Testing: Linking the Mental and Physical

Dr. Chartier employs many tools to help his clients address imbalances in brain function and understand the power of self-regulation.

LIFE QUALITY RESOURCES

For further information about neurofeedback, biofeedback, and psychotherapeutic services offered by Drs. Dan and Lucy Chartier and their associates, contact:

LIFE QUALITY RESOURCES
5613 Duraleigh Road, Suite 101
Raleigh, NC 27612
Telephone: (919) 782-4597

Reflecting on the complementary roles of art and science in diagnosing health problems, Dan Chartier, Raleigh-based psychophysiologic psychotherapist, observes: “I would come down more on the science side in the diagnostic process; the artistic aspect comes more in the treatment elements.

“Psychophysiology,” he explains, “focuses on the relationship between a person’s mental and physiological processes. So, from this perspective, the physical symptoms and activities that we can measure are invaluable in coming to an accurate understanding of a problem as well as guiding treatment.

“When a patient comes in, we are very interested in listening closely to what they have to say about their experience. From there we begin working to figure out how the body is responding or contributing to that emotional distress. Measuring those responses is certainly the scientific part of the process.

“We take symptoms very seriously, but we don’t jump to conclusions about them,” he adds. “Symptoms are important because they’re our subjective experience of something that’s not right. As psychologists and psychophysiologists, we’re very much interested in the mind-body connection and the psycho-emotional response.”

Looking Ahead: Parkinson’s Treatment Possibilities

Dr. Chartier has recently begun extending his methodology to the challenge of Parkinson’s disease. “There are exciting developments in this field,” he notes. “The goal is to focus on the sensory motor strip of the brain cortex in order to deal with different aspects of the movement disorder. This builds on work done in Europe covering the use of neurofeedback, EEG, and brainwave activity to diminish Parkinsonian symptoms.”

“We’re looking for the most rapid way possible to help people with motor disorders regain lost movement or stop unwanted movement, in a way that’s relatively easy—using feedback techniques. The software is designed to gently nudge the brain more and more into that balanced, corrective frequency pattern.

“It’s very early in the process,” he acknowledges, “but we’re encouraged by some early studies that have shown that this new behavior modification can deter or diminish the progression of the disease.”

Dr. Chartier uses various forms of testing to understand and quantify how the brain and nervous system are functioning. “We don’t guess, we test,” he says, “with a variety of tools. Physiological measurements—of body temperature, blood pressure, or brain wave activity, perhaps—help link a presenting symptom, such as anxiety or pain or depression, with what’s going on in the body physically. By making those connections, we can begin the process of moving beyond words to objective physical realities, where healing work can occur.”

The Science of Testing

While symptoms may be subjective, psychophysiological testing is not. Dr. Chartier explains how something as simple as the temperature at a fingertip can be key to symptomatic relief. “For a normal, healthy person, relaxed in a reasonably warm room, that peripheral temperature should be around 90 degrees,” he explains. “When it’s not, that’s a strong indication that the body’s in chronic fight-flight mode, which may be related to a long history of feeling pressure or stress, creating a sense of threat. And that’s because, under stress, the body reacts by constricting blood vessels, causing cool fingers.”

For a patient feeling anxiety, Dr. Chartier can measure things like fingertip temperature to see how the physical body is reacting in relation to how the patient reports feeling. That same measurement can also help to monitor treatment progress as the patient learns to manage the anxiety and the fingertips begin to warm.

In cases of emotional trauma and anxiety, Dr. Chartier typically sees the brain stuck in a faster rhythm. “One patient used the terminology to describe her inner experience as a movie reel clipping along so rapidly, she could barely see what was on each frame of the movie,” he recalls.

“Her brain sped faster to avoid acknowledging something distressing. But she learned how to calm herself, relax her muscles, and even balance her dominant brain ‘rhythm,’ she was able to slow the movie down to process what had happened, putting it firmly in her past.”

With individuals on the autism spectrum or with ADD symptoms, Dr. Chartier often sees the opposite: excess slowing in certain areas of the brain. “In all these cases,” he says, “the treatment involves finding balance. If those brain patterns are associated with dysfunction, we try to speed up the slow ones and slow down the fast ones. And, when combined with psychotherapy, biofeedback, neurofeedback, and another intervention called Nexalin TES can help people develop new and healthier brain patterns.”

Even during the height of the pandemic and social distancing, Dr. Chartier has found alternatives, including home equipment that allow him to continue to use his characteristic data-driven approach to continue to support behavioral change with his patients.

The Art of Treatment

The artistic aspect of Dr. Chartier’s work centers on getting to know each individual patient beyond just their “numbers.” “There are some patients,” he notes, “like one college professor I worked with some years ago, who insisted: ‘Give me the data, tell me what the formula is, and I will be able to work at this.’ That type of individual may not be amenable to or even willing to discuss healing states.

“But for other patients, in order to successfully move their numbers in the right direction they need to talk about and hopefully resolve some life conflicts. And that’s where the psychotherapeutic aspect of my work becomes more engaged,” says Dr. Chartier, “as opposed to just the science or the numbers.

“That said, it’s the connection between the ‘talk’ and the ‘numbers’ that’s important, and critical to the healing process,” observes Dr. Chartier. “Time and again, I’ve watched people talk about something that may be interfering with personal peace while being monitored by EEG or other equipment. And as they share that aspect of hurt or pain or guilt, the numbers change.

“If we’re able to recognize and acknowledge the realities that we have lived through that have left that residual impact and find that through acknowledgment and recognition,” explains Dr. Chartier, “we can let go of the physical reaction.”

For some people, unpacking traumatic histories is a key part of helping them to address chronic conditions, for others, the healing path is different. “The art is in attempting to work out the most beneficial way to help each individual,” explains Dr. Charter. “By following their lead, we leverage a range of different methodologies for treatment.”

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