Springer, I'm shocked. Why did you never post the following here?
SUMMARY OF ABSTRACT
- Neglect of attachment needs may leave a person with fewer receptors for endogenous opiods (natural morphine) because these receptors are formed during good attachment experiences
- Chronic childhood trauma and abuse induces repeated flooding of the system with endogenous opiods, one of the consequences of which may be dissociative phenomena (which can pass largely unnoticed in a secretive, isolated, highly adapted childhood where attachment figures have a vested interest in keeping it so)
- The dissociative phenomena are much less functional and understandable in adulthood, especially away from the context they formed in, particularly where denial is the norm (societal also)
- A survivor's capacity for pleasure and well-being may be reduced by their paucity of opioid receptors, making any emotion at all feel overwhelming and out of control
- With consciousness and day to day life preoccupied with PTSD triggers, flashbacks, sleep disturbance, anxiety and depression, somatic consequences etc etc etc a survivor's rare or only experiences of something approaching well-being may be when flooded with endogenous opioids during dissociative experiences, or other opioid-inducing behaviours such as self-harm, addictive behaviours, eating disorders, OCD and so on, and therefore 'habit-forming'
- Therapy sessions may precipitate flooding with endogenous opioids and consequent dissociative phenomena, hence by blocking the opioid receptors with Naltrexone the survivor may be assisted in amending behaviours that have become unhelpful, and would otherwise be extraordinarily difficult to change due to their addictive nature
I can see a time and place for this, though clearly not in isolation, as a survivor's deficiency of benign connections and experiences may also be profound and need addressing. Also the client and therapist working together to avoid flooding as a consquence of therapy sessions seems highly pertinent.
Highly compliant clients may 'hold it together' and co-operate entirely in order to receive affirmation, but then not have the resources to deal with the flooding that may follow after the session.
