NET does not treat emotions, but rather the complete mind-body response to an emotion stuck in the body. Emotions themselves are neither good nor bad. They are an energy meant to move through the body, create a response and then dissipate. For example, we tend to think of anger and fear as negative emotions. However, anger can give us the strength and resolve to do the right thing. Anger is the appropriate response to injustice. Fear is what protects us from dangerous risks. However, if we repress the anger it will get stuck in the body and form a Neuro-Emotional Complex (NEC).

A Neuro-Emotional Complex exists whenever an old emotional trauma is fixated (stuck) in the body. It involves a Pavlovian conditioned response. Normally, conditioned responses (such as the salivation stimulated by a bell in Pavlov's dog) go away after a time in the absence of the original condition stimulus (a ringing bell) reinforcing this response. This is called extinction of the conditioned response. When the normal extinction function fails to occur, an NEC is formed.

An NEC is an imprint the human organism adopted in response to some experience, and is uniquely composed of:

1. A specific emotion.
2. A conditioned response with resistance to extinction.
3. A vulnerability to suppression, repetition-compulsion and re-stimulation causing cyclical reinforcement of the conditioned response. In others words, a negative feedback loop. (Repetition-compulsion is a term used by Freud to describe the unconscious need to re-enact early traumas in the attempt to overcome or heal them.)
4. A weak muscle.
5. An emotionally charged and often recallable memory of a past significant emotional event.
6. An active organ reflex point or acupuncture point associated with the meridian that is out of balance.

We tend to think of emotions as psychological, however, Pavlov was a physiologist, and emotions are defined as an arousal of the autonomic nervous system, with measurable physical changes in respiration, blood pressure, muscle contraction, etc.

A disturbance occurred in an acupuncture meridian when the NEC was originally formed. When the NEC is re-activated by a current event there will be a blockage in that meridian negatively impacting the cells and tissues mediated by that meridian.

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF NET HIDDEN AFFECT REPETITION COMPULSION AND STIMULUS GENERALIZATION