Whether the sensitivity is a cause or result of limited ability to control the interface between the internal and external worlds, I have no idea. Most likely, in a complex-adaptive brain, it plays both parts in a feedback loop: the high sensitivity demands too much of the filtering system, causing it to fail, and the failure of filtering results in too much traffic which increases excitation.

Early on I recognized the relationship between allergies/asthma and hyper-immune responses. Environmental phenomena that most brains ignore as a threat triggers excessive immune responses in these brains. This hyper-sensitivity/lack of screening has a sensory element as well. Light/sound/touch at levels perfectly comfortable to most people can be unbearable to brains lacking Filtering. And it involves hyper-reactivity–lack of editing function–with speech and actions leading to impulsive responses–acting or speaking without thinking. Furthest out on the Filtering continuum are brains in the autistic spectrum.

The thalamus is a sensory gating facility. We could call it the Chief of Staff to the President, which determines who gets in and who does not, for how long and how often. We know the Chief of Staff doesn’t make these decisions without guidance from the President–he’s a functionary, not the boss. And we know the thalamus gets its guidance from the prefrontal cortex. That’s the connection between so-called ADHD and these other issues.

When the PFC is not up to the job–or can’t handle it when the flow of demands gets higher–the system breaks down. In many cases it is very recognizable that when a client can move freely or is in a situation with limited sensory “noise” or where his brain’s normal “scanning” function is appropriate, he is highly functional and may even excel. The state is not dysfunctional, but it is severely limiting, if it is a brain’s only option. Hence, HEG/LIFE training is a powerful tool in helping the brain broaden its options.

The thalamus, in addition to being a filtering station for data entering the cortex to be processed, is the brain’s most prominent rhythm generators. Like a drum machine, it contains nuclei that produce slow theta (4-6 Hz), slow alpha (8-10 Hz), fast alpha (10-12 Hz) and (in the sensory-motor cortex between C3 and C4) so-called Sensory-Motor Rhythm (12-15 Hz). Brains with Filtering patterns often show lots of slow theta at C3/Cz/C4. We can’t see the sub-cortical thalamus on a cortical EEG, because it doesn’t have pyramidal neurons, but we can read on the surface how activated it is by looking at the relative levels of theta (least energized) and SMR (most energized). Hence, training to increase SMR while decreasing theta (and high-beta related to high levels of excitation) in the sensory-motor cortex can improve the function of the Chief of Staff.

The 4C RH bipolar protocol combines trainings to reduce sensory sensitivity, motor reactivity, runaway thinking and emotional instability all in one. As such, it can be hugely important in helping to solve the problem on the excitability side. Reducing this while improving the screening function at both ends, should make a significant difference in a brain’s ability to operate much more successfully in commonly-experienced situations.