The Ultra Interview With Dr Christine Bishara
11 thoughts on “The Ultra Interview With Dr Christine Bishara”
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I picked up on your description of ACON’s as “chasing the storm” … and I feel like it’s written into my DNA sometimes to chase the storm as you so succinctly put it.
Having a notion to add storm chasing to my bucket list says it all really. I want to find the bad weather and confront it. I want it to show me its power and defeat it. Or at least survive it.
It’s what ACON’s do. We survive the tempest.
We can learn not to and even come to enjoy it, I believe. I have not achieved it yet permanently but have had moments where I can see/feel/taste it, it is the ultimate freedom. But for me it comes with a price at this time, that of being ever vigilant who I let in, knowing who they are before they are allowed in. And the shift from doing the work I know already to doing this new work which is both questionable in long term results still and taxing as it must be consciously done, is proving enormous. I question if I care enough at this point to put in the effort. Maybe just knowing it is an option is enough right now.
AV, totally get it when you say just knowing it is an option is enough right now. I think that is where my head is at also. It’s also at still processing what has gone before and maybe that is what is holding us both back in some ways. If I’m vulnerable to narcissists, I don’t want another relationship right now that could lead me down that same road. It would never be worth it. At the same time I understand the temptation is still there. The notion of having to be ever vigilant is overwhelming at times and I’m finding it easier to sit back and not even contemplate. Sometimes I think someone will have to literally pick up a normal or empath, put them in front of me and say “there you go!” for me to take up with someone again. I can’t trust myself anymore. That’s what’s at the bottom of things for me.
As possible treatment, maybe, I could only imagine inducing SOME neuroplasticity with TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) but the outcome with TMS depends on a large number of individual factors and past experiences, so .. I don´t know, I personally don´t think that you cannot induce something that has never developed.
Brilliant interview, H.G.! LOVED IT!! 😍 Would love to hear more such medical interviews! 🥰🥰🥰😍
And I don´t think the described therapies work on people with NPD because they have a completely different brain activity, also altered brain structure. The anterior cingular cortex, where the empathy is located, lacks grey matter in people with NPD. How on earth will you bring that grey matter back? You cannot! Empathy has never developed in narcissists! How do you want to change the neuronal connections which have been already formed in early childhood?! You cannot undo them! Neuroplasticity is rapidly decreasing with age! As you grow up, only the hippocampus is left with some neuroplasticity.
This is why you either learn some skills during childhood, or you don´t learn them at all – you cannot learn them as an adult anymore because the necessary neuroplasticity is not there anymore. The brains of narcissists have developed completely differently from those of healthy people. You cannot bring back what has never developed! And it has been shown that several brain areas are affected in NPD: Thalamus, Amygdala, prefrontal cortex, anterior cingular cortex, hippocampus. Also the hormone- and neurtransmitter networks work differently in narcissists than in healthy people. Narcissists lack oxytocine for example. That´s one of the reasons why you cannot become intimate, why you cannot bind to people. Oxytocine is the “bonding hormone”.
The genetic predisposition could be by the way linked to tryptophane hydroxylase 2, an enzyme involved in Serotonine signalling. Dopamine signalling is also affected in NPD!
It´´s FAR more complex than we might think!
This video is BRILLIANT, HG. It is short yet it covers so much. As I was reading it, various pieces of your work came to my mind: The Ultra Framework; I’m The Real Genius – Examination of a Parental Narcissist; To Control is to Cope – The Creation of Narcissism; Harry’s Wife: Spray Tan : Mirroring; The Abusive Ex Syndrome and a number of others.
In my view, this video is an absolute must for those training to be GPs; consultants and other professionals in the field of mental health and teachers in schools.
A top shelf piece of work, HG. Thank you for sharing it 🙂
Oh wow, I just got that piece about us needing to “flex our empathic traits”! That is great to know and really relevant right now as it is just dawning on me that I don’t have to respond/react just because my trait wants me to! Very good to know and further “permission” to not go there but to stop and apply logic and then go there if it makes sense. Another piece of the puzzle for me. Thank you!
Also, interesting to see the interaction between you and Dr Bishara, it seemed more formal and down to business than some of your interviews, on both sides. Was this a little bit of mirroring? Or is this the same as anyone would do, reading the other person and meeting them halfway? No trying to lighten it up, just down to business and getting info out there. It is a good style, as they all are, all unique.
Part of it was because of a time constraint.
Oh sure, thank you for the reply.