Page 44 - The Power of Light, Colour and Sound for Health and Wellness draft

The Thalamus is a true selective flter or shock absorber of pain infux and it is the nucleus involved in the emotional components of physical pain. It acts on its own or when receiving inhibitory stimuli transmitted by the Cerebral Cortex, the Hippocampus the Cingulate Gyrus and Corpus Callosum.
Pain becomes conscious in the Cerebral Cortex where the 4th order neurons are involved; nociceptive stimuli arrive are processed, decoded, perceived and “interpreted” as pain. Some mechanisms in the cortico-limbic pathway can transform pain into suffering. The circuit is closed by motor or visceral reactions, or responses, (i.e.: fght, fight or adapt) mostly due to the effect of neurotransmitters which can infuence behavior; there may be humoral responses as well (i.e.: endocrine system activation).
The stimulation of an auricular point generates an afferent stimulus which will reach the Reticular Formation, the Thalamus and the Cortex; this elicits visceral and somatic cortico-limbic responses and hormonal responses as well. Descending pathways from the Reticular Formation will reach the horn of the dorsal spinal cord after opioids and other neurotransmitters (like serotonin) produce an inhibitory, efferent, central-origin, response to pain. It is important to highlight in this brief description, the infuence of auricular therapy on the higher-level structures of the Limbic System (Hippocampus, Amygdala, Thalamus, Cingulate Gyrus) where emotion and memory regulation functions are located.
EMDR and Auticular Therapy
In 1997, after my training in EMDR techniques and having had several years of Auricular Therapy practice; Dr. Gabriel Romeu and I jointly formulated the hypothesis that bilateral tactile stimulation of auricular points can reduce pain, and we set out to prove it. To this end, we conducted a double-blinded clinical trial which actually proved the hypothesis. We examined patients with non-radiating cervical or lumbar pain; we then searched for the corresponding auricular points. We stimulated the appropriate point by alternating soft tapping to each ear for 3 minutes (we called this therapy “Auricular Tapping”). We observed a signifcant reduction of corresponding referred dermalgia (TN: neuralgia of the skin) in the treated group vs. the placebo group.
EMDR and Psychological trauma: Dr. Raphäel Nogier, Dr. Paul Nogier’s son, makes an interesting description in his book of an area located on the edge of both ear lobes, which he calls “Psychic Scar”. This area corresponds to experienced psychological trauma. This trauma is found on the right ear, if the episode has taken place within the previous 6 months
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