wakey,

You are obviously not a believer. You have every right to your opinions and beliefs. My comment to nwsmith was in context with my knowledge of him as a believer. Prayer, for believers, goes far beyond positive thinking. Trying to explain the power of prayer to a non-believer is next to impossible. No offense aimed at you and no offense taken from your comments.

Needless to say, I will try to explain just a bit of the Christian position on thoughts and anxiety. I hope this post does not get edited because there are many believers who follow this forum.

The Bible says, "Take every thought captive....." and "Be anxious for nothing....." Also, my signature verse of "Be still and Know that I am God" or a better translation is "Cease striving and know that I am God."

I am only quoting the pertinent parts. I am not taking these scripture quotes out of context.

These are commands to the believers. God only commands believers to do things that He has already given them the resources to do. Some will need the help of counsel. Others will have the maturity in their faith to apply sound Biblical principles to respond to the commands.

Oddly enough, you made your comment to someone who has been considering writing a book for believers who need help at understanding the scripture verses about anxiety and thoughts. If I can get so I can stay focused on a writing task, I hope to start writing my manuscript.

I am not saying that some with anxiety may not need medical help. But, medical help alone or even with secular counseling will often fall short of a believer's needs.

The counseling industry has a treatment protocol called CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy) This is no different that the Biblical mandate of 'Taking every thought captive.' The believer has an extra dimension of faith to add to the equation. CBT started in the 1960's and behavioral therapy in the 1930's. "

Taking every though captive " dates back millennia. It was widely taught in the first century AD and the other commands and teachings such as "Be still" date back a few thousand years earlier. The positive impact on society and individuals is well documented.

But again, you may choose to believe otherwise. Not a problem for me.

My best to you.

I'm an averagely spiritual person - no weird stuff - but I do believe in the power of prayer. If you really believe you are speaking to your creator you can learn about yourself and open yourself to true honestly which always helps.

I think it makes sense to seek help from God but also doctors and family. Exercise (gradual) and vacation (lack of household and work stress) seemed to help me heal in the most significant ways.

well put Mark.

Same to you. I do not mean to offend, and there should be nothing offensive about what you or I say. It's quite clear that whoever believes on this board will continue to do so, and of course that's their choice and right. You are also quite experienced with PCS, so I respect your advice and opinions. I know you are just trying to help people do their best to recover.

But I do think you are doing a great disservice to people by claiming that one can read the Bible as a scientific document--i.e., a document that can tell you how best to deal with emotional and psychological problems. Indeed, it is quite dangerous to do so. Those that have tried to interpret the Bible as a scientific document have been proven wrong over and over again. Galileo is one example. The Church tried to ignore the evidence he amassed against their theories (e.g., falling bodies and helliocentricity), which they claimed came from, you guessed it, the Bible. Darwin is another example.

The point is not that one shouldn't read the Bible. The point is rather that the Bible is a historical document that can't tell you how to heal, or the best methods for doing so. Prayer is a great tool for a great many people. That is fine. But thinking you can buttress that tool with exegesis of the Bible is silly and dangerous. There are likely many tidbits of information in the Bible that one can muster in support of a more general approach to thinking or healing (and likewise for terrible theories and actions); but there is no reason to think these tidbits are anything more than reading onto an existing method or theory, as you seem to be doing with CBT.

Also, trying to muster evidence for such reading is always challenging: "Taking every though captive " dates back millennia. It was widely taught in the first century AD and the other commands and teachings such as "Be still" date back a few thousand years earlier. The positive impact on society and individuals is well documented."

What has had a "positive impact"? Just these words, or some other meditative framework, or something else? To what extent? To whom? Under what conditions? How and where has it been "well documented"? By whom? When? For what purposes? Under what conditions? What does "well documented" even mean? These are conclusions, not evidence or reasoning.

Even if these phrases have been used as part of some larger meditation or prayer framework, it's not clear why reliance on the Bible itself is necessary. Indeed, cherry-picking phrases that seem to have benefits while ignoring the rest does not aid one's recovery or one's understanding of the Bible (or whatever document they are reading). One may be able to find a good way of dealing with pain by relying in part on some Bible verses. Indeed, if one is forced to cherry pick phrases and interpret them onto a theory, one wonders why those phrases are relevantly part of the exercise at all. The theory itself seems to do the work in these cases.

I don't understand why "[t]rying to explain the power of prayer to a non-believer is next to impossible." I think I understand it quite well. I understand what people are trying to do and what they think they are doing. I have (prior) personal experience in the matter, just like you. I think the exercise itself can be useful, but the method for doing it often presupposes a grandiosity that it simply does not require and does not exist.

Best to you, and good luck with your manuscript.

wakey,

You just proved my point.

You said: <Even if these phrases have been used as part of some larger meditation or prayer framework, it's not clear why reliance on the Bible itself is necessary. Indeed, cherry-picking phrases that seem to have benefits while ignoring the rest does not aid one's recovery or one's understanding of the Bible

I did not cherry pick the verses and take them out of context. They are just a small part of a much larger message.

(or whatever document they are reading). One may be able to find a good way of dealing with pain by relying in part on some Bible verses. Indeed, if one is forced to cherry pick phrases and interpret them onto a theory, one wonders why those phrases are relevantly part of the exercise at all. The theory itself seems to do the work in these cases.

I don't understand why "[t]rying to explain the power of prayer to a non-believer is next to impossible." I think I understand it quite well.


Your denial of my explanation shows your inability to understand the power of prayer. Faith is an essential component of Christian belief. Those without faith will struggle to understand and believe.

Anxiety is a combination of physiological events and emotional and thought events. Medicine alone cannot resolve anxiety. Spiritual strength can enhance emotional strength.

It sounds like your experience is with the charlatan 'faith healer' and 'pray it away' self proclaimed 'minister.' I can understand how such an experience can challenge one's ability to relate to a believer's comments. I am sorry if you have had such an experience. Religious leaders of all varieties can be both helpful and damaging. I have seen both sides.

I understand what people are trying to do and what they think they are doing. I have (prior) personal experience in the matter, just like you. I think the exercise itself can be useful, but the method for doing it often presupposes a grandiosity that it simply does not require and does not exist.
>

My position still stands. There is valid help available to believer's through spiritual counseling. Since anxiety can be such a large part of PCS, believer's should be willing to consider the value of spiritual counseling to strengthen their understanding of anxiety.

Please do look into PT and get the work up of your neck. If you are in that much pain, and not healing physically or mentally, do get help for both. Lots of good people here to help you through this. Prayer always helps, You will be in my prayers too. ginnie

nwsmith1984 - A chiropractor may not only make your neck feel better, but could improve the blood flow to your brain which would deliver more oxygen to it and *that* can make it heal faster.

On that note, there is definitely something to be said for exercise. I don't know what you are able to do, but if you can take walks or exercise at all, I highly recommend it because that will also increase blood flow to your brain. How about yoga?

The supplements I take to help me heal are a good multivitamin, B Complex, an additional sublingual B12, Omega 3-6-9, phosphatidylserine, CDP Choline, and I'm going to start taking BCAA's. Some of these supplements were recommended my neurologist and the others were recommended to me by an acupuncturist/nutritionist but my neurologist agreed with him once I mentioned them. (My neurologist would actually prefer I get B12 shots every day, but I haven't anyone in my life to administer them.)

I really like a web based program called Lumosity where they have games designed by neuroscientists for people going through tbi and others who just want to improve their cognitive functioning.

Speech therapy helped me a great deal. See if you can get a referral to a good one who can do cognitive exercises with you. The one I have does multi-tasking exercises and other things with me. There isn't a lot that can be done for memory other than waiting for it to get better. Mine also helped me with something called "word recall" which I would think would be related to memory, but it turns out it is not... In any case some speech therapy might help some areas where you feel deficient.

If you can meditate, or try to meditate, that might help you gain some control of your brain back. (I don't think it could hurt...)

Positive Thinking is HUGE! I try to have a running mantra in my head that goes something like this: Thank you for my healing, thank you for my healing, thank you for my healing...

EstersDoll,

Of all of the natural sources of BCAA's, pork is an excellent source of balanced BCAA's.

The Lumosity programs are designed for cognitive enhancement but have not been researched nor shown to speed up recovery from mTBI's. As such, you should be cautious to not overdo you time spent with the programs.

I have the complete set of Posit Science software and know that it can be easy to over-exert my brain working the exercises. Both Lumosity and Posit Science can tend to show improvements due to the learned ability to improve with the exercises. By that I mean, you learn how to do the exercise and get better because of that learned ability, not from an improvement in cognitive ability.

There is also an enhancement of under-learned cognitive functions. By bringing these cognitive functions up to a normal level, the subject notices an improvement. The value here is enhancing the brain's ability to implement work-arounds and other accommodations.

I have learned new ways of accessing visual memory that are very different than the previous "mind's eye" visual memory where I could visualize in my mind and thus remember. Now, I have learned how to use a non-visual and more intuitive visual memory. It is like I have to ignore any attempt to visualize and instead use a more blind intuition of what I saw. It is like I see on the computer screen a shadow of the object in its proper location that I am trying to remember.
I don't know it this is a visual remnant on the retina or a remnant in the visual processing center of the brain. Either way, I find it works.

Both programs are designed for the aging community and even younger set that have become fearful of Alzheimer's Disease. The research shows that the exercises do not delay the end deterioration but do delay the onset of disabling symptoms. The progression is delayed until the end when it takes place over a shorter span of time. A worthwhile gain but not an extender of lifespan.

What ever way one works to improve, getting some level of improvement is what matters. I knwo that my measured abilities are the same as they were many years ago. But, my abilities to use other skills and functions to work at a higher level has allowed me to overcome many of my dysfunctions during the good days. My bad days do not seem to be any better or worse.

I got a bit lost on who it was that didn't have anyone to admisister B12 shots. Actually you can learn to do this. I have alergy to bee stings and a number of other things. I self admisister the epi pen. and for sure diabetics do it all the time. don't be afraid of doing this to your self. Once you do it the fear goes away. ginnie

**I do not see how this follows at all.