The Central Control System: (Primitive Brain): This is the part of the brain that controls the automatic and involuntary functions in the body and mind. Most biological functions needed for survival like breathing or your heart beat are controlled and regulated by this part of the brain.

It is primarily responsible for homeostasis: (physiology) metabolic equilibrium actively maintained by several complex biological mechanisms that operate via the autonomic nervous system to offset disrupting changes. This process also exists in the mind in that there are automatic triggers that spontaneously activate when we are in life threatening situations.

For example people interviewed after a disaster like a fire or ships sinking often say, ‘they don’t remember what happened only being rescued’, it’s as if they were on autopilot. When a person is in a depressive state for a long time and progressively gets worse often at the lowest point they can snap out of it with no help whatsoever. It’s as if the mind has a safety valve that protects the person from self destruction and in certain circumstances the person remerges better for the experience.

I do not recommend that people test their mental safety triggers (MST’s) as some people’s MST’s are set too low and they will self destruct before they have a chance to activate.  The good news is that these MST’s can be recalibrated to activate more quickly resulting in a person snapping out of a negative mental state, more quickly and without external assistance.