User:Terribowman/sandbox

Positive Auditory Stimuli
The Positive Auditory Stimuli technique is a method that uses positive auditory stimuli in the form of subliminal audio messages to affect the unconscious brain in order to improve thoughts and behaviors that contribute to stress, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and aggression.

The technique was developed in 2006 by Terri Bowman of the Brain Wellness Spa in Perth, Australia as a way to help people address mental health issues without the use of medication. The Brain Wellness Spa was awarded the Most Innovative Natural Mental Health Service 2022 - Western Australia at the 7th annual Global Health & Pharma Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Awards. The technique was originally developed for in-person sessions but has been adapted for remote use. The Positive Auditory Stimuli technique is the basis of Blisseree, a self-help mobile app that is designed to allow users to reap the benefits of this technique remotely.

Bowman has produced two documentary films, Taboo of a Broken Brain and Blue Rain—PTSD The Silent Suffering, that show how the Positive Auditory Stimuli technique is used. Both feature interviews with multiple clients who have been helped by this method. In these videos, the Positive Auditory Stimuli technique is explained and demonstrated in actual sessions with clients. The majority of each documentary consists of interviews with people who have seen significant improvement or resolution of their emotional, psychological, and mental health problems using the technique.

Development
The technique’s creator, Terri Bowman, began developing the Positive Auditory Stimuli technique in 2006 after experiencing dissatisfaction with traditional medicine approaches to mental health. Bowman suffered from menstrual psychosis that resulted in her hospitalization. She was dissatisfied with her experience receiving treatment using traditional psychiatric medicine, including psychiatric medications which caused her to experience many negative side effects. This negative experience inspired her to create a non-traditional approach to providing mental health care in a relaxed, spa-like setting. Using her background in kinesiology to combine different treatment modalities, Bowman developed the Positive Auditory Stimuli technique as a way to “[reprogram] the brain via the unconscious.”

Description
The Positive Auditory Stimuli technique consists of 12 to 14 weekly sessions where patients listen to masked positive auditory stimuli that allow psychological priming to occur. The auditory stimuli used consist of proprietary scripts read aloud containing complete sentences that center around a specific theme. Each session focuses on a single, unique theme (see table below) and includes multiple affirmational statements intended to “decreas[e] the subjects’ stress to emotional triggers and also promot[e] psychological and emotional resilience.” Two treatment programs at the Brain Wellness Clinic have been designed around the Positive Auditory Stimuli technique—the Emotional Empowerment Program and the Unstoppable You Program. The Emotional Empowerment Program consists of 14 weekly sessions, while the Unstoppable You consists of 11 sessions.

In-person sessions consist of a 25-minute consultation to discuss the specific problems a person is experiencing that they wish to address, followed by a 25-minute session of auditory subliminal priming, and ending with a 10-minute post-therapy period. During these treatments, patients lie in a reclined, semi-recumbent supine position while wearing an eye mask (blindfold) and are covered with a blanket. Noise-canceling headphones are worn and set at 20% volume to reduce disruptive sounds and prevent the patient from consciously hearing the auditory stimuli. Additionally, music is played to mask the sub-threshold subliminal stimuli. For remote sessions, the positive auditory stimuli are presented as sub-threshold scripts read while masked by music without the use of noise-canceling headphones. During these remote sessions, single words may be consciously heard, but not complete sentences.

Blissiree
Blissiree is a self-help mobile application created by Terri Bowman that is based on the Positive Auditory Stimuli technique. The app provides paid access to the Emotional Empowerment and Unstoppable You programs using pre-recorded audio containing music and sub-threshold positive subliminal stimuli. The app also offers paid access to the Boost program, which contains more than 100 additional auditory stimuli recordings described as a “tune-up for your brain.” The app also features a number of functions designed to allow users to track mood, sleep, and activities. The Positive Auditory Stimuli technique sessions can be completed by users in the setting of their choosing, including listening to the subliminal audio while falling asleep.

Scientific basis
The Positive Auditory Stimuli technique is based on the concepts of priming and neuroplasticity. Subliminal stimuli are below the threshold of conscious awareness but can be detected by the unconscious mind as seen with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Studies have suggested that individuals who have been diagnosed with anxiety or depression are also more likely to exhibit an unconscious attentional bias toward negative sensory information, even when it is presented outside of conscious awareness.

Building upon Beck’s Cognitive Theory of Depression, the Positive Auditory Stimuli technique aims to address long-standing patterns of dysfunctional beliefs and negative cognitive biases underlying emotional and behavioral manifestations of mental illness. The technique uses positive subliminal messages as a type of psychological priming, preparing the unconscious mind to deal with future negative internal and external stimuli. The Positive Auditory Stimuli technique is similar to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in terms of how it addresses maladaptive patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behavior, but does so by accessing processes in the unconscious mind without conscious processing.

Effectiveness
In 2022, Bowman and colleagues published the first peer-reviewed scientific journal article about the Positive Auditory Stimuli technique: Subliminal priming with positive auditory stimuli significantly improves self-esteem and emotional wellbeing. In a retrospective study including 535 patients who had undergone the therapy, the authors found that the programs showed improvement in patient-reported self-esteem, depression, anxiety, stress, worry, and state of being. The study used a combination of questions about self-perceived emotional states and validated, self-reported measures of mental wellbeing. These measures included the short-form Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21), Penn State Worry Questionnaire, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Brief Aggression Questionnaire.

Documentaries
Bowman has produced two documentary films, Taboo of a Broken Brain and Blue Rain—PTSD The Silent Suffering, that show how the Positive Auditory Stimuli technique is used and feature interviews with multiple clients who have been helped by the technique.6 In these videos, the Positive Auditory Stimuli technique process is explained and demonstrated in actual sessions with clients. The majority of each documentary consists of interviews with people who have seen significant improvement or resolution of their emotional, psychological, and mental health problems using the technique.