Page 19 - Biblical Counseling II

“In September 1848, (in the state of Vermont
in the United States) Phineas P. Gage, a
twenty-five-year-old railroad foreman, was
using explosives to clear the way for a new
track. In preparation for blasting, he was
packing an explosive charge into a drill hole
with a thirteen-pound, three-and-a-half-foot-
long tamping rod. An accidental spark ignited
the charge prematurely, sending the rod
through his left cheek and out the vault of his
skull. It landed more than thirty yards away.
Gage survived the experience but faced
several weeks of infection, fever, and semi-consciousness. His condition became so poor that a coffin was
prepared for him. But in the fifth week, his condition improved. Gage regained consciousness but was blind
in the left eye. What made this case noteworthy was not Gage’s survival; however, it was the change in
Gage’s behavior due to the brain damage that occurred. (photo from doctorsimpossible.com)

Before the incident, Gage was well-liked by friends and was considered to be honest, trustworthy,
hardworking, and dependable. When that tamping rod plowed through Gage’s skull, it took a part of his brain
tissue with it and, in the process, something of Gage’s former self. After the accident, Gage’s doctor
described him as ‘fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity (which was not previously his
custom), manifesting but little deference for his fellows, impatient. . . A child in his intellectual capacity and
manifestations. His mind was radically changed, so decidedly that his friends and acquaintances said he was
‘no longer Gage’” (p. 158-159).

Think about people you know in your community or those you knew when you were a child. Do you
remember people who had brain damage, maybe after an accident? Or elderly people who had diseases
impacting their brains? “Brain damage changes people by changing their abilities and their personalities.
There is an intimate connection between the health of our brains and the health of our personalities. We
often take it for granted that personality is indelible and unchanging, but that is incorrect. Although
personality is stable, it is affected by the state and health of those two handfuls of grayish matter called the
brain. Neurochemical transmitters, synapse connections, dendrites, and axons are all terms that are now
used to describe the growing understanding of the brain-mind-personality relationship” (p. 159).

A second piece of evidence for the biological paradigm is the “inheritance of temperamental traits. There is
clear and strong evidence that temperament traits are transmitted genetically. Studies of personality traits of
adults and their children and studies of identical and fraternal
twins raised together and raised apart consistently point to the significant role of biology, especially genetics,
in forming our personality. In studies in Sweden and the United States, researchers have found that identical
twins raised apart have more similar personality types than fraternal twins raised together. Even preferences
in clothing style, personal interests, body posture, body language, speed and tempo of talking, sense of
humor, and recreational habits were discovered to be more common among the identical twins studied. Such
research lends support to the biological paradigm of human personality (p. 160).”

The third piece of evidence for the biological paradigm is “the consistency of temperament over time. Some
have linked temperament to genetics and then defined personality as temperament plus environment
(nature + nurture). Generally speaking, when we go to bed at night, we do not expect to wake up the next
day with a radically changed personality. Although abrupt changes do occur, these are often due to trauma of
some sort, either physical or emotional, which changes brain physiology in the case of an accident or brain
chemistry in the case of a traumatizing event. More often, humans experience a stable, consistent
personality, which is predictable from day to day. Biological psychologists believe that this is because of the

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