“Anxiety’s like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you very far.” — Jodi Picoult
I see people asking for support for anxiety all over the place, in multiple forums and groups. The message is almost always the same.
"Help me get out of this feeling"
"Give me anything that I can take to fix me"
We want to find something to relieve the symptoms, at least temporarily, but what is causing anxiety?
When we only use anxiety relieving coping strategies without understanding what is underneath it's a quick fix and not a long term solution.
What are the symptoms of anxiety?
Overwhelmed
Unable to sit still
Insomnia
Brain fog
Issues with digestion
Increased heart rate
Shortness of breath
These symptoms can be loud, they are asking us to listen more deeply but because of the responses in the body it is hard to slow down to hear them. The other issue is when we try to tell ourselves to "calm down" the feelings and sensations tend to get worse.
To help us find the root cause, we look at what are we really afraid of and understand why we're really afraid of it. This helps is manage our responses and try to find healthier ways to work with these symptoms in the future.
There may be some underlying core beliefs:
The world is not safe
I cant trust anyone
I am powerless
I have no control
And when these beliefs become embedded they become our identity "I am just an anxious person” or "This is just who I am now"
We can be scared of being judged, of doing the "wrong" thing or even just the hanging question..."what if ... happens..."
The underlying emotion is fear.
Anxiety reflects our uncertainty about future circumstances, whether regarding our health, job, or love life or even a downturn in the economy. It can be triggered by events in the real world or generated wholly internally through thoughts of real or imagined threats.
Negative experiences in early childhood can put our bodies into states of chronic stress and can affect our nervous systems to stay stuck in fight/flight response. We may be on constant high alert, hypervigilant even when it isn't necessary. Constantly perceiving a threat can mean constantly feeling anxiety.
Research suggests that these negative experiences prevent the amygdala, which is the structure in the brain responsible for kick-starting survival mode, from differentiating between current and past threats. This means that reminders of past trauma can create the same level of anxiety as if the trauma were happening in the moment.
The amygdala, a small almond-shaped structure deep within the brain, is a crucial player in handling emotions and memories, especially when it comes to traumatic experiences. Its main job is to process emotions, particularly fear and detecting threats, making it a key player in how negative and traumatic memories are formed and stored. When something traumatic happens, the amygdala quickly activates, alerting the whole brain and body, and making us more aware and responsive. This fast response is important for survival, but when it comes to traumatic memories, it strongly influences the lasting marks left on our brains.
The amygdala's involvement in storing traumatic memories also affects how we remember them later. Its connections with other brain parts, like the hippocampus, influence the setting and emotional tone linked to these memories. This dynamic interaction between the amygdala and other memory-related parts highlights the complexity of how traumatic memories are stored and the strong emotional charge tied to them.
The hippocampus is a major component of the brain involved in both short-term and long-term memory. Structurally, the hippocampus is organised into several internal subregions that are thought to be responsible for different types of memories and learning processes. Neurochemical signals cause cascades of neuron activation throughout the hippocampus during learning and behaviourally relevant tasks.
In my 1:1 IEMT session we work with these past memories to help you out of these responses and reduce the emotional charge thus supporting you to release patterns of fear and anxiety.
If you would like to book a session then book online or try exploring these journal prompts.
What is my deepest fear?
What messages lie beneath the fear and where did that message come from?
How can I support my body to feel loved and safe?
What would it look like if everything went right?
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