Rebirthing to regulate emotional states

Problem Statement

The problem of regulation of mental activity is among the fundamental problems of psychology. This is due to the fact that when interacting with the surrounding world, a person continuously faces the situation of choosing different ways of realising his activity depending on the goals set, individual characteristics and conditions of the surrounding reality, characteristics of people interacting with him. In the situation of choice the reduction of uncertainty is possible only by means of regulation, and in the case of psychological regulation - by means of self-regulation, in the sense that the person himself investigates the situation, programmes his activity, controls and corrects the results.

The issue of psycho-emotional health in war conditions is of considerable interest to researchers, psychologists, psychiatrists and other specialists in the field of mental health in Ukraine and world practice. Due to the onset of full-scale war, constant threat to life due to rocket attacks, mobilisation and tense economic situation in Ukraine, management and regulation of psycho-emotional state by an individual under conditions of uncertainty and threat to life is the most important topic for research for the scientific community. 

Constant stress in war conditions causes serious problems with the instability of an individual's psycho-emotional state. Here are some key aspects of this problem:

• Constant fear and anxiety due to possible threat to life and security. 

• Psycho-physiological effects like high blood pressure, heart problems, insomnia and immune disorders which can further affect the psycho-emotional state.

• Mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety disorders.

• Quality of life inheritance: Instability of psychoemotional state can significantly impair quality of life. Individuals may lose interest in ordinary activities, feel hopeless and socially isolated.

• Self-regulation: Learning to effectively regulate one's psycho-emotional state can be difficult in the face of constant stress. Individuals may lack the necessary self-regulation skills or have periodic regression.

Since 2014, Ukraine has begun to actively engage psychologists and psychiatrists to work with military and civilians who have been traumatised by war. A number of programmes for psychosocial support for war victims have been established, and international partner organisations like the International Red Cross, WHO have been engaged to provide assistance, which are now active for the start of full-scale war in 2022.

The situation now requires more involvement of public and private institutions to provide psychological assistance to millions of citizens of the country, who already with PTSD status, continue to live in Ukraine under daily threat to life or deal with the involvement of loved ones who stayed or cannot leave the country (for health reasons, mobilisation, etc.).

Analysis of recent studies and publications

The term ‘psycho-emotional state’ indicates the combination of mental and emotional reactions, experiences and feelings of a person at a certain point in time, the interaction of the emotional sphere with the processes of thinking, perception, memory, will and the like. 

The term ‘stress’ is a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in the onset of illness. Whereas ‘PTSD’ is already a psychiatric disorder that can occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, serious accident, terrorist attack, war/militancy, violence or sexual assault. 

The term ‘exhaustion’ according to the Merriam-Webster Science Dictionary is the act or state of being depleted to the extreme, especially from dehydration or lack of sleep, can also be defined as a state of increased physical and mental fatigue, often caused by prolonged stress, work, or illness. And the term ‘anxiety,’ which is a feeling of uncertainty, nervousness, or worry about the future.

Among the prominent researchers and authors of treatments for PSTR, depression, etc., let's highlight Aaron Beck, the founder of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), one of the most effective treatments for depression, anxiety disorders and many other mental health problems. He developed the cognitive triad for depression, which includes negative views of self, the world, and the future. 

His theories and research methods became the basis for the development of cognitive psychotherapy; Judith Herman - author of Trauma and Recovery, which looked at the dynamics of trauma, particularly complex cases of trauma such as sexual assault and war. She introduced the concept of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD), which takes into account the characteristics of long-term and repeated trauma; Bessel van der Kolka and his research focuses on the interplay between neurobiology and trauma. Author of The Body Keeps the Score, which examines the impact of trauma on the body and mind and proposes new treatments. Popularised an approach to treating trauma that emphasises somatic (bodily) responses; Christina Mazzaretti, who is known for her work on occupational burnout. She developed the Maslach Burnout Inventory, which has become a standard tool for measuring burnout among professionals in various industries. These scholars have made significant contributions to the understanding and treatment of various mental disorders, and their work remains relevant to contemporary psychotherapy researchers and practitioners.

Psychopractice is a generic name for various methods and approaches that are used for personal development, self-knowledge, self-regulation, and for working with psycho-emotional states and problems. Breathing psychopractice is a set of methods and approaches that emphasise the use of breathing as the main tool for working with the psyche and emotional state of a person. The basic idea is that by controlling and modifying breathing patterns it is possible to influence the psycho-emotional state, mind and body.

The main aspects of breathing psychopractice include: breath consciousness, breath regulation and directly practices like pranayama (Indian breathing practice), rebirthing (breath of rebirth) by Leonard Orr and other methods that use the breath for therapeutic or spiritual purposes. When a person works on their breathing in a conscious and controlled way, it can have a positive effect on the nervous system, particularly the parasympathetic part that is responsible for relaxation and recovery of the body. This can help to reduce stress levels, improve concentration, promote deep relaxation and improve overall psycho-emotional well-being.

Among modern psychotherapists and psychologists, there are many who integrate breathing practices into their work. Let's consider a few of them: Stanislav Grof is a psychiatrist and one of the founders of transpersonal psychology. He developed ‘holotropic breathing,’ which combines accelerated breathing, music, and other elements to encourage self-healing and self-development. Grof believes that accelerated breathing can induce deep mental states, which he calls ‘holotropic’ states. In these states, a person can relive traumatic events from the past, relive perinatal stages, or even have transpersonal experiences. ‘Holotropic Breathing’ is built on the foundation of Orr's “rebirthing” breathing psychopractice. 

Alexander Loewen is the founder of bioenergetic analysis, which involves working with breath, movement and sensation to release emotional blocks and improve emotional wellbeing. He believed that blocked breathing was associated with emotional blocks and tension in the body. He created a series of breath release exercises to release stagnant emotions. Period of active work: mid 1950s to early 2000s.

Fritz Perls, the founder of Gestalt therapy, saw breathing as an important tool for increasing awareness and integrating ‘unfinished situations’. Gestalt therapy emphasises the ‘here and now’ and uses breathing to draw attention to current experience. Period of active work: 1940-1970.

Leonard Orr is a former military man and a veteran of the US-Vietnam War from 1960-1970. Developed ‘rebirthing’ or ‘rebirth breathing.’ For him, breathing was a key tool for releasing repressed or hidden emotions, releasing old traumas and negative emotional states, processing and integrating traumatic events.

Peter Levine is the developer of Somatic Experiencing, a type of breathing method for processing and integrating trauma. Levine sees breathing as one way of regulating the activation of the autonomic nervous system. He uses breathing to assist people in the process of integrating traumatic experiences while facilitating the transition from an overactive state to a state of relaxation. 

Research on the effects of breathing practices as a tool for psycho-emotional regulation in war is lacking in the last 25 years, as the relevance and great demand for this research, as a psycho-tool for prevention from stress or integration of traumatic experiences, was during the US-Vietnam (1955-1975) and Afghan wars (1979-1989), and after the terrorist attack on 11 September 2001 on the Twin Towers in the USA. 

Now we have new challenges and the need for a large number of studies to find a variety of tools to regulate the psycho-emotional state of an individual under conditions of constant direct or indirect threat to life in connection with a full-scale war in Ukraine. This research will expand the theoretical aspects of breathing psychotechniques and the spheres of their practical application.

The purpose of the article is to present the results of empirical research of the influence of breathing psychotechnics ‘rebirthing’ as a harmoniser of emotional states of an individual and on the basis of the study of the emotional sphere to identify the most effective means and methods of regulation of their emotional states in conditions of war.

Outline of the main material

Theoretical analysis of the question, how exactly the introduction and practice of breathing psychotechnique ‘rebirthing’ affects the psycho-emotional state of a person who is constantly under stress and uncertainty of the future, as well as how this technique is perceived by different social and gender groups, and geographical stay, allowed us to verify the assumption that there are certain differences between women and men, between civilians, entrepreneurs and military, temporary refugees, citizens in Ukraine, and citizens in the war. 

In order to achieve the goal of the empirical study and to test the assumption, we performed the following tasks: we formed the research sample; we selected methods for the study of human psycho-emotional states; we collected and processed the data; the data were interpreted and conclusions were drawn.

The study involved 30 people, aged from 21 years and up to 52 years. Women were selected for the study 19, men - 11 people. Among civilians there were 14 people, among entrepreneurs - 11 people and among military - 4 people. Persons in Ukraine - 17, outside Ukraine - 9 and at the front - 4 persons.

Appropriate instrumentation was used: 

• Eysenck Personality Questionnaire - a series of several author's questionnaires aimed at diagnosing personality

• Spielberger Anxiety Scale - for self-assessment of the level of anxiety at the moment (reactive anxiety as a state) and personal anxiety (as a stable characteristic of a person).

• Gissen Psychosomatic Complaints Questionnaire - for registering individual complaints, complex of complaints and determining a summarised assessment of their intensity.

• The questionnaire ‘Feelings, Activity, Mood’ - for displaying the peculiarities of an individual's psycho-emotional state.

• Boyko's method of diagnosing the level of professional burnout - for diagnosing the professional burnout syndrome [2].

It should be noted that there was no reliable influence of temperament characteristics on the level of neuroticism among the researched people, people live and go through stress in the same way, despite what temperament they have more manifested (extraversion/introversion) according to Eysenck's questionnaire. No difference in age was found as the total sample was between 23-35 years of age. 

Differences were found between the civilian population and entrepreneurs with military personnel on all other questionnaires, where civilian indicators are much lower on anxiety, complaints, exhaustion than military personnel and entrepreneurs, and higher on well-being, activity and mood.

It should also be noted that according to the methodology-based study, women are much better at tolerating stress and are more inclined and capable of psycho-emotional self-regulation, finding and using harmonisation tools than men. This is due to several reasons: socio-educational aspect, because men from childhood are taught to hide and suppress their experiences and emotions, because it is not ‘masculine’, so it is more difficult for them to identify the problem and seek psychological help, socio-economic, where the level of financial burden and responsibility is more on men than on women, and this is associated with risks, flexibility to unpredictability factors, endurance, physiological aspect as a hormonal background, when women during the month most of the conscious life.

The effect on the level of personality and situational anxiety in the Spielberg Anxiety Scale decreased significantly after a series of breathing practices. According to the indicator of ‘Situational Anxiety’ was 39.7 (m 2.4), became 33.1 (m 1.4) with a deviation of p<0.023. This indicator has shown itself most among the researched in military men and businessmen that can speak about the change of attitude to situations that cause anxiety and planning of conscious actions in case of plan ‘B’. By the indicator ‘Personal anxiety’ we also see a noticeable decrease, it was 39.6, became 34.4 (p<0.006). It can speak about reduction of a person's tendency to anxiety and change of tendency to perceive surrounding situations as threatening and to choose the attitude to external ‘stimuli’.

According to the method of Gissen questionnaire of psychosomatic complaints it was revealed that before doing the index was 13,8 (m 0,6), after doing - 9,6 (m 1,4) with deviation p<0,041. That is, the level of somatic symptoms significantly decreased already after 2-4 breathing practices, the number of complaints and their level underwent a decrease, which proves the dependence of the psychological state and its influence on the physical state. Also, providing peak physical tension allows the organism to get rid of stress hormones like adrenaline, noradrenaline, cortisol through sweat.

According to Boyko's method of diagnosing the level of professional burnout, a decrease in the index from 5.7 to 4.1 mean with a deviation of p < 0.033 was revealed. This indicator was significantly manifested in the group of businessmen and military men, from the index of 8.8 to 5.4 with p <0.002. Where the Burnout indicator is related to the three stages ‘tension, resistance, exhaustion’ and they are related to involvement in ‘work’ and emotional openness with the availability of internal resources for work. That is, after a series of breathing practices, the researched returned some of the resources, interest and emotional openness to their work activities, became more open in communication with colleagues, loyal, more objective, less aggressive.

According to the results of the questionnaire ‘Feelings, Activity, Mood’, all indicators increased after a series of breathing practices. The index of ‘Activity’ significantly increased from 4.8 to 5.6 with p<0.001. And among military and businessmen, ‘Self-esteem’ increased more from 4.0 to 5.4 at p<0.003 and ‘Activity’ from 3.8 to 5.3 at p<0.002. This may indicate how oxygenation, self-massage through diaphragmatic breathing, nervous system resetting, trauma integration promotes well-being and increases activity. 

To establish the relationship between the indicators of psychoemotional regulation we performed correlation analysis (Spearman's rank correlation). The results are shown in Table 1-2.

So, we draw conclusions on the study of interrelationships of indicators of psychoemotional regulation to breathing practice: 

• on the indicator of neuroticism high level of correlation is observed with indicators of situational, personality anxiety, pressure and intensity to complaints, and all indicators of SUN. This suggests that the personality trait that is prone to emotional instability, anxiety, low self-esteem will be constantly exposed to inadequate perception of situations around, constantly being in a state of anxiety and posture of partial readiness to attack or to defend, have many complaints of somatic symptoms and be at a low level of well-being, activity and mood;

• on the indicator of situational anxiety, the more anxiety, the steeper the drop in well-being and mood. 

• According to the index of personality anxiety, the activity index is also added. That is, if a person tends to perceive situations or others as a source of anxiety, then automatically his mood, activity and well-being will decrease;

• according to SUN indicators, we see a big correlation between the level of well-being with exhaustion and intensity of complaints. That is, the lack of well-being is related to the level of exhaustion and pressure and the intensity of somatic complaints.

Thus, the worse the well-being, activity and mood, the greater the feeling of exhaustion, sickness and health complaints.

The study of interrelationships of indicators of psychoemotional regulation already after breathing practice: 

• The indicator of ‘situational anxiety’ still has a relationship with pain in different parts of the body, because breathing practice exacerbates the chronic problems of the researcher, drawing his attention to the urgent solution of problems. But we already see the absence of a direct relationship with the indicators of ‘intensity of complaints’ and ‘activity’, that is, after the practice, anxiety no longer provokes the intensity of complaints and a decrease in activity;

• the indicator of ‘personality anxiety’ already has no correlation with ‘exhaustion’, ‘intensity of complaints’, ‘pain in different parts of the body’ and has significantly reduced the correlation with the indicators of SAS, which increases the level of self-control and trust in oneself to choose to perceive the environment as less dangerous and to choose one's reactions to it;

• there is still a strong correlation between the indicators ‘exhaustion’ and ‘activity’, but we also see that there is no longer any correlation between ‘well-being’ and ‘pain in different parts of the body’, which indicates that well-being is no longer reflected by somatics in the body, and the indicator ‘mood’ is no longer related to pressure and intensity of complaints.

Conclusions

Summarising the presented material, we note that the regulation of psycho-emotional state is influenced by a lot of indicators and they are interrelated, the features of stress perception, its experience and tracking directly affects the quality of life. The study of the influence of breathing psychopractice of rebirthing on harmonisation of psycho-emotional state of an individual is undeniable and obvious.

Statistically significant correlations were found between the index of neuroticism and almost all indicators of selected questionnaires, which confirms the connection when personal tendency to aggravate and exaggerate, increases the level of anxiety, psychosomatic complaints and reduces mood, well-being, activity.

Military and entrepreneurs due to the specificity of their activity, which is based on risks, readiness to fight with unexpected events that endanger life or life's work, includes many things on which a person cannot have an unquestionable influence, except to rearrange and change their attitude and perception of stimulus, threat and replay. This group is more prone to burnout states, anxiety and complaints of body pain.

Women are better able to withstand stress because they learn to cope with psycho-emotional instability against the background of hormonal games since the first hormonal changes from the teenage years and do not hesitate to seek help. In the study, we see that there are many more women and most of them are civilian and less prone to additional stress compared to military and businessmen who are more likely to be ‘on edge’.

It was found that the questionnaire scores of the military and businessmen group are significantly higher compared to the civilian group, especially the scores of situational anxiety, body complaints and exhaustion. But more representative also in the survey scores ‘after’ conducting a series of breathing practices.

The obtained results of using breathing practices as a tool for regulation of psycho-emotional state and improvement of life activity, increase of industriousness of an individual can be useful both for psychological work in the work of psychological unloading rooms, and in the activity of practical psychologists, and in some cases for independent performance and providing timely self-help on their own. The prospect of further research is an in-depth study of the correction of the psychoemotional state of active military personnel, active participants in combat operations.

(c) All rights reserved. The source: DOI https://www.psych.vernadskyjournals.in.ua/journal/5_2023/14.pdf