Your therapy was by far the best one offered by the hospital". T. H.

"The routine makes my heart pound, it's exhilarating". A. L.

"Your process is a lot easier to do than many I have studied in the past. I hope you are passing this process along to some psychiatrists as they will appreciate the multiple endorphin rushes that occur". V. E.

 

 

Accelerated-State Conditioning (TM)

 

Copyright 1997-2008

 

 Neal Engelking

 

 

 

“A revolutionary, fun, 5 MINUTE DAILY, motivational exercise, designed to dramatically elevate mood, eliminate unwanted habits and addictions, reduce pain and boost the immune system, WITHOUT MEDICATION OR DRUGS”.

 

This internet booklet is provided free to the public by the ASC Institute, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to furthering human growth and development.  No reproductions shall be made without permission of the author.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                            Table of Contents

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter One: Definition:

Wow, that's new and different                                                          

.

Chapter Two: The Theory:

How can something this fast and fun work so well?

 

Chapter Three: The Exercise:

Tricky but simple once you get it; I love it

 

Chapter Four: The Benefits:

Shouldn't everyone be using this?

 

 

Chapter Five: History:

Yep, I can see how that idea sprang forth!

 

Chapter Six: Final Notes & Thoughts:

Gosh, this just gets better and better1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                         Chapter One: Wow, that's new and different!

 

 

 

"I don’t know what to do!” cried Scrooge, laughing and crying in the same breath; making a perfect Laocoon of himself with his stockings. “I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel,  I am as merry as a school-boy. I'am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world! Hallo here! Whoop! Hallo!” 

(From a Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens.) 

 

In 1976 I discovered, quite by accident, AN AMAZING IDEA! One that has lead to the development of an extremely powerful tool for dramatically elevating mood and eliminating unwanted habits. A technique so powerful, that with practice, a person can get from a normal mood, or even a depression, to feelings of joy and elation within a few minutes! An idea which has led over the years to the creation of a brief, (five minutes daily on average), "mental tune-up" exercise of IMMENSE POWER! An exercise that not only elevates mood and permanently changes behavior, but results in what I’ve come to believe, are substantial reductions in chronic pain and significant boosts to the immune system as well.

 

This revolutionary routine has helped me cope with depression, lethargy, extreme shyness, sales-call reluctance, and stage fright. Although advised at times to consider using psychiatric medications, I chose to find alternatives. Today, at 66, I'm working, dancing and hiking like some one half my age, without medication or stimulants of any kind! Years of dealing with mood swings, especially depression are virtually gone and I attribute these blessings primarily to the motivational exercise I’ve developed over the years and named "Accelerated-State Conditioning"(TM). What I’ve learned to develop with Accelerated-State Conditioning, among other things, is the ability to generate an intense change in "internal chemistry", resulting in an immediate and dramatic elevation in mood, by performing a very specific behavioral routine in association with a completely new and unique "conditioning" technique.

 

With Accelerated-State Conditioning, I’ve accidentally learned how to create a series of powerful RUSHES, GOOSEFLESH or CHILLS every few seconds for five minutes straight, even longer if needed. In other words I can repeatedly induce, AT WILL, very strong surges of what I suspect are, endorphins, serotonin, dopamine and many other mood-elevating  peptides, neurotransmitters, and neurohormones.  These chemicals are natural, brain and body-made chemicals associated with positive emotions. And, by flooding my system with such large quantities (far more than life normally generates), I can create an immediate HIGH of such INTENSITY, that my mood ESCALATES DRAMATICALLY IN JUST A FEW MOMENTS.  I am instantly FLOODED WITH EUPHORIA AND JOY BEYOND BELIEF!

                                                                                                                                                                                             

And what I've learned is that I can “self-produce” these chemicals every few seconds during this daily exercise using a completely new "conditioning technique" (a term used by psychologists to describe a type of learning). I've taught myself how to produce and tolerate more endorphins and related chemicals in five minutes than previously I would experience in weeks, sometimes months!  Now I can imagine you thinking, if Accelerated-State Conditioning, is this powerful why haven't I heard of it? Why don't mental health professionals know about it and teach it? Legitimate questions, to be sure. Well, it gets a little complicated, but one of the reasons has to do with my prior fears!

 

Accelerated-State Conditioning is a powerful, mood elevating exercise that has the potential to induce a "manic state" in rare users, like those inclined to dramatic mood swings. And, having a history of mood swings, over the years, I've experienced long periods of time when I was afraid to use the routine for fear of becoming manic. But now I've come to realize, mania isn't a problem for me, when using the routine with caution. However, even though I now use the routine daily, as a precaution, BEFORE USING THIS ROUTINE, I WOULD STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU DISCUSS THIS EXPERIMENTAL CONCEPT WITH  A MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONAL!

 

As to the second question; why don't therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, etc., know about it and teach it? Well, it's very possible one answer is, because IT'S A NEW IDEA! And, as we all know, many new ideas come from outside a field of learning. According to Amit Goswami, author of "Quantum Creativity", creativity is a "discontinuous, nonalgorithmic quantum jump from one pattern of thinking into a completely new one".  Deepak Chopra, M.D., author of "Grow Younger, Live Longer", quoting Goswami says, "it's a quantum leap, a paradigm shift, from one pattern to another without progressing through incremental steps in between”.   Creative advances in art, and science represent new leaps of imagination that could not have been predicted on the basis of the prevailing patterns". In other words, I had A FLASH OF INSIGHT regarding Accelerated-State Conditioning and it could just as easily have happened to you, or someone else, no matter what their education or background!

 

You’ve read the warning earlier, and I speak from first hand knowledge of the potential problems with using Accelerated-State Conditioning, (here in after, also referred to as "ASC" (TM)). More on this a little later. But rest assured, I’ve conquered this fear, or I wouldn't be writing this booklet and promoting the routine to you. So, if you, a friend or a family member, suffer from depression, mood swings, compulsive behavior, chronic pain, depleted immune system, or simply want to raise your energy level to get out of your “comfort zone” and take on some new projects; I think you’ll find my experiences interesting to say the least, and at best, you’ll find you’re learning about something exciting, dramatic and revolutionary!

 

 

                                        Chapter Two:  How can something this fast and fun work so well?

 

 

There are four primary features about the ASC exercise that make it unique from most types of self-help therapy or exercises designed to elevate mood and eliminate unwanted habits and compulsions).  The first unique concept about the ASC routine is that this mental exercise is specifically designed to create a temporary state of excitement and even mild EUPHORIA. A NATURAL HIGH if you will. Technically, a temporary state of mind called hypomania. This is brought about by a unique behavioral routine in combination with a revolutionary new "conditioning/learning/biofeedback" technique designed to produce a series of RUSHES, OR CHILLS! What I have learned is that we have the ability to MANUFACTURE AT WILL the chemicals associated with a RUSH. I've learned, we can LITERALLY CREATE ALL THE ENDORPHINS, SEROTONIN, ETC. (if in fact these are some of the chemicals underlying and causing a rush) WE WANT IN A FEW MINUTES.

 

Now let me emphasize, the resulting HIGH created with the ASC routine is not a manic state (defined as having extended manic episodes or psychotic breaks or a loss of identity).  And, it is not recommended to allow maintaining this euphoric state for more than 5 minutes per day as a rule. Also, I have studied relaxation techniques extensively and developed some new ones of my own (as outlined below), allowing me the ability to calm down quickly after an exercise.  Of course some rare people are often in a similar state (hypomania) much of the time, but they are the exception, or they will at times go into long periods of depression as a result of staying at this elevated mood level. But again, the idea of the exercise is to put your self into this mild euphoric state for just a few minutes a day, as needed. Just long enough to alter your state of consciousness to experience the benefits of the routine.  Then the goal is to drop back to a more level and sustainable mood at the end of the 5 minute exercise.

 

Now you certainly don’t have to be depressed to benefit from Accelerated- State Conditioning. Even if you have no significant mood swings you can still benefit dramatically by using the exercise to reprogram your sub-conscious mind for purposes of changing, adding, or altering personality features, such as unwanted habits, compulsions, etc., or for a number of other good reasons, especially for reducing pain and boosting the immune system as outlined below.             As stated, the euphoria I'm describing above is INTENSE! What I have developed with ASC, is the ability to open the positive emotional-chemical floodgates of the mind and use the body's ability to create many brain-made (and body-made), mood-elevating chemicals in an extremely short period of time.

 

To repeat, with Accelerated-State Conditioning, I've learned that I have the ability to create a RUSH OR CHILL at the end of every single sentence I repeat out loud! In other words, I can deliberately induce a surge of natural, "chemicals of positive emotion", every few seconds, during this exercise. The resulting euphoria is evidenced by goosebumps (some call it gooseflesh) on the arms and legs, and feelings of ecstasy and extreme well being. All of a sudden, you can feel alive and profoundly present.  Everything can look new, and fresh.  Colors can be bolder, smells stronger. Cares and concerns can seem to melt away and you can be entirely focused on the here and now!

 

The second unique concept of Accelerated-State Conditioning is that, in my opinion, the learning (conditioning, and re-programming, that takes place during the ASC routine, while excited (mildly euphoric), is much more effective and permanent than any learning that occurs while doing similar motivational routines in a calm or relaxed mood!  Now, scientific research is starting to support my 30 year belief. For example, in Nature magazine (1997;385:533-536), research was described showing that when there is strong emotion present, the brain is flooded with protein, which enhances any memory.  Affirmations (part of the ASC routine and described below) theoretically work by creating new memories, which gain strength over undesirable memories that are laid down within a 90 minute period. This makes a lot of sense to me on a purely practical note. Just think back over the strongest memories you’ve had and you will probably recall that you were extremely emotional (e.g. excited, angry, happy, fearful, etc.) at the time the memorable activity took place! Some motivational speakers talk about this phenomenon, but ASC is he first motivational exercise to offer a practical, efficient, quick and easy way to put this fact to use!

 

The third unique concept of Accelerated-State Conditioning is as follows; I believe that the well established practice of repeating positive affirmations, (again, one of the many components of the ASC exercise), works best (for both elevating mood and changing behavior long-term) when the statements are “TRULY BELIEVED", and not just mouthed in a half-hearted hopes that you will become that which you mimic! Therefore the choice of words and sentences and the order of repeating them is crucial to promote mood elevation through out the routine, as well as permanent behavior change and will be elaborated in Chapter 4 describing the routine in detail.  Eventually, with practice, as you repeat positive statements (positive affirmations), you will feel a RUSH or CHILL nearly every time you repeat a sentence if you use the conditioning technique outlined in Chapter 4. And, during the ASC exercise, the amount of positive things you believe about yourself increases, and changes, in quantity and quality, as the exercise progresses and your mood elevates.

 

Some mental health professionals feel that, for the most part, all depression really is, is a bad habit of focusing on negative attributes and events, coming to irrational and incorrect negative assumptions and conclusions, losing our objectivity and then GETTING STUCK, repeating these negatives over and over.  Personally, I believe the genetic component also plays a part, but regardless the reason, creating natural anti-depressants (chemicals of positive emotion) with ASC works, just as creating mood-stabilizers and anti-anxiety medications can be done naturally with meditation, reducing stimulation, or monitoring internal dialogue, etc..

 

So, whatever your favorite theory, you have probably noticed that your thoughts and Self-Talk (TM) play a role too, and that is what we are manipulating here. In any event, I have every reason to believe the changes to brain and body internal chemistry are enormous during Accelerated-State Conditioning.  I'm also convinced that during the ASC routine we are creating many "positive and healthy" chemicals with other beneficial attributes. Every time someone currently widely known in the mental health field, or metaphysical field, opens their mouth, they are talking about the benefits of everything from endorphins, serotonin and dopamine (associated with feelings of well-being and the reduction of pain), to more recently discovered peptides, and neurotransmitters, to disease fighting interleukin, which is associated with strengthening our immune system. All of which, the mind and body are perfectly capable of creating themselves according to all this intense research).

 

Just look at the mind/body movement both inside and outside of the scientific community and the health industry. former "hard-core scientists" like neuroscientist Candice Pert, PhD, author of "Molecules of Emotion", and the discoverer of the opiate receptor sites, (this discovery leading to reams of articles and research on the benefits of "endorphins") and Psychologist Paul Pearsall, PhD, author of “Super Joy“ and “Superimmunity“, and many other writers and researchers in both the rapidly expanding field of “Alternative Medicine” and the conventional medical and scientific world are acknowledging the power of the mind and the power of “brain made chemicals” over emotion and health!   And believe me, when you're doing an exercise that creates a series of intense RUSHES OR CHILLS  every few seconds for several minutes, you're PUMPING unheard of quantities of these chemicals of positive emotion into your system. My personal daily routine normally generates around 15 to 20 "HARD RUSHES WITHIN 3 TO 5 MINUTES. My endorphin and serotonin levels are probably "off the charts" compared to the average individual at the end of a routine. No wonder, the effects of this exercise last for hours and sometimes days on end.   And now, if I'm creating chemicals, within myself, that fight disease, I've got an excellent reason, in and of itself, to be doing this routine. For this reason, I absolutely do the routine EVERY SINGLE DAY, WITHOU FAIL. To me, it's more important to have these MIRACLE CHEMICALS in my bloodstream daily than all the supplemental vitamins and minerals ever made! I just don't like being sick! 

 

As I've stated, Accelerated-State Conditioning implies more than a method of altering mood or consciousness. It implies changing behavior (i.e. conditioned or learned responses or habits). And, what I believe is, that this exercise has dramatically altered my personality and self-image over a period of years, with the many hours of re-programming and re-conditioning that goes on during the ASC episodes. (Actually, as I’ve since learned and will explain below, it's not so much the number of hours, but rather the "intensity" of the re-programming that is important).  So, not only is ASC a terrific tool for helping me get into and staying in a good mood, as I've mentioned, it's also a useful way to overcome unwanted behavior (e.g. "bad habits") and create new patterns of behavior. And, knowing what I do now, I really believe the changes I've instilled over years of trial and error, could have actually be generated in a period of months using Accelerated-State Conditioning. (After all, as I've said, fear would keep me for using the routine for months and sometimes years at a time).

 

The fourth unique aspect of the ASC rountine is that affirmations are VISUALIZED while repeated.  The subconscious needs more that words to change programing and habits.  It needs to SEE A PICTURE of what you are trying to change.  Thus when you repeat a SPECIFIC affirmation try to SEE YOURSELF DOING THE NEW BEHAVIOR.

 

 

                                            Chapter Three: Tricky but simple once you get it; I love it!

 

 

Ok, on with the task at hand; to describe and explain the daily routine itself. The basic platform on which Accelerated-State Conditioning is based is an incredibly simple procedure, but extremely difficult to get right at first! An idea so simple it has been overlooked somehow.   The first part of the basic behavior involved is simply one of repeating, out loud, (the louder the better), key words and phrases (affirmations) while smiling and looking into a mirror and then doing the same thing while looking at pictures of smiling faces (I cut them out of newspapers and magazines, creating an artificial audience if you will). With practice, eventually you can even skip using the mirror, pictures, even speaking out-loud and get the same results!

 

But, the second part of the  ASC routine is the MOST UNIQUE AND CRITICAL FEATURE.  During this routine I’m continually trying to remember what a RUSH OR CHILL feels like WHILE I REPEAT THE AFFIRMATIONS. With practice, remembering these feelings while repeating affirmations creates an ASSOCIATION!  With repeated practice (up to 21 days) you should be able to EVOKE A RUSH OR CHILL by repeating an affirmation while thinking of what a rush feels like! It becomes a CONDITIONED RESPONSE. And if you think back over recent successes and repeat affirmations related to those successes while performing the exercise, YOU GET AN EVEN STRONGER RUSH OR CHILL!

Perhaps you remember learning in school about Pavlov’s dog.  This was an experiment that showed that you could train a dog to salivate even if no food was around to create that event.  We have all seen that a dog will often start salivating when it sees food being brought into a room.  Pavlov showed that by ringing a bell every time he gave a dog food something new happened.  He observed that by repeating this association over time, ringing the bell would cause the dog to salivate by itself, even when no food was present!   A new association or conditioned response had been formed!   With practice you too can create a new association or conditioned response.  You can learn to associate repeating an affirmation with the memory of what a rush or chill feels like and eventually THE MEMORY OF A RUSH CHANGES TO AN ACTUAL FEELING!


 Memories themselves can’t normally be felt or experienced.  To test this try remembering what strawberries taste like.  Can you taste them? Probably not.  But a RUSH OR CHILL does not require an outside event such as someone giving you a bowl of strawberries to experience the feeling.  IT CAN BE EVOKED, or WILLED, WITH PRACTISE!

With regards to why we use affirmations during the routine; repeating positive words and phrases is a proven psychological self-help process for changing, adding or removing specific behaviors and habits. As outlined earlier, this process is known as “affirming”.   According MindPowerPlus.com, a popular website promoting the use of affirmations, affirmations are positive statements or messages. Affirmations that are heard and repeated often enough can have a pronounced effect upon the user. Positive, high impact phrases can actually change your life for the better as they act as  a counter-weight to all of the negative messages you hear daily through radio, TV and the media (not to mention all the negativity you may carry over from childhood)”. That’s because they affect your subconscious mind. The easiest way to change and improve the quality of your life is to change or improve your perception of yourself. This can all be accomplished with powerful affirmations that can quiet negative thought patterns and discipline your mind.

 

Now, you don’t have to use a mirror to still get the benefits of this exercise, but, if you don’t like looking in the mirror; you probably will benefit doing it anyway for that reason alone. Often, not liking what you see in the mirror is abnormal and can be changed with time, regardless of how you feel about your appearance! 

During the routine I'm actually alternating my attention back and forth every few seconds between the mirror (my smiling face) and the "audience" (the pictures of smiling faces). And, I make sure I'm alone because I want to feel free to say anything and I feel I need absolute privacy to have that feeling of "anything goes". Actually, for awhile, this was one of the major stumbling blocks for me with Accelerated-State Conditioning. That is, finding a suitable environment for feeling free enough to "verbally act out". I've even gone so far as to drive to an empty supermarket parking lot to do the exercise when the house was full of company!

 

Now though, I've come to discover that I have the ability to create pretty much the same effect "under my breath". I can just close the bathroom door and do the routine under my breath. But, out loud is still best because you stimulate "muscle memory" of what a rush feels like (those memories are usually associated with movement and loud verbal outbursts, etc.). And of course, for those who can afford it, a "sound-proof" library, music room etc. is ideal.  I actually foresee the day when companies will have private sound proof rooms where their workers can go to elevate their mood with Accelerated-State Conditioning. This would be especially helpful employees who have to deal with difficult people on the phone or in person and for salespeople.

 

There is a lot of "fantasy" that goes into generating "mood". I am continually "visualizing" myself talking to vast audiences while doing the routine. I also pretend to be talking to important people sometimes, or what ever seems to be stimulating to me at the time. Everything has to be “customized” to your current place and time. Some days one person or event is important to you, some days another. Think back over recent “successes” during the exercise that heighten your mood and “link” those memories and feelings with your current affirmations!

 

Now most of us agree there is value in repeating positive affirmations to overcome negative conditioning, and many of us have practiced saying a few positive words to ourselves while looking into a mirror, but if it was that easy, the ASC technique would have been discovered and popular years ago! Actually, “Self-Talk”  (written by psychologist Shad Helmstetter), and “Psycho-cybernetics” (by Maxwell Maltz), were effective affirmation therapies for me, but fortunately I found creating euphoria and belief” (as discussed earlier) during the sessions with  Accelerated-State Conditioning was many times faster and more powerful. But creating a RUSH OR CHILL, which results in a temporary state of excitement or mild euphoria is not that easy. There’s a lot to it, as you’ll find out if you decide to start trying it.   Just like meditating, or using biofeedback to control your blood pressure, takes skill and practice, so does this exercise. The first time you try it, you may need to do it for an hour or so, for several days, before you really start getting some significant elevation of mood. Others will jump right into it.  Bipolars (manic-depressives), watch out, if you’re like me, you like getting high too much and need to remember this is a temporary mood you're looking for, not a way of life! Our nervous systems can’t take it even if we could control the side effects. 

 

And for Bipolars; anti-depressant and mood elevating medications (which theoretically you are creating with the ASC routine) usually need to be offset with mood stabilizers like Lithium according to mental health professionals, so they probably need to make sure their support group and mental health  professional are following their use of this routine to give feedback on observed behavior).   As mentioned above the third unique concept of ASC is as follows: I believe that the well established practice of repeating positive affirmations works best (for both elevating mood and changing behavior long term) when the affirmations are “truly believed” and not just mouthed in a half-hearted hope  that you will become what you mimic!.

 

A quick way to build “believable” affirmation sentences is to simply put the words “I like it when I.....“ in front of hundreds of positive words. Positive words like sociable, friendly, gregarious, organized, helpful, kind, productive. So a simple, “believable” affirmation is; “I like it when I'm able to be sociable”. It’s an easy fast way to build sentences designed to create a quick “rush” or "chill" and later you can add more detail to the sentences to begin working towards eliminating specific habits, etc..

Here are some examples of “believable” affirmations:

 

“I like it when I speak up for myself when unjustly criticized.”

“I feel great when I meet my daily weight reduction goals.”

“It’s a joy when I get through a day without spending over budget.”

“I love it when someone returns my compliment with a smile.”

“It’s a terrific feeling when I take charge and avoid the impulse to smoke.”

“I love it when I’m able to be sociable, friendly and gregarious.”

“It feels great when I’m able to be positive, optimistic and enthusiastic”

“I enjoy it when I can be kind, loving, supportive, patient and tolerant with others.”

“It’s a pleasure when I can be productive, efficient, quick and precise in my work.”      

 

 Here are some examples of affirmations that are “usually not believable”:

 

“I am Powerful beyond Imagination.”

"I’m the Richest Person on the World.”

“I’m Enormously Successful in all ways.”

“I’m Powerful beyond Belief.”

 

Another way the ASC routine can begin with “believable” words and phrases is to pick specific words that we nearly always believe regardless of mood.  For most people, it’s words and sentences referring to "character". Words like "kind", "generous", "warm", "friendly" or "honest". You can make flashcards up with these words, one to a card, on the front, and then sentences describing examples of your character on the backside. Then, as the exercise proceeds and you feel a little better, and your  mood lifts or elevates a little, you find that you can repeat other positive things about yourself, and can comfortably start repeating more positive affirmations using sentences containing words like "neat", "thrifty", "organized " or whatever normally describes your basic personality (or what you want your personality to be) and so on.   Everyone is different. You scan down long lists of written words and phrases (preferably sentences) and pick up the ones that "feel right" at the moment). Sometimes it may depend on what you have been successful at recently, for example. As your mood elevates during the exercise, guess what? Your "belief system" changes! And all of a sudden, as you start getting into a more positive frame of mind (or another personality, who knows), and you start remembering other good  attributes about yourself that had been temporarily forgotten and you can start repeating additional words and phrases from your lists (or flashcards).

 

Regarding these affirmation lists; a great source for building these lists are the Self-Talk (tm) paperbacks by Dr. Shad Helmstetter. These books have page after page of terrific positive affirmation scenarios and scripts. Take these scripts and pick out and "repeat out loud" what you believe about yourself (according to you initial mood). Then, during the ASC exercise, before you know it, your flying along with words and phrases that you would normally only repeat to yourself when you are really  "up" and even a little grandiose, (euphoric,.... get it?)! At the end of a routine I literally believe I’m everything described in my entire portfolio of affirmations!                                                                                                          

 

 

                                                                                    Chapter  Four: Shouldn't everyone be using this?

 

 

Now elevating mood and permanently altering and changing personality are obviously reason enough to consider taking a risk and using this experimental exercise, but the benefits are far beyond these two basic attributes!  It’s my belief that daily use of the routine leads to increased self-esteem, a positive attitude, increased health, increased longevity of life, creativity, and less chronic pain.  The list is endless!  And, although feeling good is great,  the benefits are even better.  Barbara L. Fredrickson, and her colleagues, are researchers in a new field known a POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY which was the brainchild of a former president of the American Psychological Association, Martin Seligman.  Fredrickson is well published in the field and recently wrote a very informative article in the latest  issue of American Scientist titled “The Value of Positive Emotions”. 

 

In the article she discusses literature relating positive emotions to an increased ability to adapt to our environment, and to longer life.  In her Broaden-and-Build Theory she proposes that positive emotions serve to solve problems concerning personal growth and development.  She says that “experiencing a positive emotion leads to states of mind and modes of behavior that indirectly prepare an individual for later hard times”.  Fredrickson proposes that “the positive emotions broaden an individual’s momentary mindset, and by doing so help to build enduring personal resources”.  For example, her research has shown that positive emotion leads to perceptions of the BIG PICTURE in individuals as opposed to being narrowly focused on issues!  This suggests to her a suggesting a “broadened pattern of thinking”.

 

In the article Fredrickson discusses related research over the years by Alice Isen, and her colleagues, at Cornell University in which it was shown that “when people feel good, their thinking becomes more creative, integrative, flexible and open to information!  By momentarily broadening attention and thinking, positive emotions can lead to the discovery of novel ideas, actions and social bonds”.  And finally, Fredrickson, et al, through their research,  have come up with her Undoing Hypothesis Theory that positive emotions may help UNDO the negative physiological effects of negative thought such as anxiety, worry and stress! In other words, positive emotions, may lead to REVERSALS IN ILLNESS!  Pick up her article; it’s a MIND BLOWER!

 

There are many other researchers and studies relating health issues related to mood swings and depression. We all know that depression is one of  the most prevalent maladies in western civilization, but it’s not so widely known than depression has profound effects upon physical health as well!   It is becoming obvious that we must do everything in our power to stay out of low mood cycles for health reasons.  This is the primary reason I feel the ASC routine must become widely used.  There are millions of people who want to elevate their mood to stay physically healthy but are afraid of medication or want to reduce the  amount of anti-depressants they have to take! 

 

Studies relating disease and it’s severity to negative mood and depression are coming out constantly.  According to a recent article in HealthDay News, cancer patients with symptoms of depression are more likely to have their lives cut short than cancer patients who are free of such symptoms.  That warning comes from a study in the July/August issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.  The researchers used a number of demographic, medical, cancer treatment, and psychological factors to predict longevity over a 10-year period for a group of 205 people with cancer.  They discovered that symptoms of depression were the most consistent psychological predictor of shortened survival time. This examination of psychological predictors of survival among people with cancer is a fairly new area of research.  At the end of the 10-year study period, 125 of the people were still alive and 80 had died from cancer-related causes.  "We're trying to understand the role of the mind in the disease process. The fact that depressive symptoms were shown to affect the course of cancer in this study has important implications for psychological screening and treatment of cancer patients," University of Rochester psychologist Kirk Warren Brown says in a news release.  He and his colleagues suggest the first year after someone is diagnosed with cancer would be an appropriate time to screen for symptoms of depression.

 

And another new study  reported recently by HealthDay news cites research reported in the July 03 issue of Psychosomatic Medicine, researchers have found  that people who have more positive emotions, such as happiness and calmness, have fewer colds than glum people.  "We found that people high on positive emotional style were less likely to develop colds than people who were low," says study author Sheldon Cohen, a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.  And, he adds, "as positive emotions increase, the probability that they would develop a cold decreased." So, as you get happier and more relaxed, your chances of catching a cold are reduced even further.

 

"Laughter really is the best medicine," says psychiatrist Dr. Gerald Shiener of William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich. "Good mental health precedes good physical health."  For the study, Cohen and his colleagues recruited 334 healthy volunteers. They were between the ages of 18 and 54, with an average age of 29. One hundred and seventy-five of the volunteers were women.  At the start of the study, all of the volunteers were tested to make sure none had colds. They were then interviewed by phone three nights a week for two weeks. The researchers asked them to rate on a scale of zero to four how closely a particular emotion described how they had felt during the day. The nine positive emotions were: lively, full of pep, energetic, happy, pleased, cheerful, at ease, calm and relaxed. The nine negative emotions were: sad, depressed, unhappy, on edge, nervous, tense, hostile, resentful and angry. 

 

The researchers then averaged the emotions from all of the interviews. People who scored high on positive emotions were said to have a positive emotional style, while people who scored high on negative emotions had a negative emotional style.  For the last week of the study, the participants were quarantined. Using nasal drops, the researchers placed a virus that causes the common cold into the volunteers' noses, and then monitored them for signs of infection and symptoms of a cold for five days.

People with positive emotional style weren't less likely to be infected with the cold germs. However, they were less likely to show any symptoms of being ill than people who scored low in positive emotional style, the researchers say. Having a negative emotional style didn't increase the risk of getting sick, but these people tended to complain more about the symptoms they did have.

 

Cohen says the researchers also found people with positive emotional style had better health habits, such as exercising, eating well and getting enough sleep, and they had lower levels of three stress hormones. He says the researchers controlled for these factors and still found an association between positive emotions and fewer cold symptoms.  He explains that chemical mediators, such as histamine and pro-inflammatory cytokines, are responsible for cold symptoms. And he suspects positive emotions may dampen the production of these mediators.

 

So, can the power of positive thinking keep you healthy? Maybe, says Cohen, but he cautions that this study couldn't define if the people who scored high in positive emotions during this study have always been happy people, or if they were simply in a good period of their lives during the research.  Shiener says he believes people can make themselves happier. He adds that it's important that you don't keep your emotions bottled up and that you take time to do things you enjoy.  "Stress and emotions do affect our immune responses," says Shiener. "If we're comfortable and happy, then we'll live longer and healthier lives."

 

In another example, a recent report by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) looked at the care of women admitted to hospitals in the year 2000. Among the study's conclusions: Depression was the second-leading cause of hospitalization for women aged 18 to 44, with some 205,000 admissions in 2000. The number one reason for hospitalization for women in this age group was obstetrical care and childbirth.  In another study, sited in the July 13, 1998 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, men diagnosed with depression have twice the risk of heart disease found in men without depression, and this increased risk lasts for several decades!

 

The Washington Post in December, 2003 reviewed a new study from UCLA and published in the journal Biological Psychiatry relating SHYNESS to a WEAKEND IMMUNE SYSTEM!  (The Accelerated-State Conditioning daily motivational routine is a terrific tool for OVERCOMING SHYNESS!).  According to the Post’s review, “This carefully done study showed that shy men have much less resistance to the AIDS virus than extroverted men and benefit far less from treatment with antiretroviral drugs.  It is the first study to demonstrate through laboratory tests a connection between being introverted and the course of AIDS in individuals, researchers said”. 

 

The Post article goes on to say “In the new study, HIV-infected men who were introverted, reserved and kept to themselves had nearly eight times as many viral particles in their blood as did “outgoing” men.  After treatment with anti-retroviral drugs for as long as 18 months, the viral load among extroverted men fell 162-fold.  Among shy men, the drop was only twentyfold, said the lead author Steve Cole at the AIDS Institute of UCLA” .  The Post article further cites,  “There is a link between psychological profile and poorer response to HIV, and maybe even a number of other viral diseases”, agreed Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the federal government’s lead research center in the fight against AIDS.

 

And there are many more studies indicating that people are not taking advantage of current ways to deal with these problems of depression and shyness. My feeling is that people don't believe there is a a fast, easy, economical way to overcome depression. But of course, I believe there is. The Accelerated-State Conditioning routine hopefully affords a safe, inexpensive, drug free way to dramatically reduce or even eliminate this behavior. Since making it a firm habit to use this routine a minimum of 5 minutes a day, I simply no longer feel any significant, prolonged depression; EVER! And my health is excellent.

 

Now obviously, as I said before, ASC may not in itself may not eliminate the causes of depression any more than does anti-depressant medication! But, just like with medication, if you feel better, you're more inclined (have more energy and motivation) to go out and spend some time finding answers (conventional therapy, job and life-style changes, etc.).  And, if your depression is gone, isn't that what's important?

 

Another huge benefit from Accelerated-State Conditioning is the INCREASE IN ENERGY that results from elevating your mood! No one can deny the energy that comes from feeling good. As you do this exercise regularly, it becomes obvious that we have virtually UNLIMITED SOURCES OF ENERGY FROM WITHIN!. Our thoughts simply change our interior chemistry and we've got the "fuel" to do it all.

 

Granted, creating a temporary state of euphoria (hypomania) is a double-edged sword. The positive attributes of being temporarily "high" are obviously tremendous. For a few minutes you are invincible! You're fearless, gregarious, uninhibited, creative...("happy as an Angel", as Scrooge says), the list goes on and on. But, at the end of the routine, when you come back down to reality, you bring back more and more of these attributes, (as a result of you're new programming), which becomes a permanent part of your personality and self-image!

 

But, on the other hand, when you're high, you can be irrational, careless, lack objectivity; again the list goes on and on. Obviously, you can't stay in this frame of mind, or make important decisions during these episodes. But, unlike the positive attributes, these negative behaviors (since you're not acting on them during the ASC routine), don't blend into the personality when you calm down. In fact, it's a good idea to repeat affirmations during the exercise that reinforce objectivity rationality, for example common sense, etc. to remind yourself while you’re high that you have to be careful!

 

And, for manic-depressives (those affected by Bipolar Disorder), like myself (more on this later); the more I use ASC routine to stay out of extreme lows, the less I find myself experiencing the extreme highs of mania. Psychologists tell us mania is nature’s defense against depression and low self-esteem, (granted, it’s an over-reaction, but when we are extremely depressed it seems to be necessary for many of us to revert to this mania.) So, ASC serves to keep me in the "middle road" instead of experiencing wild mood swings.   A new study out now supports this idea.  Researchers found that those who suffer from Bipolar Disorder (Manic Depression) are less likely to relapse if they stay on anti-depressants medication rather than following the usual course of  stopping anti-depressant medication from the Bipolar’s regime after six months).

 

Quoting a recent article in HealthDay News, standard treatment guidelines for bipolar depression are challenged in a UCLA study that appears in the July issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.   Those guidelines recommend that antidepressants be discontinued within the first six months after the symptoms of bipolar depression ease.  But the UCLA study found people treated under the guidelines relapsed at almost twice the rate of people who continued taking antidepressants in conjunction with their mood stabilizer medication during the first year after remission of acute bipolar depression.  The study found there was no increased risk of manic relapse in the patients who continued the medication for a year.

 

Researchers examined 84 people with bipolar disorder whose depression symptoms eased with the addition of an antidepressant to an ongoing mood stabilizer. The study compared the risk of depression relapse in 43 people who stopped taking antidepressants within six months of remission to the risk of relapse in 41 people who continued taking antidepressants.  One year after improvement in depression symptoms, 70 percent of the people who stopped taking antidepressants had suffered a relapse, compared to 36 percent of the people who continued taking antidepressants.

 

"The common clinical practice of discontinuing antidepressant use in bipolar patients soon after remission of depression may actually increase the risk of relapse," study author Dr. Lori Altshuler says in a news release.  "Long-held concerns regarding a risk of switching into mania may actually interfere with establishing effective guidelines for treating and preventing relapse of bipolar depression. Guidelines more similar to those of maintenance treatment of unipolar depression may be more appropriate for individuals with bipolar depression who respond well to antidepressants. A controlled, randomized study is needed to address these questions," Altshuler says. 

About 3.5 percent of Americans have bipolar disorder, which is characterized by alternating cycles of depression and mania.

 

Symptoms of mania may include inflated sense of self-esteem or self-importance, elevated or expansive mood, decreased need for sleep, racing thoughts and impulsive behavior.  I feel this research is just one more confirmation of the importance of staying out of depression and of course my theory is that the Accelerated-State Conditioning exercise is an alternate to using anti-depressants (or at lease affords a way to cut down on the amount used)!

                                                                       

Another benefit from ASC is that it creates tremendous OPTIMISM in the user. Hope springs eternal the saying goes, and because creating euphoria results in a mind expansion of sorts, you begin to see your true potential! Naturally, a better way is to feel good about ourselves is to actually accomplish things, but when we are depressed, or even just lethargic and unmotivated, the option of action escapes most of us! But once you begin using the Accelerated-State Conditioning exercise routinely, you begin to realize or believe that you are perfectly capable of doing much more than you felt previously. Now, whether this is just some grandiose thinking or really true, really doesn't matter much.

 

What matters is you truly believe it with every fiber in your body while you’re high during the routine and you find your behavior changing without effort or fear and as a result start accomplishing more! I used to think the expression “you are, what you think you are“, was just a lot of hype. No more!   This heightened awareness of our true potential is really the same type of knowledge that Chopra (The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success)1966, (who as you may know is also a Harvard trained M.D.), and many before him of the Eastern philosophy, have described when speaking of the benefits of Tran-scendental Meditation (tm). A practice I thoroughly believe in and use.

It's just that from my perspective, Accelerated-State Conditioning is faster and easier to use for accomplishing the mood/personality changes I've described. And I don't know if you have ever tried holding all thoughts out of your mind for 20 or 30 minutes, but for me, it "isn't easy". Most people I know have given up the practice for this reason.   Again, I certainly believe in meditation, especially for stress-reduction and calming down, and I feel there are long term benefits (such as enhanced assertiveness and greatly diminished co-dependency), whether it's coming from blending with the Universal Mind or purely physical! (Who's to say we aren't also tapping into an unknown source when we are high (euphoric)!

 

Another benefit to ASC (speaking of Deepak, reminds me of the strong spirituality movement in this country) is the SPIRITUAL ASPECT. I think getting high with ASC is one of the most spiritual events going. After all, when raising positive emotions we are literally RAISING OUR SPIRTITS!   When I'm HIGH; I'm loving, caring, altruistic, non-judgmental, understanding. Sounds like a pretty good description of spirituality to me!

 

Another possible benefit from the ASC exercise pertains to addictions. One of the driving forces for addiction is the temporary high that results from substance abuse. You feel good for awhile! Since ASC creates a “high”, doesn’t it stand to reason that the addict’s or alcoholic’s need for a high would be diminished if they created a temporary high with the ASC routine?   Many mental health educators explain "addictions", as behavior designed to "avoid feelings" rather than "feel" them. Believe me, if you start using the ASC routine, you are going to have "feelings...big time"! Many times I've tried to start the exercise and felt extremely upset when trying to repeat positive words about myself while looking into the mirror. It can be like shame!  

This is a perfect time to “work on yourself” when these strong feelings come to the surface.  The more we “allow ourselves to feel” and “acknowledge  our feelings” the less powerful are our addictions.  When we let ourselves feel the anxiety, anger, sorrow that is inevitable in our lives it eventually lessons us once it’s served it’s purpose our making us aware of the need to make changes.  And that pain is so minor compared to the pain of an addictions aftermath that it’s a far lesser of the two choices!  And, if you have to create an artificial high, why not do it in a manner that does not have physical destruction, financial ruin, etc. as a by-product. Accelerated-State Conditioning isn't even addicting! Like any exercise it actually takes a little effort to force your self to do it! In twenty five plus years of use I still have to prod myself somewhat to get started (but like I say, it's certainly not painful so it doesn't take much to get going).

 

Another benefit of the ASC exercise pertains to pain reduction. As mentioned above, I suspect one of the primary chemical changes that come with euphoria are a dramatic increase in the endorphins. Numerous studies have shown the benefits of elevated levels of endorphins for pain reduction. Just plug the words endorphin and pain into a search-engine such as Google and you will find numerous references.

 

And, still another benefit to the ASC exercise, pertains to unwanted side-effects, addictiveness, or health risks associated with other methods of creating a high (alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, heroine. Even supposedly harmless "POT" is becoming more and more suspect, e.g., a new study indicates smoking marijuana may cause gene mutations that can trigger cancer.   "Smoking marijuana is every bit as risky as smoking cigarettes," concludes study lead author Dr. Marinel Ammenheuser of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. And the effects of marijuana may be particularly severe in the unborn child, with a potential for causing birth defects or childhood cancer, according to the report.   Recent surveys have revealed that a growing percentage of teenagers believe marijuana is a relatively harmless substance, especially when compared with tobacco or alcohol. In a statement, Ammenheuser noted that many of the young women involved in her study "told us very proudly that they didn't smoke tobacco, that they only smoked marijuana."

 

The Texas researchers conducted DNA tests on blood samples obtained from 17 of these young women (all clients of a local prenatal clinic), and compared the results to those of 17 healthy non-smoking women who did not use marijuana. They focused their DNA research on mutations within the 'hprt' gene. They explained that mutations in this gene act as a kind of indicator of "DNA damage potentially occurring in other areas of the genome."   And the results? The authors discovered that regular marijuana users had three times as many hprt mutations as non-users. Furthermore, the users' mutation rates were actually slightly higher than those of light tobacco users (5 to 8 cigarettes per day), as assessed in a previous study. This finding did not surprise the investigators, since they say "tobacco smoke and marijuana smoke contain many of the same carcinogens and mutagens."  DNA mutations can be a real cause for concern, the Texas team concludes, since they "have been identified as early events in the development of cancer."

 

Previous research has already uncovered cases of tongue, lung, and head and neck cancers in long-time marijuana users who did not smoke tobacco. The researchers say another study reported "a 10-fold risk of leukemia in the offspring of mothers who smoked marijuana during pregnancy." The findings appear in the journal Mutation Research 1998; 403:55-64.

And then there is the "easy-to-do factor". Unlike most exercises of one type or another, the ASC routine is easy to start-up. And, unlike physical exercise, there is no real pain involved with beginning the exercise. It doesn't hurt (like starting up that rowing machine)! In fact, you begin looking forward to it because you know it's going to feel good.

 

It becomes what the psychiatrist William Glaser describes as a "Positive Addiction"! (in his book of the same name). What keeps bringing us back to the exercise, is not the pain of withdrawal, as with a physical, chemical or process addiction, but rather the memory of the pleasurable positive results and benefits.   And, unlike anti-depressant medication, ASC can be temporarily suspended immediately if need be. Especially for those who recognize a manic phase coming on. With psychological medications you can't just stop and start them as needed because they can only be reduced gradually over a period of days or even weeks! (See Ann Blake Tracy's Prozac, Pandora or Panacea? - 1994).

 

And then there is reason to believe anti-depressants only work due to the "placebo effect anyway". According to some research, most people who take medication for depression break out of the doldrums not because the pills change their brain's chemistry, but because they believe so strongly that the drugs will work.  In a controversial new study appearing in the July, 1998 edition of Prevention & Treatment, a new journal published by the American Psychological Association, Drs. Irving Kirsch and Guy Sapirstein pooled and analyzed data from 19 randomized, placebo-controlled studies involving 2,318 patients. They concluded 75 percent got better because of the placebo effect, and the other 25 percent got better due to the positive side effects of the drugs.

 

The placebo effect is the well-documented phenomenon in which people who are given sugar pills or other fake medications get better as long as they believe whatever they've consumed is supposed to work. Recent research at Harvard Medical School shows the placebo effect works in 35 percent or more of cases. Kirsch and Sapirstein's ``meta-analysis'' assessed the efficacy of various medications in treating depression.

 

Some f the studies involved drugs that are not considered anti-depressants. Across 19 studies, they calculated the extent to which the beneficial effects of the various drugs could be attributed to the drugs themselves, and the degree of positive effects that could be attributed to the placebo effect. They say their conclusion ``does not mean that only 25 percent of patients are likely to respond to the pharmacological properties of the drug. Rather, it means that for a typical patient, 75 percent of the benefit obtained from the active drug would also have been obtained from an inactive placebo.'' They speculate the positive benefits came ``from an enhancement of the placebo effect caused by the fact that those who received medication, rather than a dummy pill, could tell by the side effects that they had taken something.''

 

A new study n the July 1999 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, suggests that psychotherapy could be just as effective at controlling severe depression as antidepressant drugs like Prozac.  Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University have uncovered data that compared cognitive behavior treatment with drug therapy in 169 severely depressed out-patients covered by four randomized trials.  The results appeared to contradict a 1989 study from the National Institute of Mental Health Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program, which demolished the credibility of cognitive therapy and helped set in place the modern day guidelines for treating depression with drugs.

 

Still, another benefit to the ASC routine involves overcoming fears and inhibitions. Especially the fear of socialization and public speaking. I really believe these fears are at the core of my illness (or dysfunctional behavior). I grew up extremely shy and withdrawn and immediately upon beginning to use this routine I noticed it greatly enhanced my ability to "get out there and mingle" and even give a few speeches. But, thanks in no small part to ASC, I went on in sales and became a national sales champion two years running with a national mortgage banker. So, all you aspiring public speakers, take heed. This exercise may not cure your state-fright but it will sure "keep the butterflies in your stomach in line"!

 

And finally, one of the most powerful benefits of the ASC routine pertains to PERMANENTLY CHANGING BEHAVIOR OR UNWANTED HABITS! Much of habitual behavior is automatic and mechanical, and therefore we do it without thought.  For example; how many times have you put food into your mouth before remembering you just started a new diet?  When we remember our goal of changing a behavior, such as over-eating, right before committing,  the unwanted act , we can sometimes divert our focus on the food and overcome the impulsive behavior.  For example; drinking water curbs the appetite, but if we are not in the habit of substituting water for food we don’t do it. Each time we are able to do this substitution of a healthy habit for an unhealthy one we get the satisfaction of completing a goal and take another step towards staying healthy and creating a new self-image.

 

Mechanical behaviors are conditioned responses.  We perceive a stimulus and we have learned to respond in a specific way.