The nervous system possess habits of consciousness and action. These might be (somewhat arbitrarily) grouped under four themes:

• Flight Response
• Freeze Response
• Orient Response
• Fight Response

These imprints are learned in the first few years of life. They control a great deal of our behavior, emotion, and consciousness. The developmental features associated with the nervous system are the most exhaustively researched aspects of psychology (especially with regard to trauma).

Additionally, emerging theories of nervous system functioning support the notion that the nervous system controls many (perhaps most) aspects of our behavior and consciousness. According to these new ideas, our behavior is "goverened" by nervous system imprinting that occurs both developmentally and by way of environmental conditioning. The nervous system (which pervades every part of the body and could be described as the bodymind) is the most important aspect of human consciousness (and is not merely the brain).

During the first four phases of childhood development, the four states of the nervous system are imprinted and tuned. This happens by way of parenting, immersion in the environment, genetic predisposition, and various other factors (many of which are still unknown).

Belonging

Flight response is correlated with belonging (roughly from birth to one month). If an individual does not experience a sense of belonging, he or she will withdraw (psychologically and physically), and will seek ways of adapting through imagination and inner resourcing. (Cold hands and feet are one symptom of this withdrawal, as is adolescent cutting.)

In adolescence, this adaptive mechanism makes such individuals prone to hallucinogen addiction, addiction to the imagination, and addiction to the technologies of fantasy.

(For each of the developmental themes which follow, the pattern is the same as above: incomplete or fragmented early imprinting increases the likelihood of struggle in adolescence. This is due to the fact that adolescents "revisit," in ways that are poorly understood, earlier developmental themes and attempt to work them through -- or complete them -- in adolescent form. This behavioral and nervous system strategy is the subject of a great deal of research and much correlative data. At the same time, it's a fundamentally mysterious process.)

Need Fulfilment

Freeze response is correlated with need fulfilment (roughly one month to eight months). If an individual is abused or neglected during this period (any period, really), he or she will adapt by surrendering needs or fixating on specific needs (such as food). Surrender and fixation are two aspects of nervous system freezing.

Surrender and fixation are two aspects of opiate addictions, which are developmentally predisposed during this period of development. If individuals with lingering vulnerabilities from this stage go on to develop technology addictions in adolescence, those addictions will be focused toward online shopping, text messaging, image viewing (e.g. pornography) and television watching.

Autonomy

The developmental stage of negotiating the relationship between self and other (which occupies the period roughly from 8 months to 1.5 years) involves significant milestones of movement, exploration, personal challenge, and orienting.

If an individual does not receive balanced imprinting at this stage, he or she will tend to become hyper-vigilant and hyperactive (not all hyperactivity is derived from this stage, however). One symptom of this adaptation is a craving for excitement and newness.

If such individuals go on to develop addictions in adolescence, those addictions are more likely to involve stimulants. If the addictions involve technology, the individual will likely be drawn to stimulating video games, online gambling, and extreme immersive environments.

Will and Power

Between two and four years of age, individuals negotiate their relationship to their own power. It has been well-established that domestic violence and corporal punishment at this age are highly correlated with developmental and lifespan difficulties. Such difficulties are not only psychological: the risk of adolescent and adult obesity is increased (by fifty per cent) by the experience of childhood neglect.

The fight response is developed and tuned at this stage. For those who will develop addictions in adolescence, the experience of neglect and abuse of power in childhood creates the predisposition toward alcoholism. This is one reason why why the rates of alcoholism are so high in war-torn countries and in cultures where cultural power has been destroyed. In terms of technology addictions, such predispositions are likely to involve addictions to video games involving fighting.