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The Neufeld Scientific Research Centre

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Alarm Spectrum

The anatomy of the alarm system 

  • Van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma. New York: Penguin Random House.

How the alarm system is meant to work 

  • LeDoux, J. (1996). The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life, Touchstone. New York: Rockefeller Centre.
  • Ellis, B. et al. (2011). Differential susceptibility to the environment: An evolutionary–neurodevelopmental theory Development and Psychopathology 23, 7–28 # Cambridge University Press.

A review of what alarms

    1. Facing Separation
  • Bowlby, J. (1973). Separation: Anxiety & Anger. Attachment and Loss (vol. 2); (International psycho-analytical library no.95). London: Hogarth Press.
    1. The individuation process
  • Jung, C. (1954). Development of Personality. Volume 17 in The Collected Works of Jung. London: Routledge.
  • Rogers, C. (1961). On Becoming a Person: A Therapist’s View of Psychotherapy. London: Constable.
    1. Peer orientation
  • Coie, J.D., & Gillessen, A.N. 1993. Peer rejection: Origins and effects on children’s development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2, 89-92.

The three tasks of the alarm system

  1. Moves the child to caution:
  • LeDoux, J. (1996). The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life, Touchstone. New York: Rockefeller Centre.
  • May, R. (1977). The Meaning of Anxiety. W. W. Norton.
  1. Moves the child to futility and adaptation.:
  • Vingerhoet, A. (2013). Why only humans weep: unraveling the mystery of tears”.  Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  1. Moves child to courage:
  • Sameroff, A. J. and Haith, M. M., (eds. 1996).  The Five to Seven Year Shift: The Age of Responsibility. University of Chicago Press.
  • Schore, A. (1994).  Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self: The Neurobiology of Emotional Development.  Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  • Neufeld, G. (2014). Making Sense of Anxiety. [DVD or on-line course], The Neufeld Institute. https://neufeldinstitute.org/course/making-sense-of-anxiety/.

Alternative outcomes when alarmed

May, R. (1977). The Meaning of Anxiety. W. W. Norton.

The assumption that before the alarm system can function optimally, the child or adult must be capable of:

  1. Adaptive functioning
  • Vingerhoet, A. (2013). Why only humans weep: unraveling the mystery of tears”.  Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  1. Integrative functioning
  • Sameroff, A. J., & Haith, M. M. (Eds.). (1996). The five to seven year shift: The age of reason and responsibility. University of Chicago Press.

The assumption that deficits in this functioning can result in chronic and untempered alarm

  •  Van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma. New York: Penguin Random House.

The personality attributes associated with a healthy working alarm system

The assumption that the severity of defendedness, gives rise to three kinds of alarm problems: anxiety-based, agitation-based, and adrenalin-based, with a whole spectrum of manifestations

The assumption that recognising the signs of anxiety is the key to addressing the underlying alarm

The proposition of solutions for intervening with anxiety:

  1. limit separations 
  • Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment: Second Edition. New York: Basic Books.

2. provide rest and safety

  • Perry, B. and Szalvalvitz, M. (2006). The Boy who was Raised as a Dog. New York: Basic Books.

3. accept anxiety

4. provide substitutes for anxiety reduction

5. encourage tears and develop courage 

6. Compensating / coming alongside

  • Neufeld, G. (2014). Making Sense of Anxiety. [DVD or on-line course], The Neufeld Institute. https://neufeldinstitute.org/course/making-sense-of-anxiety/ 
  • Kohn, A. (2005). Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason. Atria Books.
  • Kohn, A. (2018). Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes. Houghton Mifflin.
  • Wright, K. (1997). Babies, Bonds and Brains Discover Magazine, October 1997.

7. Bridging the symptoms 

  • Brazelton, T. B. and Greenspan, S. (2000). The Irreducible Needs Of Children: What Every Child Must Have To Grow, Learn, And Flourish Dacapo Press, Perseus Books Group.
  • Panksepp, J. (2012). The Archeology of Mind: neuroevolutionary origins of human emotions. New York: Norton.

8. Bringing alarm into play

  • Panksepp, J. (2010). The Importance of Play Brain World Digital, January 2010.
  • Brown, S. (2009). Play: how it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and invigorates the soul Penguin Group.

“Perceived poor maternal care, maternal overprotection, and maternal overcontrol are associated with hoarding in women with OCD”.

  • Chen, D and others (2017). Parental bonding and hoarding in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Compr Psychiatry,Feb;73:43-52.

Maternal sensitivity and executive functioning, attentional control, regulation:

  • Bernier A, Carlson SM, Whipple N. From external regulation to self-regulation: Early parenting precursors of young children’s executive functioning. Child Development. 2010;81:326–339. 
  • Kok, R., Lucassen, N., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., van IJzendoorn, M. H., Ghassabian, A., Roza, S. J., Govaert, P., Jaddoe, V. W., Hofman, A., Verhulst, F. C., & Tiemeier, H. (2014). Parenting, corpus callosum, and executive function in preschool children. Child Neuropsychology, 20, 583–606.
  • Belsky J, Pasco Fearon RM, Bell B. (2007). Parenting, attention and externalizing problems: Testing mediation longitudinally, repeatedly and reciprocally. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 48:1233–1242.