Anxiety and Your Brain

When you're in the intense grips of anxiety, or even a panic attack, it feels like something horrible is happening to you. You try to make sense of it, but have a hard time understanding why your heart is pounding, your stomach is churning, and you feel like you're going to crawl out of your skin. But remember the old adage "knowledge is power"?  Here's some information about what's happening with your anxiety and your brain.

The brain can be broken down into the two "parts" of the nervous system.  The parasympathetic nervous system is in charge when we're relaxed, alert, and aware.  It's the "stay and play" part of the brain. It's why most of us love going to the beach, cuddling with our dog, or hugging a loved one. The parasympathetic nervous system rocks! But it can be easily knocked "offline" by its counterpart, the sympathetic nervous system.

A simple definition of anxiety is that it is an intense stress response.  Keep in mind that your brain's job is to keep you alive, so this stress response is an important function of anxiety and your brain.  The sympathetic nervous system is the "fight, flight, freeze" response, which leads to a feeling of anxiety in your brain.  When your brain is operating in the sympathetic nervous system, your body responds in order for you to take action.  Your heart rate increases, your muscles tense, digestion slows, your bowels empty, your extremities are energized in order for you to take action -- fight : attack the threat, flight : run from the threat,  or freeze : play dead so that the threat is no longer interested in you.

Another way that anxiety and your brain interact are the thoughts that come to you in an anxious state. Keep in mind that anxiety comes from the limbic part of your brain, the primitive "lizard brain" whose sole function is to keep you alive.  Unfortunately, there is a feedback loop from that highly emotional part of your brain to your pre-frontal cortex "thinking" part of your brain.  These thoughts send the message "you're in danger, you're not safe, taking action", whether you are in true (physical) danger or not.

For example, imagine that you are walking in the woods.  You're enjoying the sunshine, the breeze, the smells, and are listening to the birds chirping. As you walk, you come upon a stick. Your brain is able to recognize it as a stick.  No big deal, right?Imagine a walk in the woods, only this time you come upon a snake.  That's much different!  In that case, the anxiety and your brain are serving the purpose of getting you out of that situation safely, whether you run, kill the snake, or stay still until it slithers away.

But the next time you take a walk in the woods and come upon that stick, your anxiety and your brain are going to do their best to convince you that stick is a snake! Now, is that accurate information?  No! But it helps us to understand the way our brain works so that we can start to recognize that thoughts that come to us from an anxious place are not accurate thoughts.

We can start to challenge these thoughts ("If that's really a snake, then why hasn't it moved for the past three hours?") understanding anxiety and your brain and starting to challenge inaccurate thoughts are great ways of working through your anxiety.  Give us a call to schedule an  appointment so that we can continue to build your tools to gain control over your anxiety. Schedule a free consultation with one of our therapists who are knowledgeable about anxiety and your brain.