ThePhoenix
07-31-2010, 10:24 PM
Hey all,
I found this on the net, its pretty long but alot of the things it talks about I can certainly agree with! It is taken from a product for sale but thats not what I am interested in:
…have you ever felt those physical feelings of tension that you just can't shake off? You can never seem to just loosen up, relax and unwind when you want to? You feel so physically and mentally drained with all your worries and fears to the point where you become depressed and down just thinking about the whole situation?
…have you ever felt like anxiety is robbing of you all your motivation and focus, it seems like you never get anything done, your life feels like you're continually treading water? And have you ever felt like it is robbing you of all your self-esteem, pride and happiness?
When all you want to do is get on with people around you, not be stressed-out at work, and not be worrying about what could happen? But what ever you do you find yourself fretting about your loved ones, your work, your health and money?
…have you ever woken up and the first thing that hits you is a wall of anxiety and worry? And those feelings keep eating away at you, all day. And then when all you want to do is go to sleep at night, and finally get some relief from those feelings, all that happens is they get worse.
So you spend most of the night tossing and turning, glancing over at the alarm clock wondering if you’ll get any sleep…and then have to get up the next day, feeling even worse than before?
Applying a little logic can be useful. But the problem is this... anxiety isn’t logical. In fact it’s downright irrational.
Your therapist might sit you down, ask you about one of your worries, then have you work out the percent chance of that worry actually happening. And then say something like, "You see statistically there's very little chance of that worry happening. Stop worrying about it!" But for anxious people the problem is this...
Even if there is only a one-in-a-million chance of that thing happening you will still get anxious about. Just a hint of uncertainty is often enough to set off a stream of worry and anxiety. You need certainty that logic just can’t provide.
Your brain is out of date. In this modern day world we are still heavily influenced by our pre-historic brains. A brain that was built around surviving predator attacks and hunting for food. Let me explain…
There's a small part of your brain which evolved millions of years ago called the amygdala (pronounced uh-mig-duh-luh.) The amygdala controls ALL the fear you feel – lab monkeys and rats that had their amygdala’s removed (poor creatures) showed no signs of fear at all! Your brain works in exactly the same way.
So, if you spot a snake in the grass, or see the shadow of a potential mugger, or if there's a car hurtling towards you, it’s the amygdala that reacts in milliseconds, triggering the “flight-or-fight” response. This response enables to you run away or deal with the situation almost instantly without having to logically think about it. If you had to logically think it could cost you a few vital life-saving seconds.
It’s only a few seconds later when the logical part of the brain kicks in that you can identify whether the threat is real or not. For example, that snake in the grass might just have been a harmless twig. This ‘alarm system’ was essential thousands of years ago, but now it’s as much a hindrance as a help. Here’s why…
Your amygdala also reacts to anxious thoughts and mental images as if they were reality, as if they were happening to you now.
That's right, worry thoughts or mental images of your future, that haven't happened, and might not even happen, can trigger the same flight-or-fight response! And it's this response that causes the feelings of anxiety. And it's also this response which is responsible for conditioning your Anxiety Habit.
Your amygdala can’t tell your worry is just a collection of thoughts and mental images, it reacts to them in exactly the same way it would react to the actual situation you are worrying about. This combined with how anxious people handle worry thoughts is a recipe for high anxiety...
Asking “What if…?” questions allows non-anxious individuals to mentally explore solutions or prepare themselves for future situations. As solutions are reached, anxiety decreases. This is usually indicated by an inner feeling of relief and freeing of tension, a feeling that they know they can cope. The amygdala now begins to ignore those thoughts, as they are now seen as non-threatening. But, for anxious individuals...
“What if…?” triggers a perpetuating chain of thoughts, with each thought becoming more intense than the last. This process is called catastrophizing, where a tiny snowflake of worry ends up as an avalanche of anxiety. As a result, no solutions or relief and freeing of tension are felt - there is no feeling of being able to cope that non-anxious people feel. Because of this your amygdala sees these thoughts as a threat and so classifies them as "dangerous." That's not all...
The more you think about that particular worry and react anxiously to those thoughts, the stronger the "danger" tag becomes - now your amygdala is sure that thing is dangerous, so even the slightest connection to that thought can trigger the flight-or-fight response. When this happens you get a low level of adrenline released which makes you feel even more anxious. You end up stuck in a start of worry causing anxiety, which causes more worry, which causes more anxiety and so on...
This response can leave you feeling tense and jittery, it can feel like your heart is beating a little faster than normal. Maybe your chest will feel a little tight. It can keep your mind racing and prevent your body from relaxing when you try to unwind or sleep at night. You feel on-edge and up-tight, often not able to think straight - concentration and focus vanishes. The whole response can leave you feeling drained, tired and depressed... Which causes more anxiety. Before you know it you're stuck in a vicious cycle that's hard to break.
"But why can’t I just think logically about the situation and rationalize to prevent anxiety?" Here’s why…
Habits are powerful things. Repeat anything enough times and your subconscious starts doing it without you having to actually think about it. And this is exactly what happens in most cases of anxiety. It’s become a habit. A very strong and over-bearing habit. And like most deep-seated habits they are tough to break. Scientists like to call these types of habits conditioned responses. What does this mean...?
You might be familiar with Pavlov’s science experiments in which he conditioned responses in dogs using the sound of a bell. Every time Pavlov rang the bell he would give the dogs some tasty meat. After repeating this process several times the dogs would begin salivating even before they saw the food. They had become conditioned to the ringing of the bell. Their brains began associating the bell with food, and the automatic response was their mouths began watering. So what does this have to do with your anxiety?
Well, in the same way the dogs have become conditioned to salivate by a bell, you’ve become conditioned to become overly anxious by your thoughts and stress. Your amygdala has become hard wired over time to react anxiously to your thoughts, mental images and even feelings. Every time a slight worry thought pops into your head, or you have to deal with a stressful situation, the automatic response is anxiety.
I found this on the net, its pretty long but alot of the things it talks about I can certainly agree with! It is taken from a product for sale but thats not what I am interested in:
…have you ever felt those physical feelings of tension that you just can't shake off? You can never seem to just loosen up, relax and unwind when you want to? You feel so physically and mentally drained with all your worries and fears to the point where you become depressed and down just thinking about the whole situation?
…have you ever felt like anxiety is robbing of you all your motivation and focus, it seems like you never get anything done, your life feels like you're continually treading water? And have you ever felt like it is robbing you of all your self-esteem, pride and happiness?
When all you want to do is get on with people around you, not be stressed-out at work, and not be worrying about what could happen? But what ever you do you find yourself fretting about your loved ones, your work, your health and money?
…have you ever woken up and the first thing that hits you is a wall of anxiety and worry? And those feelings keep eating away at you, all day. And then when all you want to do is go to sleep at night, and finally get some relief from those feelings, all that happens is they get worse.
So you spend most of the night tossing and turning, glancing over at the alarm clock wondering if you’ll get any sleep…and then have to get up the next day, feeling even worse than before?
Applying a little logic can be useful. But the problem is this... anxiety isn’t logical. In fact it’s downright irrational.
Your therapist might sit you down, ask you about one of your worries, then have you work out the percent chance of that worry actually happening. And then say something like, "You see statistically there's very little chance of that worry happening. Stop worrying about it!" But for anxious people the problem is this...
Even if there is only a one-in-a-million chance of that thing happening you will still get anxious about. Just a hint of uncertainty is often enough to set off a stream of worry and anxiety. You need certainty that logic just can’t provide.
Your brain is out of date. In this modern day world we are still heavily influenced by our pre-historic brains. A brain that was built around surviving predator attacks and hunting for food. Let me explain…
There's a small part of your brain which evolved millions of years ago called the amygdala (pronounced uh-mig-duh-luh.) The amygdala controls ALL the fear you feel – lab monkeys and rats that had their amygdala’s removed (poor creatures) showed no signs of fear at all! Your brain works in exactly the same way.
So, if you spot a snake in the grass, or see the shadow of a potential mugger, or if there's a car hurtling towards you, it’s the amygdala that reacts in milliseconds, triggering the “flight-or-fight” response. This response enables to you run away or deal with the situation almost instantly without having to logically think about it. If you had to logically think it could cost you a few vital life-saving seconds.
It’s only a few seconds later when the logical part of the brain kicks in that you can identify whether the threat is real or not. For example, that snake in the grass might just have been a harmless twig. This ‘alarm system’ was essential thousands of years ago, but now it’s as much a hindrance as a help. Here’s why…
Your amygdala also reacts to anxious thoughts and mental images as if they were reality, as if they were happening to you now.
That's right, worry thoughts or mental images of your future, that haven't happened, and might not even happen, can trigger the same flight-or-fight response! And it's this response that causes the feelings of anxiety. And it's also this response which is responsible for conditioning your Anxiety Habit.
Your amygdala can’t tell your worry is just a collection of thoughts and mental images, it reacts to them in exactly the same way it would react to the actual situation you are worrying about. This combined with how anxious people handle worry thoughts is a recipe for high anxiety...
Asking “What if…?” questions allows non-anxious individuals to mentally explore solutions or prepare themselves for future situations. As solutions are reached, anxiety decreases. This is usually indicated by an inner feeling of relief and freeing of tension, a feeling that they know they can cope. The amygdala now begins to ignore those thoughts, as they are now seen as non-threatening. But, for anxious individuals...
“What if…?” triggers a perpetuating chain of thoughts, with each thought becoming more intense than the last. This process is called catastrophizing, where a tiny snowflake of worry ends up as an avalanche of anxiety. As a result, no solutions or relief and freeing of tension are felt - there is no feeling of being able to cope that non-anxious people feel. Because of this your amygdala sees these thoughts as a threat and so classifies them as "dangerous." That's not all...
The more you think about that particular worry and react anxiously to those thoughts, the stronger the "danger" tag becomes - now your amygdala is sure that thing is dangerous, so even the slightest connection to that thought can trigger the flight-or-fight response. When this happens you get a low level of adrenline released which makes you feel even more anxious. You end up stuck in a start of worry causing anxiety, which causes more worry, which causes more anxiety and so on...
This response can leave you feeling tense and jittery, it can feel like your heart is beating a little faster than normal. Maybe your chest will feel a little tight. It can keep your mind racing and prevent your body from relaxing when you try to unwind or sleep at night. You feel on-edge and up-tight, often not able to think straight - concentration and focus vanishes. The whole response can leave you feeling drained, tired and depressed... Which causes more anxiety. Before you know it you're stuck in a vicious cycle that's hard to break.
"But why can’t I just think logically about the situation and rationalize to prevent anxiety?" Here’s why…
Habits are powerful things. Repeat anything enough times and your subconscious starts doing it without you having to actually think about it. And this is exactly what happens in most cases of anxiety. It’s become a habit. A very strong and over-bearing habit. And like most deep-seated habits they are tough to break. Scientists like to call these types of habits conditioned responses. What does this mean...?
You might be familiar with Pavlov’s science experiments in which he conditioned responses in dogs using the sound of a bell. Every time Pavlov rang the bell he would give the dogs some tasty meat. After repeating this process several times the dogs would begin salivating even before they saw the food. They had become conditioned to the ringing of the bell. Their brains began associating the bell with food, and the automatic response was their mouths began watering. So what does this have to do with your anxiety?
Well, in the same way the dogs have become conditioned to salivate by a bell, you’ve become conditioned to become overly anxious by your thoughts and stress. Your amygdala has become hard wired over time to react anxiously to your thoughts, mental images and even feelings. Every time a slight worry thought pops into your head, or you have to deal with a stressful situation, the automatic response is anxiety.