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Where does anxiety come from?
 
Why is it a part of the human experience?
 
In a quantitative EEG, we can see anxious-type of thinking reflected in high frequency brainwaves (the 'hibeta' frequency band of around 20-30 hz per cycle*)
 
*there are variations in what can be labeled as hibeta, but this is a range I use in my current work
   
  
It's a type of brain activity that can be useful for emergency and high-stress situations. 
 
But when we can't shift gears to get out of it, it feels overwhelming.  It can lead a person to overreact with urgency to something that isn't.
 
 
And so they do whatever they can to either 'get out of their mind' by either focusing on something else.
 
This can take the form of:

* 'hyper-aroused aggression': trying to find someone to be 'against', stirring the pot
* 'hyper-aroused activity' like staying constantly busy, not allowing yourself to be still
* 'hypo-arousal', like collapsing, zoning out, dissociating, become disinterested
* 'hyper-social': looking to get reactions from others or 'crying out' for help from others in ways that seem disproportionate or irrational. *

 
*I'll be going over this multi-tiered nervous system response in some upcoming videos and we'll be going over this in depth in my April 23 training. Go to bottom of this page for link.
 
 
Another common way to deal with this high-frequency, overwhelming brain activity is to 'slow it down' using substances.  People may also look for medication that helps them do this. 
 
 
These are all things that can provide temporary 'relief' from the high speed activity of anxious thoughts.    
 
The problem is, they don't actually get to the root of the problem. So as soon as the activity or substance has worn off... there you are with the high-frequency brain activity again.
 
 
Moreover, you've 'shifted the burden' to something else, so your brain hasn't used it's own circuitry to navigate through it. 

 
 

The other issue is that these techniques are treating the brain like it's some isolated system. 
 
 
For example, I've had parents say to me 'can you fix my kid's brain? they overreact all the time and they have no reason for being that way. '
 
 
When we focus on trying to 'fix' dysregulation without acknowledging how it emerged, we are conveying a message that somehow the anxiety or overreaction just ‘appeared’ because of an imbalance in their brain and that distress, dysregulation and anxiety are an isolated problem about that individual. 
 
 I think this a really big problem.  
 

Treating the brain in isolation like that is also scientifically inaccurate.

 
The ability to self-soothe is not genetically programmed to just ‘happen’ without the right conditions. 
 
Our ability to self-regulate comes from social feedback systems that help us build our self-regulating circuitry.    
 
 
Disruptions to this system can happen in our earliest years,