acid-base
psychology
The
Henderson-Hasselbach (H-H) equation, as described in greater detail on the “acid-base
balance” page on this site, says that pH in extracellular fluids is regulated
by the relationship between the presence of carbon dioxide, PCO2, regulated by breathing, and bicarbonate concentration, [HCO3‾],
regulated by the kidneys:
pH = [HCO3‾] ÷ PCO2.
Medical
practitioners are interested in the organic factors that disturb the numerator
of H-H equation, the bicarbonate concentration.
Breathing, the denominator, is considered to be a reflexive chemo-physiological
compensatory mechanism that contributes to the restoration of acid-base
balance. Integrating behavioral science
with the H-H equation, however, means examining behavioral and psychological
variables that may disturb the denominator of the equation. Thus, the equation might be rewritten as
follows:
acid-base
balance (pH) = physiology ÷ behavior (breathing).
It
could even be written: acid-base regulation = physiology ÷ psychology, where psychology makes its entry
through its effects on breathing behavior.
The practical implications are indeed impressive.
In
revisiting this equation, it is important to take note that pH not only has a
profound effect on behavior, but that behavior has an immense effect on
pH. Why isn’t this common knowledge? Why is the content of this website new to
most readers? Why aren’t practitioners
everywhere implementing this knowledge?
The answers are really very simple:
(1)
Medical practitioners practice what they’ve learned, and provide services for
which they are licensed. They are
generally not behavioral scientists, psychologists, counselors, therapists,
teachers, consultants, or breathing practitioners. Even with the skills, and the time, traditional
healthcare does adequately provide, either financially or philosophically, for
patient education services.
(2) Behavioral
practitioners have never heard of the H-H equation. Many of them effectively ignore physiology,
and consider anything that references physiology as being beyond the scope of
their practice and license. Thus, otherwise
obvious applications, become hidden and remote, lost in the divisions of
cultural thinking.
A good
example of the disconnection between medical and behavioral practices is the
“overbreathing coaching” that was, for a long time, a part of “natural child
birth” assistance, where women “panted” as a behavioral tool for overcoming
pain and other kinds of discomfort. The
disorientation, loss of focus, dizziness, dissociation, disconnection from self
and environment, and a state of semi-consciousness, all due to oxygen and
glucose deprivation through overbreathing, contributed to these behavioral
objectives. Physiologically, however,
not only was the mother suffering from significant oxygen deprivation and its potentially
harmful effects, but the infant/fetus as well.
Copyrighted by
Behavioral Physiology Institute,