Bipolar Disorder

Here’s how Bipolar Disorder symptoms may also be explained by retained primitive reflexes and incomplete lower brain development.

High tolerance of pain can be a sign of an underdeveloped pons. Therefore, self-injurious behavior, such as cutting, may actually be an attempt to seek extraordinary stimuli just to “feel” something.

Anxiety and suicidal thoughts can also be signs of an underdeveloped pons. When the lower centers of the brain are not developed, the brain is wired to be “on guard” all the time. Almost everything is viewed as a possible threat. Such a state of hypervigilance can create a lot of anxiety.

Likewise, if the Moro reflex is still active past the first four months of life, such people are wired to react with a fight or flight response whenever something is perceived as a threat (even if others do not view it that way). While a mild form of flight behavior is to retreat from an activity, suicide is the most dramatic expression.

Poor concentration can be a sign of an underdeveloped midbrain. If the midbrain is not fully developed, it will not always filter unimportant information from flooding the cortex. A disorganized brain must pay attention to much, much more than an organized brain.

People who experience insomnia or oversleeping may be missing several automatic functions that are associated with a well-organized brain. For example, the hypothalamus, which is part of the midbrain, generates many body functions including our sleep/wake cycles.