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
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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.
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Square Breathing is a powerful Anxiety Management Technique. This Breathing Exercise is great for stress, PTSD, anxiety disorders, and panic attacks.It’s not just a coping mechanism, with square breathing we channel the power of the breath to learn 2 skills: How to calm our nervous system and how to increase our resilience in the face of stress.We can use our breath in a powerful way to trigger a bottom-up approach to managing anxiety, basically using our body to tell our brain to calm down.This technique can be helpful for stress management, calming anxiety, and for retraining our nervous system to be dominated by the parasympathetic nervous system.When paired with other self-regulation techniques and helpful thinking we can treat anxiety disorders and the depression they contribute to.Square breathing can also increase our “distress tolerance” essentially helping us become comfortable even in stressful situations.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/courses
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
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Music licensed from www.Bensound.com or Artlist.io
Images from Freepik.com (premium license), Pixabay, or Wikimedia commons
this next a instruct act is calledsquare breathing and square breathing can be useful for a couple of reasonsone because our gulp is connected to both the one of the purposes of our nervous system thatwe can control and the one of the purposes of our nervous system that is automatic so ithelps us access that appeasing part of our brain kind of in through the back doorthe other thing about square breathing is you practice it with motley lengthsof wheezes then you can practice frame yourself into a slightlyanxietyprovoking situation which is being out of breath but you’re doing itintentionally in such a way that something that are usually be anxietyprovoking or embarrassing becomes something that you can administer withwillingness so you are basically converting something that might havebeen traumatic into something that is very comfortable and that drills yourbrain to believe that you have the ability to convert something that’sstressful into something that’s beneficial for you so let me justexplain square breathing really quickly so with square breathing youimagine yourself breathing a long a square so you imagine yourself startingat the top right corner of the square and you imagine yourself breathing in forfour seconds and then you imagine yourself holding that breath for fourseconds and then you imagine yourself breathing out so exhaling for fourseconds and then holding that air out for four seconds and you’re back to thetop of the square and you repeat that four times so breathe in two three fourso you’re breathing in that whole time supporting it for four seconds breathingout for four seconds you’re exhaling for four seconds and then you’re stayingwithout wheeze for four more seconds so just like that when you breath you wantto have all the breath out that you are eligible to have out to want to be completely out ofbreath when you’re done with your breath you want to be completely full of breathand the other two are the process of coming in and out now you can lengthenthe amount of time that you’re doing these breaths and exhales and propping soyou can lengthen it out to eight seconds or 10 seconds or 16 seconds but when youlengthen the amount of time that you’re out of breath you’re gonna compel yourbrain to panic for a little bit and that’s where you can kind of challengeyourself to increase your convenience with being out of breath so actually there’stwo ways to do this activity the first road is to just stay at for secondsbreathe in for 4 seconds holds in store for 4 seconds breathe out for 4 seconds holdfor 4 seconds and that’s just gonna be various kinds of naturally mollifying because it’screating a rhythm and the other way you can do this is to challenge yourself tolengthen the amount of time you’re holding that breath and that’s gonna bea little bit more of a mental challenge that creates more resilience so as youdo this activity just watch yourself and pay attention to the sensations that comeup so paying attention to your gulp is going to help you stay centered andgrounded while many ardours go through you I hope this video washelpful thanks for watching and take care hi everyone I’m elicited to announce thatmy udemy course change your intelligence is now live so this is a two hour intensivecourse that goes into the ways that you can change your intelligence chemistry withoutmedication so these are very practical abilities that have been shown throughresearch to improve mental health and combat hollow nervousnes and othermental illnesses in this course I teach the practical application ofneuroplasticity which is the developing realm of science showing that our brainsare adaptable and changing throughout our part lives that our brains canactually reform their structure function and chemistry by how we envision and how weact and such courses coaches ten simple directions that you can improve your mental healthby pleasures that take only a duo minutes every day so I formed thiscourse because this is fundamental information that I think everyone shouldhave access to so satisfy take a look at it the link is in the description it’son udemy.com and I’m including a coupon code if you’d like to take the coursefor free time route me a private meaning and I’ll give you a code so check it outthanks and take care
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!.
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 .
