Did you know that it is normal for us to experience some anxiety some of the time? Actually, it is normal and necessary.  This is because anxiety keeps us safe when we are exposed to a situation where there could be real danger. Our bodies are programmed to fire off our internal "fight or flight" response, so we are able to decide whether to either confront our attacker or dangerous situation or flee away from it. 

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The "Fight or Flight" response

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As mentioned, we have a natural internal automatic response that signals our bodies to get ready to respond to any given threat that we are confronted with.  This makes our bodies flood with adrenaline and cortisol, (our natural stress hormones) making our heart beat faster, our muscles tense up, blood pressure rise and we breathe faster.  An increase of blood to the heart, lung and muscles also occur, while a decrease in blood supply happens to the kidneys, bladder and our digestive system.  All these changes are vital in order for us to be primed to aid us in any threat that we should be faced with.

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We may also get physical symptoms such as 

 

• chest pain

• trembling

• dry mouth

• sweating

• digestive problems.

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Misusing our Imagination

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Our imagination is one of our most powerful tools, but when we misuse it we anticipate worst-case scenarios and when we dwell too much on these, we scare ourselves causing our “emotional brain” to switch on our fight-or-flight response.

 

It is, more often than not, a psychological threat that we usually respond to (e.g. a critical boss or looming exams), rather than a modern day threat (as these tend not be life threatening).  This triggers an inappropriate fight-or-flight reaction and can lead us into performing actions that we would not normally do, like screaming or shouting and making us develop a sense of feeling "temporarily stupid".

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Unconscious pattern matching

 

Anxiety can also be due to psychological trauma, resulting in symptoms occurring every time a reminder of the original trauma is encountered.  

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As a Human Givens psychotherapist, I can help you to:

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• calm excessive emotions by teaching you relaxation techniques

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• improve your sleeping habits

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• take control of negative thoughts

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• prevent misusing your imagination

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• improve self esteem

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• see what emotional needs are not being met

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