Dr. Levine is the originator and developer of Somatic Experiencing® and the Director of The Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute. He holds doctorate degrees in medical biophysics and in psychology. During his thirty five-year study of stress and trauma, Dr. Levine has contributed to a variety of scientific and popular journals. He was a stress consulting for NASA during the development of the Space Shuttle program.

Full title: Plasma oxytocin concentrations and OXTR polymorphisms predict social impairments in children with and without autism spectrum disorder.

The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) and its receptor (OXTR) regulate social functioning in animals and humans. Initial clinical research suggests that dysregulated plasma OXT concentrations and/or OXTR SNPs may be biomarkers of social impairments in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We do not know, however, whether OXT dysregulation is unique to ASD or whether OXT biology influences social functioning more generally, thus contributing to, but not causing, ASD phenotypes. To distinguish between these possibilities, we tested in a child ASD cohort, which included unaffected siblings and unrelated neurotypical controls (ages 3-12 y; n = 193), whether plasma OXT concentrations and OXTR SNPs (i) interact to produce ASD phenotypes, (ii) exert differential phenotypic effects in ASD vs. non-ASD children, or (iii) have similar phenotypic effects independent of disease status. In the largest cohort tested to date, we found no evidence to support the OXT deficit hypothesis of ASD. Rather, OXT concentrations strongly and positively predicted theory of mind and social communication performance in all groups. Furthermore, OXT concentrations showed significant heritability between ASD-discordant siblings (h2 = 85.5%); a heritability estimate on par with that of height in humans. Finally, carriers of the "G" allele of rs53576 showed impaired affect recognition performance and carriers of the "A" allele of rs2254298 exhibited greater global social impairments in all groups. These findings indicate that OXT biology is not uniquely associated with ASD, but instead exerts independent, additive, and highly heritable influences on individual differences in human social functioning, including the severe social impairments which characterize ASD.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Aug 4. pii: 201402236.

Psychosynthesis is one of the first Western transpersonal models of personality and psychotherapy. It was developed in 1910 by the Italian psychiatrist Roberto Assagioli. In this article, basic constructs involving the realms of consciousness, subpersonalities, and the importance of the will, and the neo-Jungian functions, will be introduced and related to the practice of hypnotically mediated psychotherapy. That which makes this model unique is its recognition of the human spirit and how that impacts consciousness and its inclusion as an important element to be included in therapy. A guideline for selecting interventions based upon the patient's symptom will be described as well as a discussion of some of the therapy techniques associated with this model.

Am J Clin Hypn. 2014 Jan;56(3):249-68. Appel PR.

OBJECTIVES: To better understand the effects of misinformation on eyewitnesses of different ages, older and younger adults experienced an event under intentional and incidental learning conditions in a naturalistic experiment using multiple memory tests. METHOD: Following exposure to the event, which was a brief interruption of a group testing session, participants completed several memory tests. For half of the participants, misinformation was embedded in the first cued recall test. On subsequent free recall and cued recall tests, basic scores and misinformation-based memory errors were examined. RESULTS: As expected, younger adults had higher recall scores than older adults. Older and younger adults made the same number of misinformation errors in free recall and in cued recall with intentional learning. However, in the incidental condition, younger adults made more misinformation errors likely due to the information processing strategies they employed after incidental learning. DISCUSSION: Misinformation effects were quite strong, even with a realistic scene and intentional learning. Older adult suggestibility was no worse than that of younger adults. When misinformation was combined with incidental learning, younger adults may have used strategic processing to encode misinformation to their detriment.

J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2014 May;69(3):338-47. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbt014. West RL(1), Stone KR. Author information: (1)Correspondence should be addressed to Robin L. West, Department of Psychology, University of Florida, P. O. Box 112250, Gainesville, FL 32611. E-mail: west51@ufl.edu.

by Tim Brunson, PhD

Brain-related human potential is dependent on the ability of a sector (i.e. neural substrate) to fully perform. Barring damage, the level of functioning depends on the thickness of neural networks in the substrate, the activity or inhibition of the nearby and/or correlated substrates, previous differentiation – as discussed in the previous articles – and the level of energy provided.

The relative focus of energy in the nervous system is associated with mental performance, sensory awareness, motor control, and autonomic functioning. Substrates are considered activated (or active), inhibited, or dormant based upon the relative amounts of activity. Activity or inactivity is related to the amounts of oxygen and nutrition (in the form of glucose) provided to the substrates cells. Modern neuroimaging methods can detect the energy levels of the various substrates.

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Although learning the techniques of hypnosis more then 26 years ago Kevin was more recently certified as a hypnotist through the National Guild of Hypnotists in 2003, as a Certified Forensic Hypnotist in 2005 and as a Certified Clinical Hypnotist in 2006.

Kevin is also certified as a Neuro-Linguistic Programming Trainer through the National Federation of Neuro-Linguistic Psychology.

The exciting tools and techniques that are available to a hypnotist/NLP practitioner serve to help clients make the changes they desire in their lives quickly and easily. These tools and techniques are used in sessions and also taught to clients so they are able to make additional changes on their own.

Kevin is currently serving as the President of the Stateline local chapter of NGH and resides in Southern NH.