Future Tense:  Why anxiety is good for you (even though it feels bad)

Tracy Dennis-Tiwary (Littlebrown, 2022)

This fascinating book by Tracy Dennis-Tiwary (Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology) traces the history of anxiety and identifies factors influencing the high rates we are seeing nowadays.  According to recent figures, in any given year 18% of teenagers in the USA will suffer from an anxiety disorder*.  This high prevalence is partly explained by the increasing medicalisation of anxiety, the ways anxiety is defined in current psychiatric classification models and the increased use of pharmaceutical treatments.

Dennis-Tiwary draws on wide-ranging evidence to challenge the medicalisation of anxiety.  This medical perspective can cause us to miss the constructive role anxiety can play in bringing about change in our lives and developing resilience.  Dennis-Tiwary draws attention to how anxiety can motivate and energise.  Studies show that we are more creative and innovative when ‘activated’ regardless of whether this is in a positive or negative way (ie. angry, anxious or joyful).  From this perspective, anxiety can be seen as an important communication which helps us to mobilise and take action.

There is a lot of criticism of the negative effects of social media as a contributor to anxiety.  Tiwary reports on a series of studies which shed light on this issue.  Negative effects appear to be reduced when we are using social media in active rather than passive ways (avoid the doom scrolling and endless social comparison!). Research also shows how our uses of social media for connection and social support are changing.  In an experimental study with teenager girls, access to text communications with a close family member while doing stressful tasks activated the social bonding hormone (oxytocin) which helped to reduce anxiety.

The pandemic provides further evidence of our resilience in dealing with anxiety. Surprisingly, anxiety levels for young people did not spiral upwards as anticipated.  Two large-scale international studies tracking anxiety rates in teenagers during the pandemic showed that rates of anxiety remained stable and 41% reported feeling happier during lockdown.  This is partly attributed to fewer stressors and social demands but also by the fact people were able to find practical ways to alleviate anxious feelings.

Tiwary encourages a re-conceptualisation and locates anxiety mid-way on a spectrum between optimism and pessimism. Anxiety animates us because we feel we can do something about the situation. She encourages us to see anxiety as the ‘secret sauce’ that can lead to constructive action. Her overriding message is not to fear anxiety but to see it as an important mind-body communication.  The question of how to eliminate anxiety is misguided.  It is more helpful to become curious about what is motivating anxiety and direct our attention to what we can do.

A client recently described to me how the relationship with his anxiety ‘completely changed’ after experiencing an episode of panic. When we feel this way about anxiety it can cause us to avoid more and more situations to try and prevent the feeling re-occurring.  The main focus of hypnotherapy is in helping clients develop techniques and strategies and to recognise how they can respond to anxious feelings in constructive ways.

Source: www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness

‘If you truly want to discover lasting peace and contentment you need to learn to rest your mind.’  (Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche)

I came across this wonderful book thanks to a chance conversation with someone at my choir (thanks Ian!).  Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche is a Tibetan Buddhist Master and his book offers a fascinating fusion of western and eastern thought. He brings neuroscientific understandings of the brain within a framework of Buddhist philosophy and shows that there is great deal of convergence.

For the past 20 years he has collaborated in a research project with neuroscientists at University of Wisconsin at Maddison to explore the effect of mindfulness and meditation practices on the brain. During meditation neural activity in the brain area associated with empathy and positive emotion increased 700-800 per cent for Yongey Mingyur.  Even for a control group, who were all new to meditation, the average increase was 10%.  The research work is underpinned by mutual respect and a genuine dialogue between eastern philosophy and western medicine.  Neuroscientist Francisco Valera, co-founder of the Wisconsin’s Mind and Life Institute was a student of Buddhist practice under Yongey Mingur’s father.

In the book Yogey Mingyur Rinpoche shares his own story of the debilitating anxiety he suffered as a child and how he learned to overcome this anxiety through techniques of mindfulness and meditation.  He dispels many of the myths around meditation with a great deal of warmth and humour. 

The book offers a compassionate understanding of how the mind operates when stressed and in fear-based, survival mode. The author shares a powerful insights and techniques from Buddhist practice on how to relax the ego, reduce the fear response and foster compassion towards self and others.

I found this book fascinating and incredibly hopeful.  There are wonderful metaphors which I have incorporated into my practice as a therapist.  It shows how these fear-based responses can be over-ridden through focused attention and contemplation and the positive impact this can have at a physical level.

 

 

 

 

It’s been thought for a long time that there are some emotions we all experience no matter where we come from but recently that idea is starting to change.

The common research approach had been to show people photos of faces displaying emotion (like these pictures) but it seems that there are some biases in this way this research tool has been used.

Recent research described in Professor Lisa Feldman-Barrat’s fascinating book suggests that emotions are shaped by language and culture much more than we used to think.

The way we talk about an emotion like anger varies a lot. Russian speakers have two different words to refer to ‘anger at a person’ and ‘anger at a situation’. German speakers have three different words to describe the concept of anger and Mandarin speakers have five!

In Micronesia emotion is expressed not as an individual experience but as an interaction between people. The Himda tribe in New Guinea express emotion as a behaviour rather than a feeling. This diversity shows that we have can have more control over our emotions than we often think.

As a hypnotherapist I support many clients in understanding and regulating their emotions more effectively. Contact me to find out more.

Reference: Feldman-Barret, L (2018) ‘How emotions are made: the secret life of the brain’ (2018).

#angermanagement #stressrelief #emotionaregulation #mentalhealthmatters #solutionfocusedhypnotherapy #renewal_hypnotherapy #manchester

 

These days we hear a lot about the power of positive thinking.  Magazines, adverts and self-help books encourage us to follow our dreams and ‘dream big’, implying that positive visualisation will energise us to fulfil our goals.

In 1991 Gabriele Oettingen published findings which challenged this assumption.   Her research with people enrolled on a weight loss programme explored how much they wanted to lose weight and how likely they felt they were to succeed. One half of the group were also asked to consider potential obstacles to achieving their goals.  Follow up 12 months later showed that focusing only on the goal hindered positive outcomes but focusing both on goals and obstacles increased the effectiveness of the programme.

The initial research findings have been replicated through experimental studies pain management, smoking cessation, career coaching and exam preparation and have drawn on innovative research techniques. In recent studies the research team have recorded systolic blood pressure readings to reveal how energised and motivated a person is before and after visualising a positive scenario.  It has been found that daydreaming results in reduced blood pressure, indicating that we can become less energised by our positive visualisations.

Oettingen suggests we can dream ourselves to a standstill as we can experience a short-term benefit from positive visualisation.  We relax and ‘fool ourselves’ into thinking we have achieved the goal (however briefly).  Her research over the following decades indicates that dreaming about the fulfilment of goals can have undesired effects. Rather than galvanising us for action, positive visualisation can reduce our motivation at a practical level.

The solution isn’t to do away with dreaming, according to Oettingen, but to bring a little bit of structure to the process.  ‘Mental contrasting’ describes a simple three-step process: visualising accomplishing a desired goal, anticipating obstacles which might interfere, and to forming a specific plan to deal with the obstacle.

Many approaches to behaviour change (eg. exercising more, eating better) rely on changing attitudes, values and beliefs.  The mental contrasting approach works differently by bringing together wishes and imagined obstacles.  The aim is to integrate goals and solutions, bring the future and present reality together and to draw on the subconscious mind.

Oettingen’s findings enhance understanding of human motivation and how to achieve change.  As a tool, mental contrasting can help in re-assessing and refining goals and in anticipating and overcoming specific obstacles.  As a self-help guide, Oettingen’s book offers practical exercises to apply this method in everyday life to short term and longer-term goals.  Therapeutically, the book offers a valuable framework for support.

This book is a fascinating read.  Being quite ‘long in the tooth’ I can remember a number of paradigm shifts in Psychology over the years and this book was quite a game changer.

Antonio Damasio’s research sheds light on the integral role emotions play in human reasoning and decision making.  The ‘somatic marker hypothesis’ explains how physiological and cognitive responses to our environment are stored in the brain as integrated ‘dispositional representations’.  We acquire somatic markers through our lived experience, through socialisation and formal education and develop anticipatory emotional responses which guide and influence our decisions.  A distinction is made between primary (universal, innate) emotions and secondary emotions which are the more nuanced interpretations we give to emotions, often shaped by the norms of our social groups.

Somatic markers, these neural firing patterns of cognitive and emotional states, are re-activated when we experience things which seem to be similar to past situations.  Research studies suggests the amygdala (often described as the ‘fight, flight, freeze’ brain region) is important in this reactivation mechanism.  Without these emotional biases to narrow down the range of decision options, to effectively follow our ‘gut instinct’, we would be lost in an endless loop of deliberation as shown in case studies of clinical patients with brain injuries which have affected this part of brain.

Essentially the book challenges the long-standing dualist philosophical perspective on the mind as a free-floating entity (put forward by Descartes).  Through empirical research Damasio shows that this is not the case and provides an explanatory account of conditions such as ‘phantom limb’ along the way.  A medical doctor by background, the author, argues for a more integrated understanding of the mind-body connection, in both medical practice and research, to achieve a deepened understanding of human diseases.

Therapeutically, the research is useful in helping clients to recognise the importance of tuning in to their emotions and seeing them as valuable, intuitive communications from the body but to recognise that these communications are interpretations rather than facts.  Therapy provides the opportunity for clients to re-appraise emotional responses, re-interpret and re-define responses that can be more appropriate to their situations.

This quote might sound a bit blunt and unromantic but there is a lot of evidence to suggest it is close to the mark.

Our brains guzzle a lot of energy and the ‘Anterior Cingulate Cortex’ helps to ration our ‘expensive’ attentional resources.  The ACC connects the brain’s emotional structures (limbic system) and cognitive structures (prefrontal cortex) and works at the subconscious level as part of the brain’s salience network, scanning the environment for threats, errors and novelty.  Effectively, the ACC pre-selects the focus of our attention and this process is often influenced by our emotional state (intuition!).

Anatomically, the neurons in this part of the brain have a distinct shape (described as ‘spindle neurons’) which is thought to be indicative of faster transmission between brain regions and greater connectivity.  It has been found that the ACC has a great deal of connectivity with the amygdala (an area of the brain associated with emotion) and the hippocampus (an area associated with memory).

Studies indicate that anxiety is linked to heightened activity in the Anterior Cingulate. It is as if our antenna has become too sensitive and focused only on the negatives. It has also been found that higher activation of the ACC is associated with higher subjective ratings of pain.

Several approaches to emotional regulation have been found to reduce the activity of this brain region including re-appraisal and distancing techniques which form a part of the solution focused and cognitive behavioural therapy traditions.  Additionally, recent research has shown that hypnosis reduces the ACC’s activation.

Contact me to find out more about how hypnotherapy can help you develop a broader perspective, strengthen the mind-body connection and hone your intuition.

Sources:

Stevens, FL et al (2011) Anterior Cingulate Cortex: Unique role in cognition and emotion. Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences.

Zimmer, C (2017) In patients under hypnosis, scientists find distinctive patterns in the brain.  Stat. https://www.statnews.com/2016/07/28/hypnosis-psychiatry-brain-activity/

I’ve been noticing more birdsong recently as the mornings are getting a bit lighter.  I always find that this lifts my heart as it seems like a glimmer of spring.

Studies show there are seasonal changes in the brain structure of songbirds linked to breeding patterns.  There is an increase in the number of neurons in late summer compared to early spring due to changes in song behaviour.

The human brain shows similar flexibility (or ‘plasticity’) with structural and functional changes over the lifespan.  During childhood the brain changes and recalibrates as a developmental process and our brains continue changing throughout adulthood, a capacity known as ‘experience dependent’ plasticity. 

A wealth of recent research has shown how the brain changes in response to the environment and the actions we take. For example, when we master a new skill, such as learning a musical instrument, we forge new neural pathways.  There is a well-known example of the enlarged hippocampus brain region of London Hackney cab drivers due to the 3-4 years they spend learning ‘the knowledge’. These research insights are proving useful in the search for treatments of neurological diseases such as Alzheimers.*

For these reasons, neuroscientists suggest that our brains are more like ‘playdoh than porcelain’. Yet the changes that occur in the brain can sometimes be negative, in response to what is going on in our external environment.  When chronically stressed, for example, we literally devote more brain space to the focus of our worries.

A fascinating study by Professor Pascal Leone demonstrates the power of positive mental rehearsal. He conducted a study with two groups of participants, each learning to play a piano piece over a week-long program and studied how the brain changed during this process. One group practiced the piece physically each day and another group mentally visualized the practice each day. The surprising finding was that both groups demonstrated expansion in the same brain region (the motor cortex area that is associated with finger movement).

Such insights are empowering for clients as they see the possibilities for achieving positive change through positive visualization and mental rehearsal. Hypnotherapy can support clients in harnessing the capability of the brain to over-ride unhelpful patterns of thought and achieve positive change.

References:

Begley, S (2007) The Brain: How The Brain Rewires Itself:  Not only can the brain learn new tricks, but it can also change its structure and function–even in old age. Time Magazine.

Bentley, GE.  Van’t Hof, TJ.  Ball, GF (1999) Seasonal neuroplasticity in the songbird telencephalon: A role for melatonin Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,  96  (8) , pp. 4674-4679.

Free, C (2021) London cabbies’ brains are being studied for their navigating skills. It could help Alzheimer’s research. Washington Post

 

Isn’t it striking how many people say they are ‘rubbish at maths’, dismissing the whole subject in a way that they do not seem to do about other subjects such as English or Geography? I have my own painful memories of school assemblies where we had to recite the times tables.  The school prefects would walk down each row and if anyone was heard stumbling, they had to recite the times table in front of the whole school the following week.

Recent research suggests that 1 in 10 people suffer from maths anxiety but this may be an underestimate.  Research conducted with 10000 school students indicated that this form of anxiety is experienced by pupils with low and high attainment profiles ¹ which suggests the scale of the issue may not be fully visible to teachers. This study also showed a higher rate of reporting of maths anxiety among girls.

Maths is a compulsory subject up to GCSE level which means many people must cope with this anxiety for a long time.  Good numeracy is a requirement for many jobs and is a hot topic in the press where we see a regular focus on the UK’s numeracy performance in the international PISA rankings.

Tobias and Weissbrod ² provide a broadly accepted definition of maths anxiety as “the panic, helplessness, paralysis, and mental disorganisation that arises among some people when they are required to solve a mathematical problem”.  Recent empirical studies support this definition and indicate that there are two components: a cognitive dimension (worry about performance and consequences of failure) and an emotional dimension (nervousness, tension and apprehension).  This finding has been replicated in both primary and secondary school contexts ³.

Much of the research is based on data gathered at one point in time which means that the findings can only be described as correlational.  This leaves the question of whether a general level of anxiety leads to lack of confidence in maths or whether a lack of ability in maths causes anxiety.  However, a longitudinal study with seventh grade pupils explored the link between self-concept and anxiety levels on three occasions over a school year ⁴.  The results showed the effect of self-concept over anxiety was stronger than the effect of anxiety over self-concept ⁵.

Research shows, therefore, that maths anxiety is a persistent and widespread problem and is significantly shaped by negatives beliefs and fear of failure which can have a knock-on impact on cognitive function.  Neuroscientific techniques provide insight on the short and long-term impact of maths anxiety.  fMRI scanning techniques show that high emotional arousal due to maths anxiety engages parts of the brain which suppress the capabilities of frontal cortex to process instructions and problem solve ⁶.  Negative experiences associated with this emotional state can be compounded as this heightened attention may influence how memories associated with such learning situations are encoded. In fact, researchers have shown that people who experience maths anxiety begin to activate areas of the brain associated with pain processing ⁷.  As such, maths anxiety can have a detrimental impact both on working memory and long-term memory.

As former university lecturer and teacher educator I have a perspective on how this form of anxiety can be alleviated through educational strategies which help to reduce the level of stress and apprehension towards the subject and improve self-efficacy.  In my current role as a hypnotherapist, I support clients in reappraising negative emotions and to break out of the vicious circle that is created by self-limiting beliefs.

 

References

¹ Carey, E., Devine, A., Hill, F., Dowker, A., McLellan, R., & Szucs, D. (2019). Understanding Mathematics Anxiety: Investigating the experiences of UK primary and secondary school students. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.37744

² Tobias, S & Weissbrod, C (1980) Anxiety and Mathematics: An Update. Harvard Educational Review 50 (1) 63-70.

³ Wigfield, A., and Meece, J. L. (1988). Math anxiety in elementary and secondary school students. Journal of  Educational Psychology. 80, 210–216. doi: 10.1037/0022-0663.80.2.210

⁴ Ahmed, W., Minnaert, A., Kuyper, H., and Van Den Werf, G. (2012). Reciprocal relationships between math self-concept and math anxiety. Learn. Individ. Dif. 22, 385–389. doi: 10.1016/j.lindif.2011.12.004

⁵Dowker, A. Sarker, A, Looi CY (2016) Mathematics Anxiety: What Have We Learned in 60 Years? Frontiers in Psychology,  https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00508

⁶ Marshall, E., Mann. V., & Wilson, D. (2016). Maths anxiety: A collaboration. HEA STEM conference, Nottingham: https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/system/files/downloads/5.6_what_is_maths_anxiety_handout.pdf

⁷ Lyons, I.M., Beilock, S.L., (2012) Mathematics Anxiety: Separating the Math from the Anxiety, Cerebral Cortex, 22 (9)2102–2110, https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhr289

 

 

 

In this important book Professor Sarah Jayne Blakemore explains how the brain changes, both structurally and functionally, during adolescence.

Her fascinating research career was motivated by her doctoral work on schizophrenia and a compelling interest to understand why such conditions tend to develop in adolescence.

Blakemore observes that traditional western medical training tends to give little attention to the normal workings of the brain, particularly in a developmental sense.

Written in a highly accessible style, and from a point of deep empathy, the book challenges negative societal attitudes towards teenagers as being impulsive and self-centred.

New brain scanning techniques show how sub-cortical brain areas associated with reward and emotion systems mature earlier than the ‘self-regulation’ system (located in the frontal cortex of the brain).  The research identifies those ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ contexts which can cause risk-taking or foster self-control.

A capacity for self-control is associated with positive life outcomes (health, education, life expectancy) and Blakemore’s current research explores how this capacity can be enhanced through mindfulness training.

The book offers valuable insights for educators, legislators and medical practitioners. Blakemore identifies practical implications for the design of health initiatives (eg. anti-smoking, healthy eating) so that they are autonomy supporting rather than overly authoritarian.

In counselling and hypnotherapy contexts, the research insights can be empowering for younger clients and/or parents of adolescents to better understand and navigate these developmental changes.

#adolescentbrain #goodread #neuroscienceinsight #selfcompassion #alwayslearning

#solutionfocusedhypnotherapy #teenagestress  #Anxietyrelief  #healthyminds #mentalhealthmatters #youthanxiety #schoolanxiety #universitystress #collegestress

As we all know this time of year can be stressful, not least because the list of ingredients for the ‘perfect Christmas’ seems to get longer each year. Advertisers persuade us of the need for ‘table gifts’, Christmas pyjamas, dog advent calendars and more! Our time and energy can be consumed in curating this image of perfection, leaving us depleted and unable to enjoy the simple pleasures of being with loved ones over the holidays.

Research shows a significant increase in perfectionism since the 1980s in three forms, each of which are much in evidence at this time of year:

• Self-oriented perfectionism: where we link our self-worth to achievements and are unable to feel lasting satisfaction from those achievements.
• Socially prescribed perfectionism: perceiving that perfection is demanded in our immediate social environment and through broader cultural values.
• Perfectionism directed towards others.

A recent study commissioned by the Wellcome shows that in chronic form, perfectionism is linked to depression and anxiety. Therapeutically, debilitating perfectionism can be alleviated through re-evaluating goals, recognising the value of mistakes and broadening self-worth through a focus on more than just achievements.

Engineering some imperfection into your festive season can bring unanticipated joy. Why not try:

• Delegating Christmas tree decorating to younger members of the household. It can bring weird and wonderful results with a lot of fun along the way.
• Ask other family members to take on a Christmas-related task (gift-wrapping meister, Boxing-day walk organiser). This can create new traditions that are unique and meaningful.
• Borrowing (and adapting) Coco Chanel’s advice; before you launch into the festive season, try to take one or two things off your to-do list.

Wishing you a happy, imperfect Christmas!

 

 

 

Source: The Wellcome (2021) What science has shown can help young people with anxiety and depression: Identifying and reviewing the ‘active ingredients’ of effective interventions. October 2021. https://tinyurl.com/2fnkjv7v