We discuss using neuroplasticity exercises for anxiety, and the implications of various findings relating to the neurology of the brain & neuroplasticity. How this is very promising for sufferers of anxiety, panic attacks, and agoraphobia and to anyone who is interested in improving his/her life in a myriad of ways.
Using Neuroplasticity Exercises for Anxiety & Panic
In this episode, I will discuss the implications of various findings relating to the neurology of the brain, neuroplasticity, and how this is very promising for sufferers of anxiety, panic attacks, and agoraphobia. However, this information applies to anyone who is interested in improving his/her life in a myriad of ways. Learn more by listening to this podcast.
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A great deal of understanding about the brain now-a-days seems to be concerned with the neurological functioning of the brain.
And, as you’ll learn in this podcast, there is a very good reason for this focus.
In particular, I will discuss the implications of various findings relating to the neurology of the brain and how this is very promising for sufferers of anxiety, panic attacks, and agoraphobia.
However, this information applies to anyone who is interested in improving his/her life in a myriad of ways.
A well-known definition that is easily found from reputable sources defines neurology in the following way: the branch of medicine or biology that deals with the anatomy, functions, and organic disorders of nerves and the nervous system.
As mentioned, neurological findings can be particularly helpful for those struggling with anxiety.
And, often when scientists and professionals are discussing the brain, there is much emphasis on the following neurological concepts:
- Neurons
- Neural networks
- Neuroplasticity
I will first discuss neurons and neural networks. This will then lead into a discussion about neuroplasticity.
Don’t worry: I am going to discuss these technical terms in ways that make sense for someone who is not a scientist.
To begin, let’s discuss neurons. Our brain contains many neurons. To give you some perspective, there are said to be100 billion neurons in the brain.
A neuron or nerve cell (which is another name used to refer to a neuron) is an electrically excitable cell that receives, processes, and transmits information through electrical and chemical signals.
Neurons are the primary components of the central nervous system, which includes the brain and spinal cord. And this includes the peripheral nervous system, which comprises the autonomic nervous system and the somatic nervous system.
Neurons can connect to each other to form neural networks.
Here’s an example that might be helpful. If you think about an electrical circuit in your home, in order to power your appliance requires electrical energy. This electrical energy is transferred through wires to the various outlets in your home.
This is similar, on one level to the electrical circuit in your brain and nervous system. This is because electrical impulses are transferred through your brain and nervous system by neurons which connect to each other. These signals between neurons occur via specialized connections called synapses.
One way to think of a neural network is as a circuitry of neurons in our brain that fire up repetitively in response to certain triggers (which we will discuss in a moment). This can in turn cause repetitive thoughts, behaviours and emotions.
As mentioned, neurons can connect to each other to form neural networks. In fact, according to National Center for Biotechnology Information: Neurons never function in isolation. They are organized into ensembles or circuits that process specific kinds of information.
There is research that has demonstrated that when people begin thinking a negative thought, this naturally leads them to think about another negative thought or memory. And the cycle continues with a sequence of negative thoughts going through the person’s mind.
If you look at various approaches used for treating mood or psychological conditions, this model of understanding the brain has often been applied to those approaches.
For instance, there is research which has been interpreted to suggest that cognitive behavioral therapy positively influences the neural networks of the brain.
Another approach, abbreviated as EMDR, has been hypothesized by some to affect networks of negative experiences and their memories in the brain in ways that can lead to a marked improvement for the person going through EMDR by allowing them to process these traumatic memories.
Arguably one could look at other mental health treatments and argue that they too are influencing the brain in this same positive way.
The examples I am now going to discuss really illustrate how and why having an understanding of the brain at this level can have profound and positive effects on our life. And you’ll see how it can benefit your anxiety.
One inspiration for this podcast came from a very interesting documentary film presented on CBC’s video section of its website. This program featured medical doctors and scientists working with people who’d suffered very serious strokes. Others had lost limbs. One woman was born with only half of her brain!
The idea of much improvement for these folks initially seemed quite poor. However, as you’ll see, there was cause for hope after all.
Medical doctors treating these patients had them using technology and completing exercises that would seem impossible for someone who’d suffered a stroke, or lost a limb.
The amazing result is that by completing exercises that would allow the patients to imagine that either their hand was there (which was now gone) or having stroke victims complete exercises that would normally require use of an area of their brain (now damaged by the stroke and inhibiting function) they were able to learn to do the exercises and regain functions previously carried out by the areas of the brain now damaged by the stroke.
And, remember the person who was missing half her brain?
Over time, she learned how to execute an amazing number of things – because of the interventions.
This is because the patients’ brains actually rewired.
Scientists explain this phenomenon by something called “Neuroplasticity”.
Neuroplasticity refers to the changing of neurons and the organization of their networks and their function by experience.
In plain English: this means the changing of the human brain. That is, the brain can change and rewire so that lost functions are restored or victims who’d lost their arm can get rid of “phantom limb” problems. “Phantom limb” refers to the feeling and pain that appears to originate in the arm or limb that is now gone. This occurrence is now accepted by many neurologists.
You might be wondering: how does this neurological information relate to sufferers of anxiety, panic attacks and agoraphobia?
It is relevant because of some further information provided in this same documentary: the brain is always changing and thinking changes the brain.
Just take a moment to think about how helpful this could be for thought patterns that drive your anxiety!
An important implication is that by controlling your thoughts – for example through the use of cognitive behavioral therapy, and by other techniques, for example the ones offered throughout our podcasts, website, and videos, you can indeed produce positive changes in the brain. These changes can lead your brain to rewire, so to speak, to a new neural network.
Instead of being trapped by focusing on anxious thoughts, you can correct your thoughts and control the direction of change at the neurological level, which can lead to a positive outcome with your anxiety.
Hopefully this information serves as a good incentive for carrying out healthy practices to generate thoughts that are free from cognitive distortions, more realistic and generally more positive. Such practices can benefit your brain chemistry.
However, if you are not yet convinced, there more. I came across an excellent video on YouTube: The neuroscience of Habit with Dr Jeffrey Schwartz at Mind & Its Potential 2015.
I highly recommend this video. Not only is the information fascinating, but Dr. Schwartz’s presentation of the material, and his New York accent, especially when he gets very passionate, keeps one interested during his presentation.
Dr. Schwartz discusses how our prefrontal cortex and the executive area of the brain makes us conscious of what we are doing in the moment.
Instead, a habit forms a neural network in the striatum nerve cells of the brain, which is separate from the prefrontal cortex.
Through research with mice, it was demonstrated that when we develop a bad or harmful habit, our behaviour is not under control of this executive part of the brain, but rather the striatum.
The research demonstrates that there are brackets of behaviour that surround a habit. To explain what I mean, I want you to think about something you probably learned in math class.
Do you remember the order of operations and use of brackets? The idea with brackets is that you complete the groups of operations inside the brackets independently from the remainder of the problem.
Once the brackets are complete, then and only then do you complete the remaining operations in the math problem.
Now I don’t wish to stress anyone about math but I just want to provide an explanation of this bracketed behaviour.
The point I wish to make is that bracketed behaviours of bad habits are like those operations in math that are carried out separately from the other parts of the problem. Except in math, once the operations in brackets are complete you return and compete the rest of the problem.
With a bad habit, peoples’ behaviours do not return to the executive part of the brain that makes one conscious of them. That is why habits operate automatically.
A habit can become so engrained that it runs automatically even when it has directly unpleasant outcomes. Moreover this is why habits can be so harmful.
For example, the same research with mice, as mentioned earlier, the mice were first given sugar water and chocolate milk as a reward. They developed a habit to go to the either of these substances over time. Researchers then switched the sugar water to something that made the mice sick and the mice still continued to return and drink the liquid that made them sick.
Again, habits can run on autopilot, completely separately from the executive part of the brain. For example, a smoker feels stressed and next thing they know they are in the midst of smoking a cigarette. They have no recollection of lighting a cigarette and they are not mindful of process.
Over time they have formed a habit, a neural network of nerve cells in the striatum of the brain that get stimulated by stress. In other words, when they feel stressed, the habit of smoking is triggered and runs on autopilot.
The point is there can be various triggers and of course various habits. There are so many significant implications of this information.
One very important reality to face is that anxiety meets this criterion. In other words, over time we have engrained anxiety as a habit. The anxious thoughts and behaviours, i.e., “fight or flight” process that gets triggered runs on autopilot, and happens very quickly in response to various items in our life.
The various triggers and the resulting habits of behaviour have been engrained in neural networks. This is why people can have such a difficult time getting out of the pattern of anxiety.
However, there is much hope. Remember what I discussed earlier about the brain rewiring itself in response to new behaviours and thoughts.
But there’s more: the implications of the findings discussed by Dr. Schwartz let us know that we can learn to break negative habits and move in the direction to what is truly important for us.
This is because he shares ways that we can deactivate the striatum area of the brain through powerful self-affirmations.
It has been shown that self-affirmations can change this negative pattern in the brain.
Self-affirmations in the form of what is valuable personally to one. What are your values? What is your chief, core value or values?
It has been discovered when people are reflecting on their chief core value or values, in other words, the thing or things that gives them the sense that their life is valuable, that is when they are receptive to messages about their health, such as eating healthy, exercising, or it could be carrying out positive behaviours for their mental health.
Some examples of core values would be things such as creativity, spontaneity, humour, family and friends, being part of the community, and having faith.
Dr. Schwartz explains that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex gets activated and the striatum area of the brain (mentioned earlier) gets deactivated through powerful self-affirmations, when one thinks about their core values.
Self-affirmations make people realize that what they would like to be doing is truly important to them. It is valuable.
People become more receptive with engaging in the healthier pattern of behaviour. This new behaviour can then form a new habit. Of course it is important that there is a period of repetition to engrain the new behaviour in place of the old habit. However, it is critical for one to reflect on their core values before trying to learn a new habit.
Then people can truly break bad habits.
One might say this is all common sense.
However, there is a difference between common sense and common sense backed by scientific evidence, the latter which we are talking about here.
So the process of engraining healthier behaviours to form new habits that replace your anxious habits and any other habits for that matter – is quite straight forward.
Here are the steps:
- Spend some time reflecting on your core values: The thing or things that gives you the sense that your life is valuable.
As mentioned, some examples of core values would be things such as creativity, spontaneity, humour, family and friends, being part of the community, and having faith.
- Then spend some time thinking about the strategies discussed in our previous episodes, such as exercises for your mental health.
That is when you will be most receptive to messages about your health, such as eating healthy, exercising, or, again, carrying out behaviours for your mental health.
This is when we can form a new healthier habit that breaks the cycle of anxiety and panic and fear.
It doesn’t have to take long to start feeling better when using various strategies we have suggested. However, carrying a new habit over time allows a longer period to rewire the brain from anxiety to the healthy behaviour.
Now you know that science supports such a common sense approach. I would encourage you to go ahead and start working on the messages in this podcast episode. You may very well be amazed with the positive results achieved in your life.
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Reference (In Search of an Anxiety Cause)
1. The Brain that Changes itself. (2008 November 28) Retrieved from: http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/natureofthings/2008/brainchangesitself/