How to Turn off the Fight, Flight, Freeze Response: Anxiety Skills #4

When the Fight, Flight, or Freeze response kicks in, the thinking part of your brain shuts down. Trying to force yourself to calm down rarely works-that’s because your brain is meant to default to ancient survival responses like the Fight/Flight/Freeze response. In this video I give an overview of how we can turn off that fight, flight or freeze response. But we can learn skills to trigger a calming response-activating our parasympathetic nervous system by using Grounding activities.Check out my Grounding Skills playlist to learn 15 ways to turn off the Fight, Flight or Freeze Response: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiUrrIiqidTVghUckAJjCZMYO84ahohMvLooking for Affordable Online Counseling? My sponsor BetterHelp connects you to a licensed professional for $65/week. Try it now for 10% off https://betterhelp.com/therapyinanutshellLearn more in one of my in-depth mental health courses: https://therapyinanutshell.teachable.com/p/home Support my mission on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/therapyinanutshell Sign up for my newsletter: https://www.therapynutshell.com Check out my favorite self-help books: https://kit.co/TherapyinaNutshell/best-self-help-books Check out my Podcast: Therapy in a Nutshell: https://tinpodcast.podbean.com/Therapy in a Nutshell, and the information provided by Emma McAdam, is solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and is not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health.If you are in crisis please contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ or 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or your local emergency services. Copyright Therapy in a Nutshell, LLC —- Music licensed from www.Bensound.com or Artlist.io Images from Freepik.com (premium license), Pixabay, or Wikimedia commons

Stress Release (Fast)- Anxiety Reduction Technique (Anxiety Skills #19)

Give me 2 minutes and I’ll show you something about Stress:Stress is the physical aspect of Anxiety-the fear emotion. Stress is how it shows up in our bodies, it comes with things like increased heart rate, shallow breathing, muscle tension, stomach problems, and headaches. we want to learn to manage stress or resolve our other emotions-we need to learn to lean in to our emotions, to notice them, acknowledge them, experience them for a moment, and then they often resolve on their own. Stress, Anxiety, and Worry can be treated, in this video, I teach one specific coping skill that helps actually reduce stress and muscle tension.Looking for Affordable Online Counseling? My sponsor BetterHelp connects you to a licensed professional for $65/week. Try it now for 10% off https://betterhelp.com/therapyinanutshellLearn more in one of my in-depth mental health courses: https://therapyinanutshell.teachable.com/p/home Support my mission on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/therapyinanutshell Sign up for my newsletter: https://www.therapynutshell.com Check out my favorite self-help books: https://kit.co/TherapyinaNutshell/best-self-help-books Check out my Podcast: Therapy in a Nutshell: https://tinpodcast.podbean.com/Therapy in a Nutshell, and the information provided by Emma McAdam, is solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and is not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health.If you are in crisis please contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ or 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or your local emergency services. Copyright Therapy in a Nutshell, LLC —- Music licensed from www.Bensound.com or Artlist.io Images from Freepik.com (premium license), Pixabay, or Wikimedia commons

Guided Imagery for School Anxiety-Social Anxiety Treatment-Anxiety Skills #15


Hi, I’m Emma McAdam, a licensed therapist, in this little Nugget of Help we’re going to apply some tools from adoption and commitment regiman to help with school and social anxiety. This activity is meant to help build an increased ability to face anxiety eliciting status like institution or social locates The purpose of this activity is not relaxation but resilience meaning the ability to experience uncomfortable perceptions with strong empathy and pacify. So during this activity You may feel a couple of spirits, some comfortable and some unpleasant Please stick with the activity through the end and I predict you’ll develop a greater ability to experience your excitements without them limiting you So first check in with yourself, a be engaged in a comfortable locate close your eyes and Take a depth breath Let it out gradually Take a moment and notice your feet wiggle them Now, press them against the floor.Just feel what the flooring feels like pressing back up against your feet Now move your awareness up your legs clench your calves and then soften those muscles Then clench the big-hearted muscles in your thighs for a moment Now relax them and breathe in and breathe out Now move your awareness up to your belly You may feel some hostility here and that’s okay Pretend you’re scientist who has never noticed what that feeling is like Explore that feeling in your stomach and describe it in your psyche. What does it definitely sounds like? Allow it happening there while clenching your stomach muscles as tightly as you can Now breathe out and then take a big inhale Expand your stomach out as far as it becomes Hold that gulp and notice what that feels like Let that air out and move your awareness up to your chest and back Tense, those muscles attract your shoulders up to your ears and hamper them there tightly, clenched hard Then softened those muscles and breathe out gradually Now clench your biceps your upper arms and then liberate Now clench your fists and liberate Move your awareness up to your face and seize your face muscles tightly And now lightened those muscles in your face Now we’re going to do a speedy check of your bodily awareness, what do you notice in your figure? There might be some places in your organization that feel warm soft and comfortable notice those And there might be some residence that feel tighten or pain notice these areas You don’t need to label these even worse or be discouraged, but merely notice them Notice yourself breathing what does it feel like to breathe? Take one more deep breath in and give away very slowly What feelings or sensations are you knowing right now? Some of them may be painful and that’s okay Just notice them, be curious.What does it feel like to feel those sentiments without needing to escape them? Send each of your feelings a bit mental hug. It’s okay to have feelings. Notice if there are any more spirits, perhaps quieter emotions that “youre gonna” feeling too what else are you noticing? Be puzzled. You don’t need them “re going away”. You can treat feeling them. How would you describe each of these sentiments? Take one more deep breath and notice yourself breathing Now let’s envisage yourself going to the first day of clas The bus pushes up to the front of the school and as you get off the bus you feel your gut tighten a bit Perhaps you feel a lot of energy coursing through your torso You may feel a little tense or jumpy and that’s okay It’s perfectly normal to be having these feelings and superstars Most of the other adolescents are feeling a little anxious and aroused extremely You can administer feeling this action Anxiety and fervor are the same physiological response in our body Both of them prepping us for action to perform well, and it’s okay to have this feeling in your person Your old-time habitual suppose is I need to escape or I can’t handle feeling this way But now you remind yourself I can administer feeling this course and be okay.I Don’t need my agitations to go away for me to be alright, I can feel them and notice them and While they are uncomfortable, they can’t trauma me. I is in fact safe in this moment You look around and remember that probably most of the other children are also feeling a little watchful or stimulated right now It’s perfectly natural to feel this way, and it’s not going to harm you You alter your attention back to your breathing and as you step toward the school you notice something beautiful What is it? Perhaps the clear sky or the light-green grass Take a time and notice that one pretty thing You hear lots of adolescents are running noisily toward the school some are meeting up with their friends some are alone suddenly you were supposed to meditated What if no one will be my friend? or You worry that people are looking at you in a funny way.For a moment You have visions of a catastrophe run through your psyche. You’re afraid of being rejected being alone being a loser But you rapidly notice those remembers they are distressing and loudly judges, but they are just supposes Just as you can notice yourself listening to my expression at this moment. You can notice yourself having those designs They aren’t truthful They don’t help you be the person that you appreciate Because you appraise being style, you be concerned about connecting with people You want to be a good friend. You can act on those qualities and good things will happen People will want to be friends with you when they get to know you because of who you are You notice those frightening thoughts and you imagine them written on the side of the bus and the bus begins to pull away You remember that you’re okay You have some inner endowments to share with the world. Even if you are quiet or observant instead of a thundering idiot. Take a time and think of one of the talents that you have One thing that you are good at like has become a good listener or noticing others needs for example You remember some of the people who love you and looks just like you, your friends your parents You remember that you are safe right now.It may feel uncomfortable But you can handle that You may feel a bit of distres But you can open up some opening for that suspicion inside of you. You don’t need to represent that nervousnes go away to be okay. Imagine that your anxiety is a little child saying What if no one likes me? and you say Come now little tension. I want to give you a hug See it’s awkward, but you can experience it and it doesn’t trauma you. You walk through the figurehead entrances of the school and there’s a lot of noise and commotion Not your favorite So you thoughts over to your locker, You previously know where it is because you went to the open live And you open your locker and a gentle float of your favorite flavor comes out of it You waste a minute.Just bask that fragrance Breathe in deeply Now you walk to your first class, you know Right where it is and you arrive a few minutes early you take your seat and look around There’s a few other adolescents sitting down and you say hi to the girl sitting next to you She says hi back, and then suddenly you feel so awkward You start worrying that you should have said more or maybe you shouldn’t have said anything or that maybe you didn’t determine fairly nose contact and unexpectedly you’re hyper aware of how you’re sitting in your chair and you can feel Your heart thrashing a little faster and your hands sweating a little bit and then you notice yourself Tensing up a little and you can notice your thoughts Now in this moment notice what’s going on in your person and in your mind.You retain what your mentor said you don’t actually act tricky you only feel clumsy No one else has even paying attention to you. They’re all anxious and elicited about their first day of school And they’re too busy worrying about what parties “ve been thinking about” them to notice you You can still feel that tight feeling in your tummy and your sweaty palms and you tell yourself.That’s ok It’s ok to have uncomfortable perceptions sometimes. I can let myself feel this experience without needing to escape it or make it go away You know that it never helps to beat yourself up so instead you precisely testify yourself a little compassion You going to go to noticing for a while and you sifted through your experience in this moment. So Sift is an acronym S is for agitations Notice your physical perceptions precisely notice them both cozy and disagreeable. I is for epitomes What do you envisage in this moment? Can you notice those portraits and then bring yourself back to center with the wheeze? Can you notice those portraits in your manager And then bring yourself back to center by acknowledge your wheeze F is for feelings, what ardours are you knowledge? Are you having more than one? What is one thing you’re elicited about And the T is thoughts Notice, what are you thinking? You don’t need to duel or change your thoughts. Just notice yourself having them You take another deep gulp and you’re feeling kind of proud That right now you’re experiencing a little anxiety But you’re okay with it It’s a little embarrassing But you’re beginning to develop the skill of letting yourself feel it You give yourself a little imaginary pat on the back for being indomitable For letting yourself do hard things and feel hard things and stick with it The bell sounds and the coach starts class he goes through the roll.You Pay close attention waiting for him to call your name.And then when he does you say here and Maybe you wonder a little if you did, okay, but no one even looks at you They’re all exactly paying attention to their own stuff right now You remind yourself that you can do hard things You take another deep gulp and tell it out gradually Then the teacher extends out a sheet of paper to everyone on it is an icebreaker activity You detest these. you have to go around the room and find someone who has broken their arm and someone who’s lived in another state and someone who Has a baby reptile Maybe you’re afraid that you’ll be awkward You might worry that no one will ask you questions or that you’re afraid that people will ask you questions You press your feet into the floor feeling the flooring pulping back up at you You notice your panic It’s telling you to run away, to avoid, to hide to be silent and you notice that fear You be recognized, you say hello fear.I’ve noticed you’re trying to hang out with me today I know I can’t meet you go away But you’re not the boss of me and I still get to decide what matters to me so fear You can restrain constructing suggestions, but I know what’s more important You is a well-known fact that you don’t like these icebreaker works But you also know that you wishes to be oblige some friends and you don’t want to isolate yourself on the first day So you look around and consider another minor who seems kind of hushed and is standing by himself You walk over to him and you feel a little awkward, but you don’t actually seem touchy from the outside. You look perfectly normal When you get to his desk, you look down at your article and you ask him.What’s your favorite notebook? He seems a little shy so you been listening while he says you about the book series that he likes then he looks at his paper and asks you What’s your favorite journal? You tell him about your favorite work and what you like about it and you can see in his smile that he’s speak that one And he likes it extremely. He must be a special type of nerd like you You stand around and other adolescents comes down to you and ask their questions you ask yours and pretty soon your newspapers all filled out The teacher gets back up. He seems nice and also a little funny and you think you’ll like his class The rest of that class leads somewhat smoothly you only sit in your chair and predict the syllabus while the educator tells you the class Rules and talks about what you’re going to learn so far so good You feel proud of yourself after your first day of clas There were hours “thats been” awkward, but that’s okay and there were experiences that were good You learned more about what to expect and although you felt some anxiety.You didn’t let it boss you around You were gentle with yourself Patient with your sentiments and whizs and you two are heroic to show up and feel lots of things today Excitement beauty anxiety hope for new friends and a sense of confidence in your ability to do hard-bitten things Now come back to the present moment Notice your feet on the floor notice your wheeze Think back over this exercise Was it unpleasant at times? But you fastened with it.You chose to do something challenging because something else mattered more than avoidance Take a deep breath and give yourself a little pat on the back for letting yourself experience your passions You are on the pathway to growth an emotional strong Keep up the good work.




As found on YouTube

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Stress, Anxiety, and Worry: Anxiety Skills #2

What's the difference between stress, anxiety, and worry? And why does it matter? Most people talk about stress, anxiety and worry interchangeably as if they're the same thing. For example: "my test really stressed me out. I was so worried about it." or "I'm so worried about this upcoming performance that is making my stomach hurt." Now the lack of differentiation between these different aspects of anxiety leads to difficulties in knowing how to resolve the effects of them so today we're going to talk about the difference and why it matters.

Worry is the thinking part of anxiety it happens in our frontal lobes the part of our brain that plans and thinks and uses words and it has to do with thoughts like "Is she mad at me?" or "what's going to happen at my upcoming performance?" Now we humans have developed this part of our brain for important reasons. Worry helps us solve complex problems by thinking about them, perhaps over and over again. But if worry becomes distorted, compulsive, or stuck into a repetitive cycle then we can develop disorders like depression and anxiety. Now stress on the other hand is the physiological response to fear- so it's what's going on inside of our bodies when we're reacting to something that's perceived as threatening or dangerous. It's the fight, flight freeze response.

It's rooted in the reptilian brain. It's instinctual and unconscious. Stress serves a perfect function in helping us to escape real threats for example the sweating that comes along with stress helps us stay cool or the adrenaline helps us perform in situations where we have to run away or fight off a physical threat. However if stress becomes chronic and remains unresolved it can have serious consequences in our body: high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer and chronic illness are all associated with stress. Anxiety is the intersection of these two reactions the thinking and the biological response. It's rooted in the limbic system and it has to do with this feeling of foreboding or dread like something bad is going to happen. Snxiety helps people be watchful for danger but if it dominates our lives it can make it hard for us to feel joy and to move forward in the direction of our values. If we want to learn to manage our anxiety we need to learn to tailor our interventions to the different aspects of stress. So in order to manage our worry we need to target those thoughts with cognitive interventions-changing how we think and changing what we're constantly imagining and visualizing in our minds.

And if we want to change the stress response we need to take a bottom-up approach incorporating our body's reactions and responses into interventions that change those reactions and responses into a healthy way. The first step of emotion management is awareness. Start to pay attention to what it feels like when you're having an anxious response. Is it rooted in your mind? are you having thoughts or imagining some future catastrophe? or is it rooted in your body? are you having these physiological reactions like an upset stomach or a sweaty hands? As you start to pay more attention to these reactions and gain more awareness around them you'll develop greater abilities to learn how to respond to these these instinctual reactions in a more helpful way. See if you can distinguish between the two aspects of anxiety- the worry and the stress maybe even spend some time writing about it.

And stay tuned to this channel for my next videos on how to regulate each of those aspects of anxiety. I hope this was helpful and thanks for watching Take care!.

Fight Flight Freeze Response: Anxiety Skills #1

Have you ever wondered why do my hands get all cold and sweaty when I'm nervous? or "Why does my stomach get all tight when I'm talking to my boss?" Well today we're going to talk about our body and brain's natural reaction to danger- it's called the "Fight Flight or Freeze" response. Now our bodies' have developed this amazing reaction to help keep us safe. For thousands of years humans' biggest challenge was survival. They had to worry about wild animals, and heights, warring tribes and other dangers. So the body developed this instinctual way to keep us safe. Now unfortunately in current day we don't have nearly as many of these real and immediate dangers so a lot of times this reaction it just makes us uncomfortable. When faced with a real and immediate danger like a tiger our instincts take over- We have three main reactions 1.

Fight 2. Run away or 3. Freeze. These come naturally, we don't have to think about it. These reactions actually turn off the thinking part of our brain- it's kind of like a Star Trek when the captain says "All power to shields" and they lower the lights on the bridge. (Yes, I am a nerd!) Now the front part of our brain-the prefrontal cortex-that's the part that is thinking, words, planning… that all gets mostly shut down. And the back part of our brain which is reactive and instinctive gets amped up. This can be really helpful if you're facing a tiger because if you're facing a tiger and you take time to plan out what your next move is you're most likely going to get eaten.

However this is not helpful if your perceived danger is a public speech and the front part of your brain turns off. Or you're asking out a date and all of a sudden you can't make words come out of your mouth. That's when it becomes a real pain. Our body does other things to try and keep us safe it sends extra extra blood to the big muscles which takes the blood flow away from our extremities like our hands and feet so that's where the phrase "cold feet" comes from. It makes us start to sweat so our hands will often get cold and sweaty or cold and clammy. It turns on the adrenaline glands-those start pumping out, this gives us energy for a quick burst to either run away or punch someone- but later on that adrenaline gives us the shakes. It turns off our digestive system because we don't really need to be digesting that hamburger when we're running away from a tiger. However when our digestive system turns off that can cause all sorts of problems like a decreased appetite, tight feeling in the stomach, dry mouth and even people could get the runs or wet their pants.

Obviously these are all outcomes that we don't really want. The fight flight freeze response also tightens the muscles. It heightens some senses like vision gets pinpointed, creating tunnel vision. Our breathing rate gets shorter and shallower so we're breathing faster but not deeper. And our heart rate goes up. The fight flight freeze response also temporarily turns off the immune system. Now that's also a good thing because again it's all power to shields where we're putting all power to keeping ourselves alive. But if the fight flight freeze response is turned on all the time then our immune system is turned off much of the time, and that's why people who are always stressed out are often getting sick.

Now with the freeze response we sometimes see a few different things than the fight-or-flight response. More frequently we'll see people feeling numb, people shrinking, hiding or complying- just going along with what the person or the thing in power seems to be wanting. Now this response- this fight flight freeze response- could be really helpful in situations where there's real and immediate danger.

And it's meant to work in short bursts. The problem that happens is when we are constantly having this reaction to things that aren't real dangers they're just perceived threats. Like a boss asking to talk with us or a public speaking event. When we are constantly in the fight flight freeze response then our body gets trapped in this elevated state for a long period of time. This leads to exhaustion, insomnia, muscle tension, digestive problems, and frequent illnesses. In an upcoming video we are going to teach you how to train your mind and body to respond differently to threats, to resolve anxiety, and to train your nervous system to return to calm quickly. For now the best thing you can do is to just start noticing your body's reaction. Notice what happens when you're going into fight flight or freeze mode and just give it a label like "I'm having a fight response right now". I hope this was helpful thanks for watching and take care .