Sensory Motor Amnesia and The Loss of Consciousness
Iʼve always been intrigued by Thomas Hannaʼs notion of Sensory Motor Amnesia, ever
since I was first exposed to the concept back in 1988 when Somatics was first
published. Thomas had graciously asked me to review the book for California
Biofeedback, the newsletter of the Biofeedback Society of California. In recalling that
original review, the parts that jump out from my memory are the Red Light Reflex, the
Green Light Reflex, and Sensory Motor Amnesia.
In those days my attention was taken up with stress and autonomic nervous system
regulation, so my interest in Somatics was somewhat peripheral to that. And although I
was captivated by the concept of Sensory Motor Amnesia, I was confused by the use of
the word amnesia to describe the dysfunction. You canʼt forget something that you
werenʼt aware of, I remember thinking to myself.
Yet clearly Thomas seemed to be on to something. The results I observed Thomas
obtain when he worked with individuals during demonstrations he performed were
striking. I remember sending a construction worker to Thomas after the individual came
down with sciatica, and his physician advised him that he would be unable to work
again. Within 10 days he was back on the job, and hasnʼt stopped since. Certainly
Thomas seemed to understand the mechanisms he was working with, even if I was a
little unsure of how they operated.
During the ensuing years, much of my work has been involved with the treatment of
chronic pain. I had forgotten about the book review I had written until Gabriel Posner
asked if I would submit a newsletter piece for the Soma Times. It suddenly dawned on
me that Sensory Motor Amnesia was a perfect correlation for what I have come to refer
to as a hyperactive reflex arc. I then began to recognize that Thomas had likely been
referencing a breakdown in the classic somatic reflex arc, the sensory-motor feedback
loop.
As Hanna Somatics practitioners are likely aware, reflex arcs are the bodyʼs way of
simplifying the executive functioning of the central nervous system by assigning
peripheral nervous system operation management to the brain stem and spinal cord.
This keeps the moment-to-moment decision making of our executive functioning from
being cluttered with information deemed non-essential for our frontal attention to be
occupied with.
For example: lift your right knee 3 inches even as you retain body balance, begin to shift
your weight from the center of your body forward, place your right foot down at a
comfortable stride distance, complete the weight shift, and walk. Breaking down all the
operations into flow chart form as with this oversimplified example would be prohibitive
as far as executive functioning is concerned. Reflex arcs serve a useful and essential
function that we would be unable to navigate our environment without.
Ah, but thereʼs the rub. Once authority has been ceded to the lower brain centers to
execute reflex arcs, there is no built-in mechanism that ensures periodic review and
adjustment of response patterns that may become outdated, outmoded or obsolete. The
review process is after all conducted by the central nervous system, and until a problem
occurs the executive nervous system is kept busy performing the ongoing decisionmaking
functions of its station.
Chronic pain is replete with hyperactive reflex arcs that are clamoring for review and
adjustment, and have long since been rendered dysfunctional. Yet because these reflex
arcs synapse on the spinal cord, our central processing unit remains blissfully unaware,
even while it is left holding the bag on the affects of the dysfunctionality. Because the
central nervous system has lost awareness of the functioning of its own reflex arcs, I
believe this process to be emblematic of what can be regarded as a loss of
consciousness.
A prime example is Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome, a phenomenon
characterized by continuous, intense burning pain out of proportion to the severity of
injury. RSD Syndrome is said to be involved in as much as 80% of Complex Regional
Pain Syndrome cases, and is maintained by an autonomic hyperactive reflex arc.
Typical CRPS features include skin sensitivity, sweating and swelling.
The symptom generation that typifies these sorts of cases is defined by hyperactive
sympathetic impulses that continue to cycle to the point of toxicity, yet the central
nervous system has long since lost the means to access and adjust the actions of its
own peripheral nervous system. The build up leading to the eventual development of
symptoms has literally occurred beneath conscious awareness.
Iʼve come to believe that a similar process occurs with emotionally-based defensive
posturing, where individuals can react to what they perceive as threats to their wellbeing
with pre-conceived, almost scripted response patterns that resemble reflex arcs
functioning beneath their own awareness. As these emotionally-based patterns can
involve both autonomic and somatic responses, they take on the resemblance of lowerlevel
reflex arcs, accompanied with the requisite sensory motor amnesia. I imagine this
can extend to include anger, indignation, hurt, frustration and a gamut of like minded
emotions.
In fact Iʼm beginning to wonder whether human interaction isnʼt littered with a litany of
discreet events that we interpret and unconsciously respond to as potential threats.
Some of these episodes can be transient in nature, like feeling disrespected,
overwhelmed or ignored. Other emotionally-based reflex arcs might be situationally
ignited, like acceptance, grief, loneliness, or sense of loss. Challenges of this nature can
amount to a string of mini-emergencies that can serve to awaken milder, moderate or
momentary versions of fight-or-flight.
When I reflect on the role that Sensory Motor Amnesia plays in what may qualify as
emotionally-based reflex arcs, Iʼm reminded of a Beatles cover of a standard I heard on
their “Live from the BBC” CD. The songʼs title is, “I Forgot to Remember to Forget Her”. I
think Thomas might have been on to something.
Peter Behel