Fortune Teller Becomes a Troublemaker After Trauma
Image by Tara Winstead
Imagine a bustling metropolis designed for ultimate convenience. Traffic anticipates your arrival, advertisements cater to your interests, weather updates keep you prepared, and groceries magically appear as you crave them. This city thrives on predicting and fulfilling needs. In a similar way, your brain acts as a prediction machine, constantly anticipating, interpreting, and perceiving the world to create your unique reality.
Why would our brain be continuously generating predictions about the future based on past experiences and learned associations?
Predictive processing is an efficient way for the brain to handle information. Predicting helps filter and focus on important information, reducing the cognitive burden of processing everything in real-time. By anticipating likely outcomes and preparing appropriate responses, predictions allow us to make decisions and guide our behavior more efficiently. This approach allows for a more efficient allocation of resources, minimizing the energy required to react to every single stimulus or situation anew. By relying on predictions based on past experiences and learned patterns, the brain can quickly adapt to new situations and make informed decisions with less effort.
How we Know
While the concept of the brain as a prediction machine may sound futuristic, it has been extensively explored in the field of neuroscience in the last three decades. Notable researchers in this area include Professor Karl Friston from University College London, who proposed the “free energy principle” to explain how the brain makes predictions to minimize surprise and uncertainty. His seminal papers on these topics were published in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but he continues to publish influential research on predictive processing and computational neuroscience. Other prominent researchers that I enjoy include Anil Seth, a cognitive neuroscientist known for his research on consciousness and predictive processing, who explores how the brain’s predictive abilities shape our perception of reality, and Lisa Feldman Barrett, a psychologist and neuroscientist known for her research on the theory of constructed emotion. Barrett suggests that the brain’s predictions encompass our emotions by integrating sensory information with prior knowledge and expectations, proposing that our emotions are entirely constructed by our brain.
What It Means for Our Mental Health
Our brain predicts from the next word in a conversation to the movement of the car in front of us on the road. This predictive ability plays a crucial role in every moment of our existence and significantly impacts our mental health. We could also think of it as a mental crystal ball that helps us navigate life’s complexities.
Adversity, chronic stress, or negative biases can distort our predictions. Although the brain’s predictive abilities are generally advantageous, they can contribute to mental health challenges when predictions don’t align with reality. When our expectations clash with actual outcomes, it can result in prediction errors, triggering emotional responses such as anxiety, stress, depression or more serious disorders. Research indicates that mental health conditions like anxiety and depression are linked to the brain’s predictive nature. For instance, individuals with anxiety may have a brain that constantly predicts danger and threat, even in safe situations. Similarly, those with depression might have a tendency to predict negative outcomes and struggle to envision positive possibilities. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), characterized by repetitive, intrusive thoughts and behaviors, is driven by a need to control unpredictable outcomes, showcasing the close link to the brain’s excessive prediction-making.
When we develop a habit of predicting negative outcomes, we may start to anticipate rejection, misinterpret neutral actions as threats, and amplify our concerns. This can create a downward spiral that fuels negativity, impacting our mood, relationships, and overall well-being.
How Trauma Affects It
Trauma, in particular, can taint our predictions with danger, threat, and a perceived need to protect ourselves from enemies that may have existed in the past but are now only projections of our brain in the present.
While we once believed that trauma was stored solely as memory, recent discoveries suggest that trauma becomes integrated into our present experiences, rather than being confined to the past. This means that traumatization alters perception, causing the brain’s predictions to feel and appear real, significantly affecting our relationship with the world.
When discussing perceptions, we refer to the brain’s process of using incoming sensory information, prior knowledge, expectations, emotions, and contextual cues to generate predictions and fill in gaps in sensory input. This process enables us to make sense of the world around us and prepare for potential outcomes. However, if our prior knowledge is negative or traumatic, we may unconsciously fill in those gaps with catastrophic predictions before our senses have fully processed the environment. This tendency to jump to negative conclusions, known as ‘catastrophizing,’ can lead to a biased perception of reality, heightened anxiety, and a sense of hopelessness. This bias towards negative predictions can be particularly prominent in individuals who have experienced trauma or have a history of anxiety or depression.
But how can we actively apply these principles to improve our mental well-being?
Have you ever wondered how the iPhone camera produces such high-quality images? One reason is its use of predictive algorithms, similar to our brain’s predictive processing. These algorithms enhance image quality by predicting autofocus and autoexposure, ensuring that photos are sharp, well-exposed, and properly balanced in various lighting conditions. Similarly, our brain can provide us with “better pictures” of our lives by actively utilizing these principles to enhance our mental health.
Let me share a Anil Seth’s quote,
“what we experience comes just as much from the inside out, as from the outside in”
which holds significant meaning for what I’m trying to convey.
The quote suggests that our internal experiences can manifest externally. For example, you may have had the experience of momentarily seeing the face of someone you were thinking about in the faces of others. Your brain briefly convinces you that your friend is present when they’re not. If the “friend” is someone you fear, you may experience these types of “hallucinations” multiple times a day, more vividly. You wouldn’t be hallucinating; rather, your brain would be projecting the face of your feared friend onto others, based on your thoughts, emotions, and expectations.
Using The Prediction in Our Favor
The good news is that we can use this very feature of our brain to reverse our emotional struggles and foster greater stability. Our brains excel at spotting patterns, even subconsciously. Positive experiences — such as a supportive friend or a delicious meal — reinforce positive predictions, creating an upward mental spiral. Happiness becomes self-perpetuating, as positive experiences reinforce positive predictions, fostering a cycle of emotional well-being. Understanding how our brains make predictions can help us become more aware of our biases and assumptions, leading to improved decision-making and a better internal reality. Although we often live as passive passengers in our mental metropolis of predictions, we don’t have to remain so. By recognizing our brain’s predictive tendencies, we can actively reshape them.
Understanding the brain’s predictive nature can help us develop more effective mental health treatments. By targeting the brain’s predictive mechanisms, we may help individuals suffering anxiety, PTSD, or other mental issues, perceive the world more accurately rather than through a lens of fear or negativity.
Interventions to Improve Our Mental health
Techniques like cognitive-behavioral therapy empower individuals to challenge their negative thoughts, schemas and beliefs, replacing them with more realistic and helpful ones. Mindfulness practices can help them identify and challenge negative thought patterns. Self-compassion becomes the soothing rain that cools anxious downpours.
We can influence the outcome of the brain’s predictions by actively participating in imagining positive outcomes. This concept is often referred to as “positive visualization” or “positive imagery,” and it involves consciously imagining positive scenarios or desired outcomes in order to influence our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in a positive way.
When we engage in positive visualization, our brains generate predictions about the future based on the imagined scenarios. These predictions can then influence our perceptions, attitudes, and actions in ways that align with the imagined outcomes.
Applying Visualization as a Way to Anticipate the Best
Imagination is a remarkably powerful cognitive ability that allows us to mentally simulate experiences, scenarios, and possibilities that are not present in our immediate reality. The brain doesn’t necessarily distinguish between imagined experiences and real experiences in terms of the neural processes involved. When we imagine something vividly, the brain activates many of the same neural networks and regions that would be engaged if we were actually experiencing that scenario in real life.
Here are some exercises and instructions that you can follow to incorporate positive visualization into your daily routine to take advantage of the prediction machine:
Emotional Regulation Exercise
Find a quiet and comfortable space where you won’t be disturbed.
Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to relax your body and mind.
Visualize a positive outcome or scenario that brings you joy, optimism, and confidence. This could be achieving a personal goal, spending time with loved ones, or experiencing a moment of success.
Engage your senses by imagining vivid details such as sights, sounds, smells, and textures associated with the positive scenario.
Allow yourself to fully immerse in the experience and allow yourself to feel the positive emotions associated with it.
Practice this exercise regularly, especially during times of stress or anxiety, to help regulate your emotions and cultivate a more positive outlook on life.
Motivation and Goal Achievement Exercise
Set aside some time each day to visualize yourself achieving your goals and experiencing success.
Create a mental image of yourself accomplishing your goals, whether it’s landing a new job, completing a project, or reaching a personal milestone.
Imagine the feelings of satisfaction, pride, and fulfillment that come with achieving your goals.
Visualize yourself taking action and making progress towards your goals, overcoming obstacles with confidence and determination.
Use this exercise as a source of motivation and inspiration to stay focused and committed to your goals, especially when faced with challenges or setbacks.
Stress Reduction Exercise
When you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed, take a few moments to close your eyes and visualize a peaceful and calming scenario.
Imagine yourself in a serene natural setting such as a beach, forest, or mountain, surrounded by beauty and tranquility.
Focus on your breath and imagine inhaling calmness and exhaling tension with each breath.
Engage your senses by visualizing the sights, sounds, smells, and sensations of the peaceful environment.
Allow yourself to relax and let go of any negative thoughts or worries as you immerse yourself in the calming imagery.
Practice this exercise regularly to reduce stress and anxiety, promote relaxation, and restore a sense of well-being.
Performance Enhancement Exercise
Visualize yourself performing at your best in a specific task or situation, whether it’s a sports competition, public speaking event, or professional presentation.
Create a mental image of yourself executing each step of the task with confidence, skill, and precision.
Imagine the feelings of confidence, focus, and determination that come with performing at your peak level.
Visualize yourself overcoming challenges and obstacles with ease, staying calm and composed under pressure.
Practice regularly to build confidence, improve skills, and boost performance in your chosen domain.
Conclusion
Understanding the predictive brain also sheds light on societal issues. Implicit biases, for example, are our brains making skewed predictions based on past experiences, misinformation, or assumptions about specific groups of people. Recognizing this can foster empathy, education, and the dismantling of harmful patterns of discrimination.
Ultimately, understanding the role of predictive processing in mental health can empower us to take proactive steps towards managing our emotional well-being. The goal is not to erase negativity but to become skilled urban planners, shaping our internal landscapes for greater well-being and resilience. So, let’s reclaim control of our mental city, one mindful step, one reframed thought, and one act of self-compassion at a time.
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