Neurological Disorganization
12/10/08 08:00 Filed in: Switching
Switching (Neurological Disorganization) can be compared to an electrical problem in the nervous system. The signaling within the nervous system has gotten reversed in one or more of the three dimensions. The most common type of switching is right-left switching. If we compare this to a direct current electrical system (like in a car), right-left switching is like a reversal of electrical polarity. Where you should find a positive polarity, you find negative instead.
Everyone with learning difficulties or coordination difficulties has (at least most of the time) right-left switching. The extreme of the range of learning difficulties is called dyslexia. In my experience, all dyslexics are right-left switched. Right-left switching is characterized by mental confusion and/or physical discoordination. When you hear yourself say "26" when you meant "62", or when you point to the right and say, "turn left here", you can be sure that you have become "switched".
At the end of a long day of sessions with patients, I have often said, "Turn over onto your back". When my patient replies, "I am already lying on my back.", I know that I have become switched (and correct this before proceeding).
Switching can have many different causes (physical-structural, emotional-mental, chemical-nutritional). A typical cause is a prior injury such as a sprained ankle that caused excess or sudden stretching of various proprioceptors in the involved ligaments, tendons and/or muscles. Although the physical damage may be long healed, the damaged proprioceptor may still be signaling that there has been a recent injury. As a result, the central nervous system responds correctly to this now incorrect signal and, as a result, causes inappropriate facilitation and inhibition of various muscles. As a result, the posture and balance of the body is incorrect, causing more compensatory reactions. This is one reason that people may still limp, even years after a leg or hip injury has healed.
Nutritional deficits, exposure to allergens or other toxic chemicals can produce switching.
Emotional or mental stress can cause switching. A conflict between what you should do and what you want to do often causes switching. When switched, you can do what you want to do and it seems or feels to you to be the right thing to do (even when it isn't). A typical example is the fat person who knows that they shouldn't eat ice cream... and then enjoys eating a half-gallon (two liters) and literally can't stop until they are unable swallow another bite.
Under enough stress, everyone will go into a state of right-left switching. When you start bumping into tables and door jams, you have probably become switched.
A child who is switched may find that his mind works well, but he is discoordinated. When the other kids make fun of how he throws a ball, he may decide that he will never be good at sports and become a "book worm" - a good student with a bad relationship to his body. This can inhibit the quality of his whole life.
People who are typically or always switched have real problems that inhibit their optimal functioning. Finding and correcting the underlying causes of switching can be a very important step toward health, optimal functioning, and a happy, well-adjusted life.
--Dr. Robert Frost