05/15/2025
Wonderful information!
TITRATING RECOVERY FOR BEN
BEN stands for Babyhood Emotional Neglect. BEN occurs when caregivers fail to attend enough to the emotional needs of an infant in the first 3 yrs of its life. Specifically, the caregivers fail to provide sufficient identification, acknowledgement and co-regulation of their infant’s emotions. And, without sufficient co-regulation, the energies of emotion can be perceived as threatening inside the body, causing the nervous system to wire itself as Yang Phobic. The yang energies of emotions and life become contained and restricted by the neurophysiological container of functional freeze.
Healing from BEN is totally possible … if the work is done in a titrated way. But what does that actually mean practically? First, let’s look at the word “titration”.
Titration is a term from chemistry. It means:
"a METHOD or ACTIVITY of finding exactly how much of SOMETHING there is in a system by gradually adding measured amounts of ANOTHER SUBSTANCE that REACTS to it in a known way."
So, applying the above to working with BEN we get the following:
👉 The METHOD or ACTIVITY is tracking of the felt sense; tracking the nervous system speaking in the body.
👉 The SOMETHING is the threatening yang inside; the unspent, unprocessed early life emotions.
👉 The OTHER SUBSTANCE is gentle yang explored in the present moment, e.g., looking at a plant in the room; thinking about a favourite person or pet.
👉 The REACTION is the behaviour of the threatening yang in response to gentle yang
Now, connecting to some gentle yang can often appear to produce a “reaction”, e.g.,
❓ a tiny bit of relaxation somewhere within; or
❓ a little less tension in some muscles; or
❓ breathing feeling a little more spacious or deeper.
However, none of the above are actually the “reaction” of the “something”, (the threatening yang) to the “other substance” (the gentle yang). Instead, they are indications of a shift in BEN’s nervous system containment strategies for the “something” (the threatening yang). They are actually interim responses. Mistaking these interim responses for the reaction will likely lead to revisiting more gentle yang without knowing the full results of the first exploration. Titration of the method and activity is lost. Too much gentle yang will be added too fast too soon – characteristics that emulate the experience of trauma.
Instead, we need to continue tracking for the reaction to BEN’s neurophysiological container easing a little. Tracking for signs that the threatening yang has more space to move inside; more opportunity to make different connections and to produce different interactions. Perhaps some emotion rises … Perhaps muscular constriction strengthens … Perhaps it is no longer possible to track the body and instead attention shifts to mentalising … All of these are the ultimate response (reaction) of our titration activity. It is these responses that help quantify the quantity of threatening yang that mobilises after connecting to a quantity of gentle yang. It is this information that is critical for working effectively with trauma healing for BEN, (and indeed all other forms of trauma), not the interim responses. With the information of the ultimate reaction, trauma therapy can be finely attuned to BEN’s nervous system as it is in that moment, on that day, as influenced by current life situation in relationship to trauma history. This is the way that titration expertly guides the work.
For more information on BEN:
Introduction to BEN:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18zNEaPosW/
BEN's LACK OF ALIVENESS
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1RNMGoFxxu/
BEN's YANG PHOBIC LIFE
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DyoUg5jur/
BEN's LOVE OF DRAMA &THREAT
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1BqHaNTtEQ/
RESTORING BEN's SENSE OF ALIVENESS
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19yCQFreDF/
BEN & ADVERSE BABYHOOD EXPERIENCES
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/18d2Jj3na2/
BEN's SECRET FRIEND
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/15EfCTGnDu/
BEN's VIOLENT RAGE IN ADOLESCENCE
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1A6iLvBUcz/
BEN & CHRONIC ILLNESS
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1689jUNEMd/
BEN's MENTAL ILLNESS
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/16LR4gwtZX/
EMOTION & THUS BEN DRIVES BEHAVIOUR
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19UGvs5vNM/
BEN's CONNECTION TO DISRESPECT
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15TCt3zfGN/
