ABSTRACT
The first card in is inspired by neuroscientist Paul Maclean's triune brain metaphor and child psychiatrist Daniel Siegel's ‘the brain in the palm of your hand' model. Maclean's model offers a much-simplified account of how the parts of the brain interrelate with each other and is based on the theory of evolution. Together with Van der Kolk's definitions, the author has found a simplified interpretation of Maclean's model particularly useful when introducing the subject to clients, making the material more accessible to a wider audience. The metaphor of the ‘high road and the low road' has been used to describe the processes which occur when clients have access to their rational brain and when they are activated by their emotional brain. There are four main options when travelling the low road: flight, fight, freeze or shutdown. These options can be divided into either a mobilised or an immobilised reaction.
