The Fear and Anxiety Solution by PhD Friedemann MD Schaub Read Free Book Online Page B

snake!

    Figure 1 Brain pathways associated with fear and anxiety
    Now your brain considers the situation potentially dangerous. The hypothalamus and the pituitary gland stimulate the release of stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol, which increase your heart rate, breathing, perspiration, and blood circulation to the peripheral muscles—all of which prepare your body for an appropriate flight-flight-or-freeze response. At the same time, the cortex tries to develop a master plan for dealing with this potential threat. 4
    What is especially fascinating about this fear pathway is that only after the stress responses have been set in motion does the visual information finally reach the occipital part of the brain. This visual processing center provides an accurate analysis of the object: It’s only an old rope hanging from a branch. All systems can return to normal.
    Why does the fear come faster than the awareness? Why does our nervous system cry wolf rather than wait for the facts? From a survival point of view, it makes sense that evolution has favored this better-safe-than-sorry response. It was a matter of survival to be able to spot and instantly react to any potential threat—and as I mentioned before, our ancestors had to face plenty of threats on a daily basis.
    The problem with this system is that the more often you activate this stress-response loop, the more likely you will react anxiously to changes in your environment and unexpected circumstances. The amygdalae function like ananxiety switch: when they are turned on, we feel anxious; when they are turned off, we don’t. If you’ve been dealing with stress and anxiety for a long period of time, this anxiety switch can be triggered very easily or even become stuck in the “on” position, and it can activate the fight-flight-or-freeze response in situations (such as driving, flying, or spotting an elongated object hanging from a branch) where most people would experience moderate nervousness at the most.
    So what can you do about this anxiety switch? How can you gain access or control over it without just getting rid of the amygdalae (which you can’t and shouldn’t want to do)? Does pharmacology have the answers?
IS ANXIETY A BIOCHEMICAL PROBLEM REQUIRING A BIOCHEMICAL SOLUTION?
    Medical research has focused largely on a physiological solution to emotional problems such as anxiety and depression. The most prescribed antianxiety drugs are either benzodiazepines (such as Valium and Xanax), which are often used for anxiety, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs, such as Zoloft and Prozac), which are more commonly used for depression. While benzodiazepines directly affect the amygdalae by reducing their activity, SSRIs increase the level of serotonin in the brain, which is associated with mood improvement.
    The good news is that using prescription drugs to alter the brain’s physiology and chemistry can indeed successfully dampen fear and anxiety and make these emotions more manageable. However, this improvement often comes with a price. One of the challenges with antianxiety medications—besides their common side effects, such as drowsiness, nausea, constipation, and lower sex drive—is that they potentially lead to physical addiction, and you must wean yourself carefully when you want to stop taking them.
    Many of the clients I have worked with complained that their medication not only reduced their anxiety, it also dulled or even turned off their emotions in general. It appeared to my clients as if their minds had been wrapped in cotton or a lid had been placed on their ability to feel anything. But what still hadn’t vanished were their deep-seated insecurities and the limiting core beliefs they had struggled with for a long time. Beliefs such as “I’m not good enough” or “The world is not a safe place” still remained a part of their mind-set, even though they didn’t have the same emotional impact. As a client putit, “I