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1. Happiness Isn’t
Brain Surgery:
The Mind-Body Connection
Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes PhD, LPC-MHSM, LMHC, NCC
Executive Director, AllCEUs
Host, Counselor Toolbox
President, Recovery and Resilience International
Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery

2. Objectives
 Learn about your central control center, the brain
 What role does it play in
 Emotions
 Thoughts
 Physical Reactions/Sensations
 How things can go wrong
 How to fix those things
Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery

3. The Brain
 Your central control center
 Takes in information
 Compares it to what it already knows (or thinks it
knows) from prior experiences
 Makes a decision about what to do.
 Based on that decision it activates action
centers which excrete neurotransmitters in
order to produce the desired reaction.
Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery

4. Neurotransmitters
 Chemical messengers take “orders” to and
from the brain through the nervous system
 The Big 6 fall into 3 main categories
 Excitatory: Dopamine, Norepinepherine,
Glutamate
 Inhibitory: GABA, Serotonin
 Neuromodulator: Acetylcholine
Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery

5. Neurotransmitters Function
 Emotional
 Happiness
 Sadness
 Anger
 Fear
 Mental
 Concentration
 Learning
 Decision Making
 Physical
 Sleep behavior
 Eating behavior
 Libido
 Gastrointestinal
Functioning/motility
 Pain perception
Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery

6. Neurotransmitters cont…
 An imbalance in neurotransmitters will cause
emotional, mental, or physical “distress”
 What causes imbalances
 Too much “stress” for too long
 Poor nutrition
 Insufficient sleep
 Addictive behaviors
Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery

7. Your Stress Sensor: Peripheral Nervous System
 Your nervous system continues to feed
the brain information about whether
the threat is:
 Continuing and something else needs to be
done
 Subsiding and your brain can tell your body
to relax.
Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery

8.  How does all this happen?
 How does the brain “know” what is threatening?
Lets find out…
Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery

9. The Brain
 When you were born, there were very few things
that were “meaningful”
 You assigned meaning to things through
observation and experience
 When something happens you compare it to prior
experiences to decide what to do
Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery

10. The Brain
 Unfortunately until about age 7 children’s
interpretation of behavior is:
 Centric—Based on one thing at a time
 Concrete
 All-or-nothing
 Egocentric
Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery

11. The Brain
 Interpretations are only as good as:
The information coming in
The prior knowledge
 Things that are learned in early childhood need to
be re-examined as we grow
 Once you were in middle school you could be
taught to start
 Considering multiple aspects of a situation
 Using abstract reasoning (Looking for other
interpretations of events)
Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery

12. Example 1
 Child brings home report card
 Child hears negative messages from a parent
Why did you get a C, I know you are not that stupid.
Why can’t you do anything right?
 Child interprets
All-or-Nothing: I cannot do anything to make my parent proud.
Egocentric: I am not lovable.
 Future behaviors
Desperately seeking approval
Fears of abandonment
Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery

13. Example 1 Alternative
 Child brings home report card
 Child hears neutral or positive messages from a parent
 Why did you get a C in math? It seems like you might need some
help in that subject.
 You are really smart and a good student, what is causing you
difficulty?
 Child Interpretation
 All-or-nothing needs to be refocused to specifics
 Egocentric & Single focused needs to be broadened to the big picture
 Future behaviors
 Child starts learning to examine specific behaviors
 Child is able to identify strengths and weaknesses
Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery

14. Example 2
 Parent abandons the family
 Child interprets
My parent has to love me.
My parent left.
My parent must hate me.
I am unlovable.
 Result: Adult feeling inadequate, fearing abandonment
and seeking external validation that was not received
from parent
Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery

15. Example 2
 Parents divorce but have shared custody
 Child interprets
My parent has to love me.
My parent is still in my life.
My parent will always be there for me.
 Result:
Adult feeling adequate and able to provide internal
validation
Adult feeling secure in relationships (even if someone
goes away they will be back)
Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery

16. Example 3
 Child witnesses domestic violence
 Child sees mom get hurt and “make” Daddy drink and
hit her because she “makes” him mad.
 Child hears father criticizing mother and telling her
how useless she is
 Child interprets: If I do not do absolutely everything
right I will be unlovable and useless.
Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery

17. Example 3
 Future behaviors
Shrouded in fear of failure either causing the person to
refuse to try, or to be a perfectionist.
Fears of abandonment
Need for external validation
Child has learned that he or she is responsible for other’s
feelings and behaviors
Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery

18. What’s the Point
 Much of your anxiety and distress comes from
 Faulty interpretations of prior experiences creating
faulty interpretations of present experiences
 The brain using outdated experiences
 Negative Messages = Threat  Stress Reaction
 When you constantly bombard yourself with
negative messages
 Your body constantly perceives a threat
 You are on “high alert” all the time  Exhaustion,
depression, hopelessness & helplessness
Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery

19. Summary
 The brain is your central control center
 Through observation and experience it “learns”
what is okay and what is threatening
 Things that were threatening or misinterpreted in
the past may now need to be re-examined
 By addressing those old, unhelpful thoughts and
interpretations you can reduce physical and
mental stress and anxiety.
Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery