Occupation Can Change the Brain and Prevent PP-PTSD

Did you know that occupation has the ability to alter your brain? When you think about this, it makes sense. Growing up, did your parents ever tell you that "birds of a feather flock together?" Mine did. At the heart of that saying is the idea that what you do, where you do it, and who you do it with alters your brain and may even define you. Okay, I hated this saying growing up, but it has some merit. So much of what occupational therapists do is alter the wiring in your brain by joining your flock and redirecting it. 

Therapists go to school for a long time to learn how to do this well. On the surface, occupational therapy is deceptive. It seems like OT practitioners are just doing normal, everyday things, but something you should know is we are super sneaky. Occupational therapy is the ninja of the therapy professions. We're often referred to as board gamers because we use fun things to help clients accomplish goals. We know that change won't last if it isn't attached to something you already do, something you value, something you want to do, or something you find enjoyable.

Health starts with 5 things: 1.) occupations, 2.) body and spirit, 3.) skills, 4.) patterns, and 5.) environment. If we can hack any one of these things, we can accomplish goals. 

Want to learn more about the relationship between lifestyle and health? You can learn about social determinates of health by watching this video and reading about it on the Healthy People 2030 website:

Why does hacking occupation, body and spirit, skills, patterns, and environment change the brain? Because everything we do either strengthens the wiring that already exists, or rewires it. Longlasting change happens in the brain and its wires that travel throughout the body. The body just does what the brain and wiring tell it to do.

So what is the brain telling the body to do during life-threatening (or perceived life-threatening) times? It tells it to run, fight, or freeze. The brain helps you make quick decisions by taking in more visual and spatial information in the environment than normal--basically, it makes you superwoman...but only for a short period. Then your human brain is stuck with these superwoman memories. There is too much visual and spatial memory floating around that human brain. Most brains send these memories to the garbage bin but some hold on to them.

Certainly, we don't want to forget the event that happened (especially when it involves the birth of our precious children), but we do want to get rid of the overload of memory that clogs the brain up and causes flashbacks, nightmares, and reliving the fear over and over again. We can do this through occupation.

There are multiple methods that help you do this after the memories are cemented--so it requires a lot of chipping away with an occupational or psychological "jackhammer." But there is another option, one that stops the cement truck from dumping the wet cement to begin with. It's a failsafe button. Curious to know what this failsafe button is? A visuospatial cognitive occupation and co-occupation between mom and baby. 

We have good evidence that playing Tetris for 15 minutes within 6 hours of giving birth (making sure the sound is off) can prevent the signs and symptoms of PP-PTSD...and probably prevent it altogether. Because Tetris works by distracting your vision and feeling of space while you use your brain to logic, it can interrupt the too-many shortterm memories of trauma from turning into long-term memories. Based on this, other similar activities probably work: possibly Candy Crush, doing artwork, doing word searches or picture finds, and other similar activities. Though this hasn't been fully studied yet.

Another way to prevent PP-PTSD signs and symptoms is the co-occupation between mom and baby called the magical hour, the sacred hour, or the golden hour. This intervention involves naked baby being put on mom's naked belly as soon as it is born, and staying there for about an hour or until the baby goes through 9 instinctive developmental tasks. You can learn more here.

Nine instinctive developmental tasks that occur during the co-occupation of skin-to-skin contact in the first hour after birth. This is called the golden hour, magical hour, or sacred hour. The picture came from here.

These simple occupational interventions can prevent months and years of suffering for mom and baby. Occupational therapists are truly sacred magicians.