My guest on Parkinsons Recovery Radio is Annie Hopper who developed The Dynamic Neural Retraining System as a therapeutic approach to rewiring the brain. Thousands of people have applied her novel program for varying chronic illnesses with great success. Focus of the program is to teach participants how to self-direct neuro-plastic changes in the limbic system that normalize threat mechanisms in the brain. This allows the brain and body to move out of a state of survival and into a state of growth and repair, where healing can take place.
What is the Limbic System?
The following is an eloquent explanation Annie emailed to me in preparation for the radio show interview tomorrow.
The limbic system is a complex set of structures in the mid brain that includes the hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala and cingulate cortex. It has been described as the feeling and reacting brain. It is responsible for the formation of memories and is constantly determining our level of safety. The Limbic System assigns emotional
significance to everything we smell, see, hear, feel, and taste. It is known as the seat of social and emotional intelligence and is the brains anxiety switch. It is closely integrated with the immune system, the endocrine system and the autonomic nervous system.
When not functioning properly due to injury or impairment, the limbic system becomes hypersensitive and begins to react to stimuli that it would usually disregard as not representing a danger to the body. This results in inappropriate activation of the immune, endocrine and autonomic nervous systems that can lead to varied and seemingly unconnected symptoms.
This hypersensitivity of the limbic system causes over-firing of protective and threat mechanisms in the midbrain. This can result in distorted unconscious reactions, sensory perceptions and protective responses.
Similar to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), it seems that limbic system hypersensitivity, or dysfunction, involves impairment to structures within the limbic system of the brain that alter connectivity to the pre-frontal cortex. We hypothesize that the hyperactivity in the limbic system fosters inhibition of the inhibitory networks, which allows the over-stimulation of survival mechanisms. This gives rise to an unconscious and persistent fight or flight response associated with limbic system impairment. Over time,
it is possible this state of hyper arousal can weaken the immune system, and affect systems associated with rest, digestion, detoxification, mood stability as well as motor and cognitive function.
The Dynamic Neural Retraining System was developed in 2008 by Annie Hopper as a therapeutic approach to improving these conditions and rewiring the brain using neuro-plasticity principles. Thousands of people have applied the program for varying chronic illnesses and have had great success. The focus of the program is to effectively teach participants how to self-direct neuro-plastic changes in the limbic system that normalize threat mechanisms in the brain. This allows the brain and body to move out of a state of survival and into a state of growth and repair, where healing can take place.
Robert Rodgers PhD
Founder 2004
Parkinsons Recovery
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease