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AE Formation in Neuropsychoeducation

Enrolment open to all public in English and Spanish.

Program Line of Change: Neurosciences for all.

The new discoveries about the brain and human behavior allow us to reach the institutional, human and ethical development that the 21st Century needs. Starting every month - Online mode - English or Spanish.

1- What is Neurophychoeducation?

It is an educational system aimed to transfer the main knowledge derived from the modern neurosciences and other compatible hard and soft sciences to the general public.

We look for broadening the borders of the neuroscientific knowledge, beyond the scope of the medical clinic, and, in this way contribute to boost knowledge to carry out a new and very important role: to reach everyone so that they can apply it to the improvement of their mental health.

Modern science advances permanently in the clarification of the ways in which the brain and the product of its activity, the mind, operate. This allows us, nowadays, to get a new way to interpret our own behavior and those of the people we interact with, giving us the possibility of modeling our mind in its highest emotional and cognitive-executive facets.

The creation and development of Neuropsychoeducation correspond to Dr. Carlos Logatt Grabner and Nst. Marita Castro and began 17 years ago as part of the Project Line of Change and the dream of reaching everybody and all the scopes of life with the neuroscientific knowledge.

The neuroscientific alphabetization has the capacity to produce, in those who get it and apply it to their lives, a neural reorganization that induces the progressive change of their mental development.

If we wished to revert the serious problems of coexistence that are observed in the different present societies, the knowledge and control of our inner world is not a luxury for some enlightened people like in the past, but an urgent necessity that includes humanity as a whole.

If we want to reverse the serious coexistence problems that we see in today's societies, knowledge and control of the inner world of the members of those societies is no longer a luxury for a few illuminated beings, but a necessity for all humankind as a whole.

2- Which Neurosciences are involved?

Neuroanatomy:

The study of the structure of the nervous system.

Neurochemistry:

The study of the chemical bases of brain-cell activity.

Neuroendocrinology:

The study of the interaction between the nervous and endocrine systems.

Neuropathology:

The study of nervous system disorders.

Neuropharmacology:

The study of the effect of drugs on nervous system activity.

Neurophysiology:

The study of the function and activities of the nervous system.

Neuropsychology:

The study of the psychological effects of brain injury.

Biopsychology:

The scientific study of behavioral biology.

Physiological psychology:

The study of neurological mechanisms of behavior through direct manipulation of the brain.

Psychophysiology:

The study of the relationship between physiological activity and psychological processes.

Cognitive Neuroscience:

The study of the neural bases of cognition (higher intellectual processes: thought, memory, attention and complex perception processes).

Compared Psychology:

A general approach to behavioral biology; it studies the behavior of different species, focusing on genetics, evolution and adaptability of behavior.

3- Which Related Sciences are involved?

• Ecology
• Paleoanthropology
• Ethology
• Cosmic Physics
• Quantum and Relativistic Physics
• International Politics and Economics
• Genetics
• Memetics
• Evolution
• Preventive Medicine
• Nutrition
• Sociology

4- Who are the Main Authors we base our work on?

• Susan Greenfield
• Antonio Damasio
• Robert Ornstein
• William H. Calvin
• Jose M. Delgado
• Howard Gardner
• José Antonio Jauregui
• Nicholas Humphrey
• Stanley Greenspan
• Rodolfo Llinas
• Daniel Denté
• Paul Churchland
• John Crack
• Elkhonon Golberg
• Francisco J. Varela
• Paul Ekman
• Richard .J. Davidson
• Daniel Goleman

5- How is this Knowledge made available to the General Public?

By translating it into a clear and simple language and adapting the means and ways of communication to the level of the general public’s previous knowledge and to their possibilities to approach this new information (appropriateness principle).

In relation to this, the information may be spread through mass publications, such as Activa-Mente magazine, but also through Books, free Conferences, Workshops, Educator and Trainer Courses, Web pages, radio and TV programs, etc.

6- What is a Neuropsychoeducator?

It is a person who, after two years of training, is prepared to transmit to others the main knowledge of the Line of Change system philosophy.

Throughout that period, trainees learn about the knowledge and the tools that provide a better control and development of one’s brain-mind unit, and they train to transmit that knowledge to other members of society.

That is why we can say that a Neuropsychoeducator main function is:

And in order to achieve such high objective, the first part of the journey of Neuropsychoeducators is:

• To work on understanding themselves and the others, while trying to solve their own conflicts.
• To outline their dreams and work towards realizing them.

All of this, which is no mean task, contributes to the road of one's own personal growth, and adds to the building of a fully developed human being.

Neurosis was once defined as an irrational way of thinking, feeling and acting by people who are not normally silly.

Therefore, it is not difficult to understand that the cause of this way of thinking, feeling and acting is:

Ignorance

And that there is only one definitive cure for it:

An education that eliminates the blanks in the knowledge that supports it.

A mere correction of ignorance is capable of producing extremely interesting changes.

Providing people with a new way to interpret their own and other people's behavior, with a more accurate view of reality, might be the cornerstone for the creation of a fairer, more tolerant society.

7- What is the main function of the Brain-Mind Unit (BMU)?

Its main function is to interpret the facts of reality, which are perceived through the senses. If this interpretation is incorrect due to a knowledge deficit (ignorance), it will create an incorrect way of thinking (neurotic or psychotic thinking), which will entail an incorrect way of feeling and acting. And this chain of errors will undoubtedly have an impact on the quality of life of the person and the people he/she interacts with.

Thus, Neuropsychoeducation aims at accomplishing the important mission of transforming ignorance of the inner world into knowledge.

In this way, it seeks to repair the main cause of human difficulties and lead to the creation of an interpreter that supports mental health, rather than mental illness, as it had been happening up to now in the brain-mind unit of a large number of people.

Many forms of human behavior, considered unadjusted or pathological, are simply inadequate reactions, derived from mistaken educational approaches or from a total lack of educational action. And this can only be corrected by incorporating information that corrects such deficit.

In order to reverse this situation, the Brain-Mind unit should be prepared to carry out, among others, the following processes:

• Modeling its own behavior.
• Modeling other people’s behavior.
• Controlling the generation of thought-feeling complexes.
• Creating an objective, conscious and rational interpreter.
• Incorporating scientific thought into the inner world (Neuroscientific Literacy - Psychoneuroeducation).

8- What conditions must an interpreter meet in order to promote mental health?

1. He/She must have an interpretive style based on scientific knowledge (neuropsychoeducation) that allows him/her to correctly interpret their own behavior, as well as other people’s behavior (empathy principle).
2. They must have an optimistic/realistic view, in order to overcome stressful situations in life without feeling overwhelmed and depressed.
3. He/She must be ethical, in the sense of acting based on the Being-Doing-Having philosophy, and also altruistic, as they will contribute to the creation of a better world, regardless of the layer of society they belong to.

9- Can you teach someone to be a good and happy person?

Yes, in the same way that you can teach them how to surf the internet or become a quantum physicist, and neuropsychoeducation is a program aimed at such achievement.

Fostering the development of those learning processes for which a person has limitations, and also recognizing and making use of those for which it is better endowed, must be the basic pillars for the creation of an enriched environment that will bring out the best human abilities, in the executive, cognitive and emotional levels.

10- What is achieved by constructing a neuroscientific interpreter?

A development of scientific meta-cognition. This is an evolved ability of the mind in action that allows it, among other things, to:

• Understand and become aware of automated actions that make it alive.
• Assess whether those automated actions are the most adequate for attaining an optimal mental function, both at the cognitive-executive and at the emotional levels.
• Stop an automated response, if it is assessed as inadequate, and be able to wait until a better reaction is found.
• And develop other automated responses to replace those that are inefficient or inadequate, in order to produce healthier, non-conflicting, effective behavior, and to improve interpersonal relationships as well as one's cognitive-executive abilities.

In short, scientific meta-cognition helps a human being observe the motions of its own mind in a more rational and objective way, with the aim of acquiring a better control of the evolutionary instincts that guide its workings.

11- How do Neuropsychoeducators transmit their knowledge?

They do it individually or in groups (couples, families, schools, companies or specific groups), with the idea that this education is for everyone, regardless of gender, age, social position or any other trait that may generate discrimination among human beings.

12- What is a Neuropsychotrainer?

It is a Neuropsychoeducator that, after one year of special additional training, is trained to help other people train in the application of this knowledge, by following the natural learning process of the brain-mind unit (BMU), which is as follows:

1. It doesn’t know it is ignorant.
2. It realizes it is ignorant.
3. It searches for knowledge to overcome that ignorance.
4. It goes into CONFUSION (a barrier to overcome).
5. It reaches comprehension (it overcomes ignorance in a theoretical manner).
6. It applies the knowledge in an abstract manner (it trains in a practical way, but outside the real situation).
7. It applies the knowledge in a concrete manner (it overcomes ignorance in practice).

This allows people to:

• Control inadequate or destructive emotions.
• Develop constructive emotions.
• Reach personal transcendence.

In order to reach his/her objectives, the Neuropsychotrainer works individually or in groups, based on neuropsychoeducation and with the help of neuropsychotraining techniques designed for shaping behavior.

13- What is the commitment of a Neuropsychooeducator and the Neuropsychotrainer?

• To act as an educated friend to anyone who comes to seek for their advice.
• We choose the term 'friend' because we always treat them with consideration and care, better even than our own family, when this should actually be the ideal behavior for us to relate to everyone around us. An we say 'educated' because he is a professional who not only listens carefully to the other person, but who also has the appropriate knowledge to walk him through the process of solving problems.
• To commit to applying this knowledge on him/herself with the aim of improving his own quality of life. This will train him/her not only to transmit knowledge, but also to teach from his own experience.
• To check that the knowledge he/she spreads reaches the people he is working with, and to make sure that they understand and can use it to correctly interpret their behavior and other people's behavior.
• In the case of the Psychoneurotrainer, to make sure that those who seek counsel manage to solve their conflicts through the techniques they have learnt.
• To create an enriched environment for the trainee, that eases his/her way to personal development.
• To constantly update his/her knowledge, taking into account that science only produces approximations to the truth, and that therefore, knowledge changes and perfects with time.
• Keeping in mind that as human beings, we must first solve our survival issues, to help people feel comfortable in that aspect, and then to help them to progress as human beings. The Line of Change system aims at people transcending their individual worlds and becoming interested in the life of other people, including those outside the closer circles: the rest of the human beings, the other species, and the environment.
  It is also the psychoneuroeducator’s mission to have people reflect over the Doing-Having-Being philosophy of life, and to invite them to know and apply the Being-Doing-Having philosophy of life.

14- What is the DOING-HAVING-BEING philosophy?

It is a philosophy of life derived from the survival instinct, whereby the more one does or has, the bigger chances of success one will have in fulfilling one’s mandate. The problem is that the natural being (a set of genetically determined skills or defects and attractions or repulsions) must generally submit to the mandates that rule over each society, even at the high cost of its mental health. This creates individuals with emotional disorders who are selfish, consumerist, bound to hierarchical and power positions, who don't care in the least about the survival of others.

15- What is the BEING-DOING-HAVING philosophy?

It is the opposite of the previous, since it is based on the individual respecting its natural tendencies and building its being from them.

This results in a happier, mentally healthier person who does the things it really likes to do and who can, as a consequence, have the things that give him/her a better quality of living.

These people don’t confuse their Being with Having or Doing, and they take into consideration the survival of others, which we call transcendence.

16- Is Line of Change a type of Therapy?

No, it is only an education aimed at increasing self-understanding about the nature of the human mind which also gives the possibility of using that knowledge to improve one's cognitive-executive capacities, with the aim of increasing their effectiveness in Complex Emotional Interactions.

17- What are Complex emotional interactions?

They are behavioral acts which imply a relationship with others. They require diplomacy, tolerance, respect and understanding, with the aim of not hurting sensitivities and of avoiding conflict derived from inadequate behavior.

It is undoubtedly here that the lack of comprehension of the true nature of the human mind creates constant problems and inconvenience.

In short, handling complex emotional interactions requires the following qualities:

• Being able to listen.
• Understanding what is heard.
• Being able to predict other people’s behavior.
• Being Empathic.
• Being able to communicate with others according to their needs.

18- When do most human beings fail?

The most relevant deficiencies appear in Complex Emotional Interactions mentioned above, and translate into serious failures of communication. It evidences the failure of human co-existence at all levels, which extends even to nations, which find it increasingly difficult to maintain public order and to protect personal safety and personal property.

This type of failure eventually affects the cognitive-executive functions of the brain-mind unit (BMU).

19- What are the Cognitive Functions of the Brain-Mind Unit (BMU)?

They are:

• Sustained and selective attention
• Language
• Memory
• Creativity
• Reasoning
• Quick learning

The executive functions are supported by the proper working of these.

20- What are the Executive Functions of the Brain-Mind Unit (BMU)?

They are the most evolved abilities of the human mind, which involve:

• Long-term planning
• Realizing a plan and persevering on it
• Foreseeing long-term problems
• Preventing and solving conflict
• Delaying gratification
• Being empathic

21- What are the areas of the human brain that currently show the largest lack of development?

Undoubtedly, it is the pre-frontal lobes, the newest structures in the Brain-Mind unit which, from an evolutionary point of view, are the seat of the higher functions of the human being.

The pre-frontal lobes are divided into modules, with different functional specializations, which are classified into two major groups:

• The external modules, which deal with knowledge of the outer world.
• The internal modules, which deal with knowledge of one’s inner world, as well as that of other human beings (theory of other persons' mind).

22- What are the basic requirements for a good working of the pre-frontal lobes?

Aside from proper nutrition, particularly in the early stages of life, inside and out of the uterus, the internal and external lobes need first quality information, based on scientific knowledge.

But the internal lobes, in particular, also need empathic adults: parents, family members, teachers, and other adults in general. The degree of development of emotional intelligence (the ability to handle complex emotional interactions), will depend on how much one can learn from them.

SCOPE OF THE KNOWLEDGE SPREAD BY THE LINE OF CHANGE SYSTEM

Since the topic is so wide and complex, the Neuroscience studies proposed by the LINE OF CHANGE system focus on structures and mechanisms that are vital for the comprehension and improvement of human behavior.

For that reason, in order to serve our educational purposes, many of the topics developed by Neuroscience will not be approached.

However, those who want to broaden their knowledge may do so by consulting the complementary bibliography.

In that sense, if requested, LINE OF CHANGE can offer a guide for selecting additional materials.

LINE OF CHANGE SYSTEM METHODOLOGY

BASIC PHASES of NEUROPSYCHOEDUCATION and NEUROPSYCHOTRAINING

Phase 1

Reception of basic information for the trainee to obtain the necessary understanding to solve the main problems affecting his/her personal life.

Phase 2

Broadening the level of information in order to transform a Doing-Having-Being (pro-survival) way of life, into a Being-Doing-Having (pro-transcendence) way of life, in order for everyone to reach a more human development. This aims at people having a feeling of transcendence in their lives, that will allow them to improve their quality of life, while taking into account and helping other members of society.

NEUROPSYCHOEDUCATION

In this educational process, we transmit the necessary knowledge for people to understand the basic workings of the Brain-Mind unit by studying the Line of Change Brain-Mind unit model, as well as other complementary models, in order to achieve the following benefits:

• Understanding how the Brain-Mind unit responds to different stimuli in the environment.
• Understanding the reasons behind one’s behavior, as well as the behavior of all the people one communicates and interacts with.
• Learning how to control pro-survival evolutionary instincts.
• Learning how to develop pro-transcendence evolutionary instincts.
• Learning to fully develop cognitive-executive abilities.

Along the process, observations, questionnaires, directed work and tests will be performed in order to evaluate the following points:

• Executive Function,
• Explanatory style of the interpreter:
• Evaluation of cognitive skills.
• Level reached in the emotional tone scale, particularly in what is known as the Chronic Emotional Tone.

NEUROPSYCHOTRAINING

This process has two well-defined stages

Stage 1.

It consists of the application of the knowledge in an abstract setting. Different solutions are presented through the simulation of real-life situations that might cause problems and conflict for the persons being trained.

Stage 2.

It consists of the application of the solutions selected and practiced in the previous stage in a concrete setting (real-life situation).
This stage implies a constant repetition of the behavior modeling process, with the aim of making corrections and finally reaching the highest level of efficiency in the application of the selected solution.

NEUROPSYCHOEDUCATION AND NEUROPSYCHOTRAINING

1. Unifying scientific knowledge derived from the major sciences (hard and soft).
2. Transforming this knowledge in such a way that it becomes comprehensible for everyone.
3. Using this knowledge to contribute to everyone improving the way they handle themselves in the face of conflict and understanding the behavior of others.
4. Considering that both the neuropsychoeducator or trainer and the trainee must tend to become on a par with respect to the knowledge mentioned above.
5. Getting people to develop their cognitive and executive abilities, as well as their empathy, to the fullest, through this knowledge.
6. Through neuropsychoeducation, getting people's Brain-Mind units to project beyond their own survival and to be moved by a need to have a transcendent life (to see and care about others).
7. Having each individual understand the dark points in his/her own behavior in order to modify it and achieve a transformation that will turn him/her into a better human being.
8. Considering that human beings and their perfecting as persons (Mental Revolution) must be the highest longing of a society that considers itself healthy.