produces uncomfortable mental, physical and behavioral changes that reflect what the system needs to restore its optimal state.
And these mental, physical and behavioral changes all work together to urge the organism to take action in an effective way toward system optimization.
For example, during experiences of cold, the brain-body system produces physical changes like shivering and hair standing on edge; mental changes like fixation on finding warmth and the discomfort being experienced, and behavioral changes like irritability and impatience, slowing down and withdrawing, or stagnating and pausing in place.
And these changes play a strategic, sequential, time-sensitive role in helping the organism to take action to secure warmth in an effective way.
Physical changes help to grab the attention of the organism and bring focus to the changes being experienced. Mental changes help the organism to make a cognitive appraisal of the experience and a mental plan of action for managing it. And behavioral changes help the organism to take action in one of three ways: to channel available energy into moving forward to seek warmth, to conserve and replenish limited energy before moving forward to seek warmth, or to pause in place to assess whether to move forward or withdraw during the pursuit of warmth.
When these changes result in actions that close the negative feedback loop by supplying sufficient warmth, the original distress signal of cold is no longer needed, and discomfort naturally dissipates.
But even though all experiences of cold require warmth to restore an optimal state, experiences of cold can differ in the way that they present, depending on internal and external resources and the status of the environment. And these differences determine the best course of action to restore an optimal state.
For example, different physical sensations can arise based on the areas affected by cold and the depth of cold being experienced. The focus of mental rumination can vary according to the source of cold, the areas affected by cold and the resources available to manage it. And the type of behavior experienced in response to cold depends on how it affects energy levels, and one might feel the urge to react, withdraw or pause in place depending on whether energy levels are abundant, limited or inconsistent.
Similarly, when we apply the principles of the negative feedback loop to psychological distress, symptoms reflect an increase in what the system needs for optimization rather than an opposite effect.
And patterns of DTEBS combine to give critical feedback on the status of the inner and outer environment of the organism and the most effective action to close the negative feedback loop and relieve distress.
Actions taken must align with the underlying need of the organism and its unique resources, challenges, environment and experience.
And even though experiences may appear similar on the surface like episodes of anxiety, overwhelm and stress, each experience is made up of a unique combination of patterns: the 3 behavioral patterns of fight, flight or freeze; the 4 mental patterns of self-doubt, fear of the future, tunnel vision and negative focus; and the 5 emotional patterns of fear, anger, frustration, sadness and guilt.
Which all guide the organism toward the best course of action depending on its unique circumstances.
The key to long-term optimization of the system and resolution of chronic, reoccurring distress is identifying and responding to all patterns of DTEBS in a way that closes the negative feedback loop, drives system optimization and naturally relieves distress.
However, many interventions for and conceptualizations of distress run contrary to the principles of the negative feedback loop.
Like seeing symptoms as representing the opposite of what the system needs for optimization.
Overlooking more subtle patterns and only focusing on obvious or distressing patterns.
Assuming that all conditions with the same label have the same features and hence respond to the same interventions, rather than assessing unique patterns and what they reflect about underlying system needs for optimization.
Applying interventions at the wrong time or in the wrong sequence in the negative feedback loop.
Or focusing on methods that aim to directly relieve distress, rather than on actions that close the feedback loop automatically relieving distress.
Which can lead to chronic, reoccurring distress even in the presence of normal, healthily functioning mechanisms and processes.
The Youstate Approach™ Core Concept Two Summary: The Youprint Theory: every experience of discomfort or distress is made up of a unique combination of 12 patterns of difficult thoughts, emotions and behaviors, and associated physical sensations: the 3 behavioral patterns of fight, flight or freeze, the 4 mental patterns of self-doubt, negative focus, tunnel vision and fear of the future, and the 5 emotional patterns of fear, anger, frustration, sadness and guilt.
And just like the patterns of heat, cold, hunger and thirst, each pattern represents a core system need and has precise associated actions that create and restore system optimization, through closing the physiological negative feedback loop, allowing distress to automatically dissipate.
Patterns of difficult thoughts, emotions and behaviors combine to form a physiological blueprint, i.e. a unique "youprint" that shows the best course of action to restore and maintain an optimal state.
And effective management of chronic, reoccurring distress relies on identifying all patterns present and taking the right action to induce closure of the negative feedback loop for each pattern experienced.
The Youprint Theory and Past Studies, Current Knowledge and Future Research
Extensive writing and research has been done on the behavioral, mental and emotional changes in various psychological distress states.
And many theories have been put forward to explain how emotions are created and resolved and whether they arise from mental, behavioral or physiological changes.
But the principles of the physiological negative feedback loop outlined above are yet to be explored as a way of understanding and tying together current knowledge.
There are also systems and methods for identifying patterns of difficult thoughts, emotions and behaviors, like the emotion wheel and cognitive distortions.
However, these systems are based in the emergency model and tend to focus on identifying difficult patterns that arise in response to danger, negativity or threat.
While the 12 patterns of the youstate approach™ are based in the optimization model, and represent patterns designed to drive system optimization in a wide range of experiences, regardless of the presence of danger or threat.
And in the next concept, you will learn more about how these patterns were selected based on the patterns and optimization needs of the primitive environment.
Current methods of identifying patterns of DTEBs also tend to assume that all experiences under a given label are universal and homogenous, hence similar interventions can be successfully applied to them.
However, as outlined above, similar experiences can be made up of vastly different patterns.
For example, the cognitive distortion of personalization might be associated with the emotional pattern of guilt, the mental pattern of negative focus and the behavioral pattern of flight.
While in another person it might be associated with the mental pattern of tunnel vision, the emotional pattern of fear and the behavioral pattern of fight.
And these patterns reflect different underlying needs and actions for system optimization.
Similarly, the core emotion of disgust (currently considered a universal, basic emotion) might be made up of the behavioral pattern of flight (moving away from a noxious event) and the behavioral pattern of fear (of being contaminated by a noxious event).
While in another case it might be made up of the behavioral pattern of fight (hostility toward or trying to eradicate a noxious event) and the behavioral pattern of anger (at being exposed to a noxious event).
Again, an important reason for making the distinction between underlying patterns is in understanding and managing the neurodivergent experience.
Where difficulty in identifying, naming, managing and expressing specific emotions and general distress can be a common challenge.
However, this challenge may arise, not due to a deficit in emotional processing, but in the current way that we identify, label and respond to patterns of distress.
For example, much like cognitive empathy, one might experience anger mentally as rumination on unfair events, with little to no experience, display, expression or recognition of physical symptoms like warmth, tension, a clenched jaw, a furrowed brow, or other typically associated body language or facial expressions.
And in some experiences, anger might manifest with the behavioral changes of freeze (paralysis and stagnancy), rather than the typically expected manifestations of fight (reactivity and aggression).
So when we look for and recognize typical patterns of anger alone, it's easy to miss it, and to apply interventions that may not work for atypical presentations.
Looking for the 12 core patterns of DTEBS present in every experience of distress gives a framework for capturing a wider range of experiences.
And for better targeting of interventions according to unique experience.
And The Truth About Calm courses and blog dive much deeper into exploring these concepts.
Including how to identify the core patterns in distress states, like the wide range of combinations in anxiety, overwhelm and stress.
The underlying physiological needs reflected by each pattern.
And the actions that close the negative feedback loop for each pattern, creating and maintaining system optimization and naturally relieving distress.
Future research might focus on exploring the principles of the negative feedback loop and how they apply to the creation and resolution of psychological distress states.
And might compare the short and long-term effects on both stress markers and perceived distress of methods that run contrary to the negative feedback loop vs. methods like the youstate approach™ that focus on closing the negative feedback loop as a means of automatically relieving distress.
Further research can also explore how the 12 core patterns of DTEBS of the youstate approach™ drive positive accomplishment and overcoming challenges in non-threat states.
And how methods that identify and address the 12 core patterns of DTEBS regardless of label or diagnosis, compare to methods that choose interventions based on label or diagnosis regardless of underlying patterns.
The Truth About Calm Core Concept Three: The stress response, the energy of fight, flight or freeze, and the difficult thoughts, emotions, behaviors and sensations associated with them are core parts of human design that were originally created to help us optimize ourselves and our environment in the physical, primitive landscape.
And these primitive mechanisms aren't outdated survival responses that sabotage us today, but highly adaptable optimization responses that are just as powerful in helping us to survive, thrive, heal and grow in the modern landscape.
In the primitive landscape, life revolved around carrying out the activities needed to maintain the integrity of the brain-body system, like hunting for and gathering food, fetching water and building shelter.
And since tasks were physical, physical energy was needed to successfully navigate them, so careful energy management in the face of limited resources was needed to create and maintain an optimal state.
According to the law of conservation of energy, energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed from one form to another, so in order to maintain system optimization, balance was needed between activities that gathered the resources needed to produce energy, like taking in food, water and air.
Activities that optimized the ability of the system to transform energy like sleep, rest, digestion, movement and supporting wound repair.
Activities that optimized the external environment so less internal energy was needed to maintain system optimization, like building shelter, finding ways to store food and fashioning protective clothing.
And activities that overcame any barriers to obtaining and transforming energy, like overcoming obstacles on the way to find food or water, or repairing damaged shelter or clothing.
In order to not just survive but to thrive and evolve in the primitive landscape, energy gathered needed to match energy expended.
And since resources were limited, processes were needed to reduce energy expenditure or make it optimally efficient.
And physiological mechanisms like discomfort and specific, uncomfortable energy shifts may have helped the organism to take action in ways that protected its energy balance and maintained its optimal state.
Uncomfortable sensations like hunger, thirst, heat, cold and pain would drive the organism to seek food and water, craft shelter and clothing and identify and tend to injuries.
And the energy expended on these activities would be balanced by obtaining the resources needed to replenish it.
Then, if you encountered a challenge, barrier or interruption to maintaining energetic balance, like a boulder blocking your pathway to food, water or shelter, energy would need to be mobilized in specific ways in order to overcome the challenge and restore the flow of activities needed to maintain an optimal range.
As you approached the boulder, a sharp increase in energy, tension and urgency would give you the drive and strength to take action to push the boulder out of your way.
And as you pushed, a shift in mental focus and energy to zooming in on the boulder and temporarily blocking out your surroundings would help you to channel all of your energy into effectively pushing.
And if the boulder was difficult to move, shifts in energy that alternated between increased tension, reactivity and strength; decreased energy, tension and withdrawal; and still, stagnant energy and pausing in place, would help you to alternate between taking action to push the boulder, taking action to rest between pushes, and taking action to pause and observe the efficiency of your approach and any progress made.
These precise patterns of energy would help you to overcome physical challenges in a way that preserved energetic balance and maintained system optimization.
And taking action in sync with these energetic shifts was necessary to maximize energy usage and maintain an optimal state.
Like in order to successfully push the boulder aside, it was necessary to take action at the peak of increased energy, tension, focus and strength.
And in order to continue pushing while maximizing and sustaining energy, it was necessary to flow with the shifts in increased, decreased and still energy, to take action to progress, rest and observe™, a concept that is explored extensively in The Truth About Calm courses.
Fast forward to modern day and life no longer revolves around activities that maintain the integrity of the brain-body system.
And instead of facing the non-physical, visible, tangible challenges of the primitive landscape, most modern-day challenges are non-physical, invisible and intangible.
But energy balance is still critical to overcoming the everyday tasks and challenges that we face while creating and maintaining an optimal state.
And when you examine the mental, emotional and behavioral changes that we experience in the face of everyday challenges, you can see similarities with the energetic changes of the primitive landscape. And these changes are what we label as difficult thoughts, emotions and behaviors today.
Like when you're facing a challenge and experience increased tension, urgency and reactivity, we label these changes as the energy of "fight" today.
And when you find yourself zooming in on challenges and temporarily losing sight of everything else, we refer to these mental changes as "tunnel vision".
And when you're alternating between increased activity, tension and irritability; decreased energy, defeat and withdrawal, and pausing in place and being stagnant or stuck, today we label these changes as "frustration".
Just like the primitive landscape, these patterns of energy are likely designed to help us take action to overcome challenges and complete tasks in a way that maintains energetic balance and drives system optimization.
And each of the 12 patterns of DTEBS in the youstate approach™ has a distinct energy profile which is explored thoroughly in The Truth About Calm blog and courses.
Rising cases of modern-day anxiety, burnout, overwhelm and stress are often attributed to outdated primitive survival mechanisms that no longer work in the modern landscape. Or living in a modern environment with constant stressors that our systems weren't originally designed to face.
But the youstate approach™ puts forward that the primitive optimization roles of DTEBS are just as valid and useful today as they were in primitive days.
However, the positive role of these mechanisms tends to be overlooked and misunderstood.
Limiting our understanding of how they function for optimization and how we can channel the energy of them into the non-physical challenges of the modern environment.
Another breakdown in our ability to understand and harness the primitive power of DTEBS is in the assumption that the modern environment looks nothing like the primitive landscape.
However, our systems tend to recognize and respond to events in terms of patterns.
And even though specific events may be vastly different from primitive times to modern day, underlying patterns and how our systems respond to them remains the same.
For example, there are many different events that can cause the discomfort of cold, like a blasting AC, too little clothing or a frigid day.
But our systems don't create a specific sensation and response for each of these events.
Rather, all events that drop body temperature are registered as "cold" and we respond to all of them in the same way by seeking warmth.
But our cognitive appraisal of the specific event can help us to channel the energy of discomfort into taking action in precise, efficient ways.
Similarly, in the primitive landscape, a loss of resources may have looked like losing access to food and water during winter or losing shelter to a natural event. While today it might look like losing a job, a relationship or diminished finances.
But our systems still register the pattern of "loss" and typically respond to it in characteristic ways, like producing a drop in energy, focus and motivation, which we call "sadness" today.
And under the optimization model, the youstate approach™ identifies 12 types of challenges in the inner and outer environment that produce specific patterns of DTEBS, that guide the organism through successfully navigating challenges while maintaining energetic balance and system optimization.
When taking into account energetic laws and how changes in physical energy functioned in the primitive landscape, we can see that chronic, reoccurring distress may not be caused by the uncomfortable energy of DTEBS in of itself.
But when this energy isn't proactively transformed in the way in which it was designed and intended, to support energetic balance and system optimization.
Causing energy to either back up and escalate, producing pressure that causes tension and distress (similar to when you pull the string of a bow back but don't release it and potential energy in your muscles is transformed into heat and chemical by products that cause pain, fatigue and distress).
To come out in erratic ways in an attempt to quickly relieve energetic pressure distress. (Like shooting an arrow wildly when your muscles reach fatigue and suddenly collapse, rather than proactively aiming muscular energy at your chosen target).
Or to come out in ways that relieve acute distress but don't actually drive system optimization, closing of the negative feedback loop, or restoration of sustainable energetic balance, causing overall, long-term loss of energy, which creates chronic, reoccurring distress. (Like proactively transforming muscular energy into shooting your arrow but not aiming at or hitting your target).
So a key part of managing chronic, reoccurring distress is understanding the original, primitive purpose and design of the energy of DTEBS in the primitive landscape, and how this purpose can be optimized in the modern environment.
The Youstate Approach™ Core Concept Three Summary: The Primal Power Theory: Difficult thought, emotions, behaviors and sensations are primitive mechanisms originally designed to optimize ourselves and our environment in the physical, primitive landscape, and DTEBS can still be effectively used to optimize our inner and outer environment in the modern landscape.
There are 12 types of challenges that our brain-body systems were originally designed to successfully navigate using the physiological feedback and guidance of DTEBS and these 12 patterns of challenges still exist today.
However, since primitive challenges were physical, visible and tangible, our brains can struggle to understand and assess the non-physical, invisible, intangible challenges of modern day and how to channel the physical energy of DTEBS into successfully navigating them.
So exploring how the energy of DTEBS aided optimization in the physical, primitive environment can guide us in effectively channeling our primitive power today.
The Primal Power Theory and Past Studies, Current Knowledge and Future Research
Past emotional theories have looked to the primitive landscape to understand the creation and purpose of difficult emotions.
However, the evolutionary theory of emotions conceptualized difficult emotions as primitive survival responses, and little exploration was made of how difficult emotions may have functioned in the primitive landscape for the purpose of optimization.
Over many decades, several competing theories have been put forward to explain the origins of emotions, with much debate over whether they are physiological experiences, or cognitive appraisals of physiological experiences, and whether they arise in response to external physical events or internal cognitive events.
Using the law of conservation of energy and the principles of the physiological negative feedback loop, the youstate approach™ merges many of these theories and recognizes that emotions can originate in different scenarios in different ways.
For example, one can experience the physiological reality of dropping body temperature, whether or not you cognitively recognize that you're cold. And you still need warmth to close the negative feedback loop and restore system optimization with or without the cognitive appraisal of cold.
And conversely, you can see a video of a winter landscape and flashback to a time when you were stuck outside on a frigid day, causing a quick shiver to go through your body and your hair to stand on edge, even though your body temperature remains the same.
And in both cases, the physiological and cognitive origins of these experiences serve the same purpose: to maintain energetic balance by getting you out of the cold or reminding you not to get stuck in the cold unprepared again.
A double fail safe which would have been especially useful when managing limited resources in the primitive landscape.
And a similar phenomenon happens with the creation of difficult emotions today.
In conceptualizing DTEBS as primitive optimization responses that protect sustainable energetic balance, again we gain some insight in understanding and managing the neurodivergent experience.
Where emotional responses are often seen as being out of sync with the agreed upon social norm or what is socially expected.
For example, fear may be muted in actual cases of physical danger but heightened when carrying out everyday social interactions.
Or anger may be absent in social scenarios like social embarrassment or rejection. But elevated when seeing injustice toward the disadvantaged or encountering incorrect information.
However, our conceptualization of emotion is currently based in the emergency model, and from observing the most common reactions to modern day scenarios, with heavy focus on the influence of social needs, rules, standards and expectations.
So for neurodivergent people who are unaware of social cues, struggle to interpret or understand them, or understand and recognize them but find them illogical, don't resonate with them, or have little interest in following them, emotional responses may not be as typically expected.
However, rather than seeing this as a deficit, dysfunction or breakdown in emotional processing, the youstate approach™ puts forward that this may simply be a return to a "default primal optimization state".
And in the absence of current social conditioning, neurodivergent emotional responses may arise in a way that is more aligned with how they arose and functioned in the primitive landscape.
So conceptualizing DTEBS in terms of their original, primitive functioning in driving optimization may help us to better understand and respond to a wider range of emotional experiences.
Future theories might aim to further hypothesize how DTEBS may have functioned for the purpose of optimization in the primitive landscape.
And these theories may be tested by comparing the changes in both stress markers and perceived distress with methods that conceptualize DTEBS in terms of modern-day challenges and social standards vs. methods like the youstate approach™ that conceptualize them in terms of how they functioned in the primitive environment.
Future research might also aim to demonstrate how emotions show up in various combinations of mental, physical and behavioral changes, by comparing physiological, behavioral and brain markers of specific emotions, and whether they show up in independent combinations in subjects experiencing the same emotion.
As well as exploring energetic changes in various emotional, behavioral and mental states. Like tracking core temperature and metabolic rate in states of active, resolving and resolved distress. Noting whether these changes are maintained around a relative steady state, and whether they produce an "energetic debt", like driving increases in oxygen or calorie intake in order to restore a baseline steady state.
The theory of challenges falling into 12 distinct patterns that create 12 distinct energetic shifts can also be tested by comparing markers of physiological and perceived distress during a challenge of a specific category, and markers from another event that falls into the same category, but is rated as being dissimilar by participants.
With the hypothesis that different events under the same pattern should produce similar patterns of DTEBs in the same participant.
A Final Note from The Truth About Calm Author
If you've made it this far, thank you for reading and congratulations on a pretty impressive attention span.
On this page, you explored lots of theory, but the key to wellness is transforming theoretical information into practical application.
And The Truth About Calm courses provide empowering systems that create a step-by-step guide for putting theory into action.
If you have queries about the information presented above or are interested in conducting research that includes the youstate approach™, you can email thetruthaboutcalm@protonmail.com or send a message via the website contact form.
And finally, while the information above is science-focused, it would be incomplete without acknowledging the guidance of God The Creator and the power of faith in shaping my pursuit of and understanding of scientific knowledge.
When I first found myself questioning traditional personal growth methods and navigating meditation side-effects, I didn't know where to turn or how to find answers to explain what I was experiencing.
But through prayer and obedience and harnessing my God-given gift of pattern recognition and neurodivergent thinking, I was able to complete years of careful reading and research.
Being guided to the precise information that I needed at the precise time, and painstakingly creating systems that reflect a depth of knowledge, strength and peace that I credit to God, The Creator, as it certainly surpasses my own.
Regardless of your stance on science or faith, this knowledge is shared in a way that makes it accessible to all, and I thank you for taking the time and energy to engage with it.
And if you'd like to learn more about my personal journey overcoming chronic, reoccurring anxiety, overwhelm, burnout and stress, click the link below to discover how The Truth About Calm was born.
With gratitude,
Dr. Alexine Jackman, BMedSci (hons), MBBS