PARCUVE model and the origin of emotional pain: what does it consist of?

The PARCUVE model is a therapeutic resource created by psychologist Manuel Hernández, specialist in attachment, neurobiology and emotions. This is an interesting advance in the understanding of psychopathological behaviors, especially by delving into the subtle relationship between the emotional and the cerebral.

In this context, we cannot leave aside something obvious. Every traumatic event experienced early or even in adulthood leaves a deep dent in the brain. This alteration can translate into infinite subsequent problems, such as mental exhaustion, difficulty managing emotions, changes in personality and, above all, difficulty having control over one’s own life.

This model provides us with a comprehensive, practical and illustrative vision to understand and address many psychopathological realities. It integrates aspects related to attachment and everything related to neuroscience and the emotional universe.

The PARCUVE model created by Manuel Hernández helps people understand their history and regulate all the emotional and cognitive load.

PARCUVE model: objectives and characteristics

There is a common misconception about trauma. It is often assumed that these adverse experiences, such as not being loved in childhood, destroy one’s life forever. And that, therefore, we become victims ad eternalum. We cannot ignore the human being’s capacity for growth and change.

It is true that this journey of healing and addressing psychological problems is different for each person. Each one carries with them unique stories and mental narratives that intensify suffering to a greater or lesser degree. No two cases are the same.

However, We increasingly have more psychological resources. An example of this is the research work published by Emory University in Atlanta in 2018.

Approaches such as cognitive processing therapy (CPT) or cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), for example, are two widely supported methodologies in the treatment of trauma. However, approaches as revolutionary and consistent as the PARCUVE Model emerge as highly interesting new perspectives.

What is its purpose and how is it presented?

The PARCUVE model is an acrostic for (P) panic, (A) anxiety, (R) rage, (CU) guilt, and (VE) shame. This is an approach in which Manuel Hernández builds an interesting ontogenetic hierarchy of emotions and their behavioral correlates.

This interesting theory aims to enable people to understand their stories, giving them tools to regulate both their emotional and cognitive universe (ideas, thought patterns, beliefs, attitudes, etc.).

It is an approach that is based, on the one hand, on the theories on the functioning of the brain of Nobel Prize winner Gerald Edelman and, on the other hand, focuses on reward and punishment systems at a neurobiological level and on the phenomenon kindling-awareness described by John D. Teasdale. This last characteristic explains why some people are more vulnerable after several depressive episodes.

The PARCUVE model is represented in a matrix of three rings. In it, an illustrative explanation is offered about how certain emotions sometimes form psychopathological realities. We delve into them.

First ring: the 5 emotions that feed back on trauma and psychological suffering

According to this therapeutic approach, There are 5 key emotions that underpin the persistence of suffering and resistance to psychological trauma. They are emotions that activate different brain circuits that condition the way of thinking and also behavior. They are the following:

The fear

This emotion protects us from threats, however, many times its trigger is completely irrational.. In addition, it acts at a somatic level (body), at a cognitive level (thought) and can also raise the valence of other dimensions such as anxiety or stress. Likewise, fear is the basis of phobias.

The blame

Many people who have experienced trauma carry more than one sense of guilt.. These are situations in which the mind does not stop thinking about what happened, projecting all responsibility onto oneself.

The shame

Shame is a self-devaluating emotion. It is present in many of those who have suffered attachment problems.

Anger

John Bowly explained based on his theories on attachment that many children who suffer the abandonment of one of their children experience a high level of anger. Both towards themselves and others.

Panic and connection

This dual dimension defines almost prototypical behavior in all trauma survivors: need to connect with others, but at the same time fear of being hurt again.

Second ring: actions that reinforce discomfort

Each of the previously mentioned emotions gives way to a series of behaviors and actions that can feed back into the persistence of more than one psychological disorder.

Fear gives way to phobic behaviors.Guilt can cause one to attribute everything negative that happens to oneself. Sometimes, instead of projecting onto oneself, one can turn oneself onto others to the point of blaming others for any discomfort, mistake, or disappointment. In that way, one never takes responsibility for oneself.Shame can materialize in two types of behavior: the caregiver or the narcissist.. The first will seek to prioritize others to gain the acceptance of others. The second will seek to subdue others so as not to feel ashamed of themselves again. Anger can translate into self-harm (if it is projected onto oneself) or violent reactions towards others (if it is projected outwards). Panic /Connection. In this case, it can give rise to two very specific behaviors: persistent avoidance as a way of not suffering the feeling of loneliness again or, on the contrary, the need to control others so as not to be rejected.

Our emotions can also shape different personality styles that make trauma chronic.

Third ring: personalities associated with trauma

The PARCUVE model teaches that many of the many negatively valenced emotions arising from our attachment problems or traumatic events can shape different personality styles. In fact, It is common for a good number of survivors of an adverse event to process their reality in a very specific way:

Fear can give way to phobic, avoidant and even addictive personalities.Guilt can be the basis of a perfectionist personality or, on the contrary, indolent, those who do not make an effort for anything. Shame materializes in dependent or narcissistic profiles. In the case of rage, we can have controlling and manipulative people, or on the other hand, someone who is hates himself. In the case of panic/connection we could find dependent people or people with aggressive tendencies due to their fear of rejection, loneliness and abandonment.

To conclude, we are faced with a very illustrative, simple and practical model that allows us to understand certain distortions in the way of thinking, acting and building clearly unhappy and problematic relationships. Emotions are that nuclear element that act as ontogenic elements of many pathological behaviors.

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