“As a clinician-scientist, the practical applications of regulation theory are of great personal interest. In this volume I will cite an extremely large body of interdisciplinary data which suggests that the self organization of the developing brain occurs in the context of a relationship with another self, another brain. This primordial relational context can be growth-facilitating or growth inhibiting, and so it imprints into the early developing right brain either a resilience against or a vulnerability to later forming psychiatric disorders.” (Schore, 2003, p. xv)
Image of NeuronsAlthough Schore’s work is primarily focused on early childhood and the development of mental health or psychopathology, I have found his work to move beyond just early childhood. One of the possible applications of Schore’s work is in learning situations. Context and relationship is key to optimal brain functioning. So feelings of personal connection, meaning, intimacy, and a feeling of belonging could optimize a group of brains-people to learn and grow similarly to Schore’s “primordial relational context.” At CALCO we teach and facilitate a relational matrix, we facilitate a powerful connection between everyone in a course, so that the brain is fully optimized for powerful experiences. The outcome of such experiences are deeper implicit and differentiated intuition. The right brain is waiting dormant within most of our interactions due to a lack of safety, its not okay to “be ourselves”, anywhere. Now this is an extreme statement and it may or may not be true, but what can be true is that collectively we could all exercise our capacity to create cultures and organization that optimize and are “growth-facilitating” rather than “growth-inhibiting.
Y Schore, A. (2003). Affect dysregulation and disorders of the self. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
By jeff on August 23rd, 2008