Groundbreaking Study: NET Changes Your Brain!

In this blog I wanted to share with you a groundbreaking study on Neuro-Emotional Technique (NET). Many of you may have experienced this technique in the clinic and may be aware of its usefulness to assist in helping reduce the stress associated with traumatic events and experiences. Often we use NET to assist with things like; relationship issues or break-ups, childhood traumas, significant emotional events, issues at work and around money. 

A long awaited study has provided more evidence that NET really does change the way your brain responds to stress and trauma. Read on for an interesting summary of the results.

THE EFFECTS OF NET ON BRAIN PHYSIOLOGY IN PATIENTS WITH TRAUMATIC STRESS SYMPTOMS - 2017 Daniel A. Monti  et al.

People often experience symptoms of PTSD such as anxiety, stress, and fear from traumatic life events. Physician researchers (funded by the ONE Research Foundation) conducted a study on Neuro Emotional Technique (NET), a mind-body therapy, at The Marcus Institute of Integrative Health at Thomas Jefferson University. The study found NET effectively and rapidly reduced symptoms of traumatic stress events in patients who had experienced life-threatening medical issues.

“The results of this study were really quite dramatic,” said principal investigator Daniel Monti, M.D., MBA, and Director of the Marcus Institute. “In just four to five brief sessions, patients who received NET reported much less distress, their overall emotional state improved significantly and the way their brains reacted to stress cues normalized.”

The study focused on 23 patients who experienced traumatic stress symptoms that lasted for at least six months as a result of distressing cancer-related events. A select number of patients received NET and the rest were waitlisted to a control group.

The treatment group received a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) while listening to the self reported story of their distressing memory before and after NET. After receiving NET, the treated patients saw reduced stimulation in a number of brain structures associated with the perception of emotional traumas.

As an example, the parahippocampus is known to be activated by various types of traumatic stress, such as post-traumatic stress disorder in war veterans and victims of sexual assault. In the image below, the parahippocampus is no longer active after the patient had received NET (fig.2).

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 1: In these fMRI images we can actually see what the brain looks like during the re-experiencing of trauma before a patient is treated with NET.

Fig. 2: This pair of post-treatment fMRI images powerfully demonstrates how the brain has returned to normal healthy functioning as a result of the NET intervention — even when the patient is again exposed to the same information that was traumatic before treatment.

“This is the first study, that our team is aware of, that assessed the combined neurophysiological and clinical effects of an intervention for traumatic stress symptoms, and most importantly, offers a demonstrable solution,” Dr. Monti said.

Study participant Elizabeth Koniz, a breast cancer survivor, described high anxiety prior to receiving NET. “I was fairly skeptical and [now] feel like I am living proof this works,” she said.

Researchers attribute the success of the intervention to the combination of exposure techniques with nervous system feedback, which uniquely allows therapists to gauge the patient’s subjective distress and how the body is reacting to it.

“This provides extra information that is not usually part of standard interventions and, potentially, is what makes NET an especially efficient and efficacious therapeutic solution for traumatic stress symptoms,” Dr. Monti said.

Stress is something that we will all experience in various forms at one point or another. Most of the time it is temporary. However, increasingly our body's ability to cope and regenerate by itself is becoming more limited. Constant demands, time pressures and compounded stress of physical, nutritional and emotional origins can contribute. 

It's vital we learn to combat these demands and I'm sure NET will continue to become much more widely accepted as an effective process to reduce our stress and the impact stress has on our brain and body.

Feel free to forward this on to anyone you think may benefit from reading and reducing their stress levels!

Citation: Monti, D.A., Tobia, A., Stoner, M. et al. “Neuro emotional technique effects on brain physiology in cancer patients with traumatic stress symptoms: preliminary findings.” J Cancer Surviv (2017). doi:10.1007/s11764-017- 0601-8.

Cushman Jr., John H. (2012, February 24). New Study Gives Scope and Cost of Combat-Related Conditions Among Veterans. Retrieved from http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-ptsd-costs-families- 2014-04- 04
 

Kind Regards,


r Mark Symonds 

CHIROPRACTOR / NET PRACTITIONER
NATURAL INTEGRATIVE HEALTHCARE
BChiroSc, MChiro, C.C.W.P., NLP Master Coach

For more information or to book in for an appointment call me on 8667 3023!!