Page 44 - Biblical Counseling II-Textbook

Sitting at the top of the brainstem is the thalamus. This joined pair of
egg-shaped structures acts as the brain’s sensory switchboard. The
thalamus receives information from all your senses except smell, and
it forwards the messages to regions of your brain that deal with
seeing, hearing, tasting, and touching. You can think of your
thalamus as something like an e-mail server. Messages flow through
this hub on their way to their final destination. In addition to
incoming sensory messages, your thalamus receives replies from
some higher brain regions. It forwards these replies to your medulla
and cerebellum for processing (Myers, 2009).
(thalamus photo from: www.thescienceofpsychotherapy.com)

The Reticular Formation

Inside the brainstem, between your
ears, lies your reticular formation.
This finger-shaped network of
neurons extends upward from your
spinal cord, through your brainstem,
and into your thalamus. This long
structure acts as a filter for some of
the sensory messages traveling from
your spinal cord to your thalamus,
relaying important information to
other areas of your brain. (Myers,
2009)
(photo from studyblue.com)

Dr. Adnan Shah explains, “The
reticular formation is responbile for
level of consciouness and arousal,
control of skeletal muscle, and control
of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). (We will talk about the ANS more in a later chapter). The
reticular formation is also responsible for control of the the endocrine nervous system as well as
influence on the biologic clocks. In addition, respiration, heart rate blood pressure and other vegetative
functions are impacted by the reticular formation in the brainstem. It regulates levels of consciousness,
alertness, respiration, blood pressure, skeletal muscles tone, heart rate and other vegetative functions.
It modulates the impulses in the pain pathways (Shah, p. 2, 2019).

The Cerebellum
At the rear of the brainstem is the cerebellum, meaning “little brain,” which is
what its two wrinkled halves resemble. This baseball-sized structure plays an
important role in a lot that happens just outside your awareness. Quickly, answer
these questions: How much time has passed since you woke up this morning?
Does your chair feel different from the back of your hand? How’s your mood? If
you answered those questions easily, thank your cerebellum. It helps you judge
time, discriminate sounds and textures, and control your emotions. It also
coordinates voluntary movement. If you injured your cerebellum or drugged it
with alcohol, you would have trouble walking, keeping your balance, or shaking

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