Anxiety Learning, lesson 2. What's going on in the brain?

Anxiety learning lesson 2

When we experience anxiety something physical actually happens in the brain as well as the body. It may be helpful for us to look at what happens in the brain when we experience anxiety or panic. The brain is a complex network of different working parts, and certain parts are responsible for certain functions.

When we lived as cavemen thousands and thousands of years ago, we needed the fight or flight response much more than we do today (although it depends what job or past time pursue as to how much you may need to rely on it) This response is what alerts us to threat or danger. It serves to keep us safe and instinctively choose the right course of action in an unsafe situation. The hunter gatherer, in the stone age, needed this response to survive. Now, in this age, we don’t need to use it so much. There is no real life threatening danger in the supermarket or the school playground, like there was running from a charging mammoth a thousand years ago, although I understand it feels like this sometimes

Here is a diagram of the brain.

Where it says the amygdala, we will call the security guard, this part of the brain is extremely old, 50,000 years old and is the emotion part of the brain, it takes care of fear conditioning and is part of the limbic system.

      ·       On the diagram, it shows the hippocampus, we will call it the secretary. This part is in charge of long and short-term memory and is also part of the limbic system.

·       The diagram shows the prefrontal cortex, we will call this THE BOSS, this region of the brain is in charge of logic, problem solving, planning, directing attention, inhibiting counterproductive impulses.

·       On the diagram you can see the amygdala, we’ll call it the security guard. When a threat is perceived he jumps into action and starts to make us alert to our surroundings, he sends out a message to the rest of the brain and the body that there may be something dangerous here, but he is not quite sure.

When we perceive a threat, the threat can be external, such as an event with lots of people, making a decision about important future plans, paying at the till in Sainsburys or teenage daughter going to her first house party.

Or the threat can be internal, remembering distressing childhood events, thinking about all the things in life that need our attention, or the responsibility of a job, child, marriage.

Don’t forget the amygdala is thousands of years old and is not really up to date with what is dangerous and what’s not.

IF AT THIS POINT, IF WE CAN’T MANAGE TO DISTRACT OR DAMPEN THAT FEELING WITH TECHNIQUES SUCH AS SELF TALK, GROUNDING etc. THEN THIS HAPPENS.

1.       The BOSS (prefrontal cortex) part of the brain goes out to lunch, logic, reasoning, problem solving, directing attention is now much harder to access.

2.       The Security Guard wants to check with the BOSS if there is a real danger, but the BOSS has gone, so there is no rational thinking left and the security guard decides to do the next best thing.

3.       He goes to the Secretary (hippocampus) and gets her to check her “files” (short term and long-term memory) She is also feeling the pressure and quickly sends back the memories that vaguely match the perceived threat.

4.       The Security Guard, who is a bit enthusiastic, has been told above all else ‘keep them safe and alive’ so being safe rather than sorry is the best way to go. The security guard floods the system with adrenalin in preparation for fight or flight, the problem becomes that there is no fight or flight situation and that energy does not get discharged.

All this happening over a long period of time floods the brain with cortisol. If this is chronic and sustained, this can have a lasting effect on the creation of new memories and accessing existing ones.

What about the physical symptoms then?? There must be some sort of threat for me to feel that terrible while I am anxious?

If the brain can’t determine real threat under pressure then the body certainly can’t, the brain is running the show, so it sends lots of physiological helpful procedures to the body.

Your heart pounds to send oxygen to your muscles that are supercharged and ready. There is no need for the immune system and the digestive system, so this shuts down and we no longer feel hungry, this allows an extra bit of power for processing information in the brain.

Hearing becomes sensitized to detect every sound for survival; the pupils dilate to allow for more light and sharper vision.

There are two theories on why we sweat when anxious, one is too cool down and the other to make us slippery and more difficult to grab hold of in the hunt.  

As you can see, all these responses are geared up for the hunter gather who existed years ago. These responses aren’t needed in the majority of anxiety provoking situations but the amygdala can’t determine this.

I was going to cover maintaining factors in anxiety this week, but I believe it is best to digest this information, so when we feel anxiety its easier to imagine that this process/response is happening. You can also explain to this process to your teenager easier now.

I will publish a blog early next week that covers maintaining factors. For now, if you have found this blog helpful, please subscribe to the blog above and also like and share on Facebook.