Anxiety and Neuroplasticity

[Carl87]

Hi all,

Just thought I’d share some support to those thinking any doom and gloom. I myself am past the doom and gloom stage and am now fully on the positive side

Here’s a snippet of information on Neuroplasticity I found:

‘For centuries it was thought that once fully developed following adolescence the human brain was immutable and that any damage sustained was permanent. If this model were correct then limbic hypersensitivity and the invisible illnesses it causes would be irreversible - thankfully this is not the case. Research by neuroscientists and modern clinical experience has shown that given the right circumstances the brain is in fact capable of "re-wiring" itself to bypass structural damage or reverse pathophysiologies such as limbic hypersensitivity. This ability of the brain to change itself to improve its own functioning is what we refer to as neuroplasticity’.

So what does this essentially mean? It means we are capable of reversing such sensitivity and can de-stimulate our limbic systems to become non anxious. Yes, our brain literally ‘rewires’ itself. When we develop an anxiety disorder, neural pathways are created in our brain which cause such anxiety. These neural pathways are then hard-wired into our brains permanently, and form habits. But this does not mean we will be anxious permanently. All habits are reversible. Since our brains are so amazing, it has the ability to create new, non anxious pathways which over time strengthen and actually override the anxious pathways. So despite the anxious pathways being hardwired into your brain, by being non anxious, your brain recognises this more and more and the non anxious pathways thicken and it chooses that route every time, bypassing the anxious pathway. Pretty cool right? If you aren’t sure how to recover, look up Acceptance.

Just remember, this limbic system we have doesn’t know it’s not supposed to react to things you don’t want it to, it doesn’t care, it just wants to protect you. Your Amygdala is the Almond shaped protector causing you to be unnecessarily anxious. When you see something that usually brings you Anxiety, it’s because you’ve taught it to, from no fault of your own of course. Given time, the more exposed you are to these things that make you anxious, the more your Amygdala learns this and politely backs off. You must realise that this cannot be done overnight and whilst you innocently go about your day, it’s quielty watching in the background, always on the look out for potential threats and dangers. It can only learn when it’s activated, and cannot be fooled either. It needs to be repeatedly conditioned at a reasonable level over time in order to desensitise to the point where your triggers no longer give you Anxiety. It’s a combination of time, patience and a complete and utter dedication to acceptance.

Hope this has helped somewhat and thanks for reading just remember, our bodies are amazing and even with Anxiety, despite how uncomfortable it may seem we should be very greatful of our existence. All of the above can be achieved by doing absolutely nothing other than walking towards your fears, living life normally as you would without anxiety and not avoiding things. Be prepared to take the Anxiety with you, shake it’s hands and it will leave you eventually.

Carl.

[Aazz]

Amazing! Thanks for that 😀

[Jeff1943]

Terrific post, Carl, the bottom line is that there's hope for us Cuckoos yet. Nothing is irreversible, anxious pathways in the brain can become replaced by non anxious pathways. Everybody should read this - it's all about your brain!

[easy-co]

Spot on Carl - it’s this approach that has really helped me. The book ‘Rewire Your Anxious Brain’ by Catherine M. Pittman delves deep into this and teaches you a programme of exposure therapy to retrain the amygdala and cerebral cortex.

I thoroughly recommend it to all!