Over the course of a 30-year longitudinal study, a Harvard psychologist examines attachment patterns to find if any predicted “borderline personality” and suicidality in late adolescence. We will discuss the significance of these findings, including some thoughts of why ‘borderline personality’ is enclosed in quotation marks.

More than a decade ago, a clinical neuroscientist in Canada found that the Default Mode Network (DMN), the brain network that gives rise to a sense of self, develops poorly in those subjected to neglect and abuse in childhood. This research carries profound implications, especially in its connection to the reactivity of the brainstem, a topic that we will explore.

In another corner of the world, a psychiatrist grew despairing of the treatment outcomes in developmental trauma. In response, he investigated the brain’s response to EMDR in a ‘treatment resistant’ colleague and observed a significant flare of the brainstem (we’ll take a look, too, at the concept of ‘treatment resistance’). He became a student of the brainstem and developed a theory and a therapy to address it. We will review this therapy, Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) and the first clinical outcome study. It is highly effective. During this same period, neurofeedback clinicians have been working to better understand how to quiet fear and calm reactivity. Evidence grew that the brainstem initiated these responses so the central question has become, how do we reach and influence the brainstem with neurofeedback.