(1) CFS/ME and Fibromyalgia are genuine debilitating epigenetically-acquired, neuroendocrinal disorders.
(2) These disorders are initially caused by overstimulation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), of the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal gland axis (HPA axis), which in turn lead to dysregulation of the immune system.The hypothalamus is the master gland of your body and regulates your whole metabolism. It is located in the limbic system of the brain, also known as the 'emotional brain'.
(3) Overstimulation of these two systems, the ANS and the HPA-axis, not only triggers dysfunctions of the immune system, but also generates virtually ALL the symptoms characteristic of CFS/ME & FIBROMYALGIA by releasing 'stress-hormones' (eg adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol) into the bloodstream.
(4) Overstimulation of these systems is caused by one's unconscious perception that a life situation or environmental pressure is 'stressful' or 'threatening' to one's well-being. This is what we call 'Neurosomatic Stress', that is, stress of sufficient magnitude and duration to generate the symptoms of a physical disorder. Neurosomatic stress is specific in that it makes you feel that you are trapped by your circumstances and can see no way of escape. This perception is based on neural pathways that you have acquired and that were established in childhood. This early-life 'programming' of your neural networks and of your neurochemistry and hormone balance has been instrumental in increasing your life-long vulnerability to developing a neurosomatic disorder like CFS/ME and/or fibromyalgia.
(5) All the symptoms of CFS/ME & FIBROMYALGIA are generated by your body to warn you that you need to take new, effective action to resolve the stress response. You may not be aware that you have been under chronic emotional stress. Neurosomatic Therapy is a proactive treatment that helps you discover and resolve the neurosomatic stress that you have been living with and that has caused your symptoms.
(6) When the body is under stress the individual normally takes action to deal with the stressful situation, such as fight-or-flight action. This action resolves the stress response and any stress-related imbalance in hormones and other neurochemicals is swiftly returned to a normal healty state. BUT, when you have CFS/ME or fibromyalgia, your body is actually constantly geared up for you to take appropriate action NOW to deal effectively with the perceived 'threatening' situation. Instead of taking fight-or-flight action to resolve the stressful situation around you, your body has 'frozen' you into immobility and shut down, preventing you from resolving the chronic stress response. You may not even be aware that you are enduring chronic neurosomatic stress, because early-life neurobiological programming (of your neural networks, epigenetic make-up, and your body's neurochemistry) has also helped you become conditioned to living with stress, often putting up with it for years and years until it just seems completely normal.
But virtually ALL the symptoms of CFS/ME & FIBROMYALGIA are the outcome of your body remaining in a constant state of physiological hyper-alertness - ever ready to take the action required to resolve the stress, but never actually taking this action. Constant hyperarousal of your stress response systems eventually causes them to 'crash' - resulting in a hypo-arousal 'freeze-collapse' response, characterised by immobilisation, shut down, despair and resignation.
(7) You are fatigued and in pain because you are NOT taking appropriate effective action, which we define as Authentic Action. By resting and 'managing' your symptoms, you are doing the OPPOSITE of what is required for you to recover: these are what we define as Adverse Actions. Resting is a form of Adverse Action that simply prolongs the illness because the chronic stress response remains chronically unresolved. Your body remains in a dysfunctional state - either of chronic physiological hyperactivity (more common in fibromyalgia) or hypoactivity and shut-down (more common in CFS/ME).
(8) By NOT taking the necessary Authentic Action, you are suffering from a build-up of suppressed emotional energy, which you have held in because you have been conditioned to do so by your acquired neural networks. Most of us are completely unaware that we have blocked our emotional energy, and unaware that by blocking this emotional energy we prevent resolution of the chronic neurosomatic stress response - thereby inevitably sustaining the symptoms of our chronic illness. Blocking of emotional energy is the main cause of chronic fatigue.
(9) Fortunately, we now know that ALL the symptoms of CFS/ME and fibromyalgia CAN BE DISPELLED by taking safe and effective Authentic Action to create new neural pathways that do not trigger your symptoms. Since the Recovery Programme is a proactive programme, we guide you to take the safe, effective and energy-enhancing Authentic Action that will allow you to resolve your own chronic neurosomatic stress response for your own personal situation. We then support you to keep practising taking this new energy-enhancing Authentic Action at every opportunity until all your symptoms have been dispelled.
(10) To make a full recovery the Neurosomatic Recovery Programme
- Teaches you an effective method of body-awareness,
- Helps you to discover the message of your symptoms, which in turn will reveal what safe, effective and energy-enhancing Authentic Action you need to take - and what adverse energy-depleting activities and patterns of coping you need to AVOID, and
- Supports you to actually take that effective, energy-enhancing Authentic Action. We demonstrate and practice this new energy-enhancing action in your sessions, so that you can practice them at home between sessions. As soon as you start to take this Authentic Action, specifically designed for you in relation to your own individual circumstances, your symptoms will begin to disappear.
Neurosomatic Therapy supports and guides you through this process so that you can make a full recovery.
Following this method can help you make a full recovery. Your symptoms can be dispelled because you will have successfully re-programmed the neural pathways that have sustained your illness, and your autonomic nervous system, your HPA axis, and your immune system will no longer 'need' to trigger your symptoms. In addition, we teach you how to avoid any future relapses or flare-ups.
This method does take time because we need to allow time for new neural pathways in the brain to develop. Some people start recovering within several weeks, while others may need between 6 and 12 months.
