Immunize Yourself Against Anxiety and Excessive Stress
By George S. Everly, Jr. Ph.D., ABPP. Originally posted via Psychology Today Psychologically speaking, the most significant factors that will keep you from realizing the happiness and success to which you aspire are anxiety and excessive stress. Both of these contribute significantly to depression, as well. Over 44 years of clinical practice and university teaching, I’ve heard people say time and time again, “I’m an anxious person, I was born that way.” Or they might say I don’t do well under stress.” Or perhaps they say, “I get psyched out really easily.” Indeed social anxiety inhibits your ability to make friends and engage with other people. Performance anxiety inhibits your ability to perform academically and athletically. Stage fright can cripple performers. Here is the good news…“You are not stuck with the brain you have. You can make it better.” – Daniel Amen, TEDxTalks – Oct. 16, 2013. While Dr. Amen’s statement sounds like hyperbole, there is actually considerable evidence that, not only is he correct but, you may be able to cultivate some degree of “immunity” from excessive stress. Think of it as a form of “psychological body armor.” Neural pathways in your brain are malleable. Research has shown that your brain is highly responsive to both environmental stimuli, as well as your thoughts and emotions (Volkow, 2010). This phenomenon is referred to as neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity allows the brain to create functional neurological pathways and networks, as well as to reorganize previously existing pathways and networks in order to create the neurologic infrastructure for virtually every aspect of human behavior. This has important implications not only for adult learning, but also for our understanding of stress and anxiety and how to better manage them. TUNING OF THE HUMAN NERVOUS SYSTEMS A musical instrument can be tuned sharp and over-responsive. It can also be tuned down to be less reactive. So too can your nervous systems be “tuned.” Based upon elegant research investigations in the 1960s, the brilliant physiologist Ernst Gellhorn concluded that, based upon one’s thoughts, emotions, and experiences, the human nervous systems are capable of being “tuned” so as to be irritable, hypersensitive, and over responsive. This is especially true for the sympathetic nervous system responsible for the “fight or flight” response. This hyper-sensitization he called “ergotropic tuning.” So the more negative thoughts you have, the more negative experiences you have, the more negative emotions you experience, and the more you worry about things, the more likely you are to actually train your brain to experience stress and anxiety reactions with less and less provocation. He cogently argued that such hypersensitivity was the foundation for the development of crippling anxiety and a host of psychological and physical stress-related disorders. But the good news is that Gellhorn also concluded that your nervous systems could be desensitized. This he called “trophotropic tuning.” It suggests that we should have a far more optimistic view of what we once thought were intractable stress and anxiety disorders, even if you think you were “born that way.” If neural patterns of excessive stress can be acquired, they can be altered and more positive functional neurologic pathways can replace them. More specifically, it suggests that highly sensitized mechanisms causing anxiety and stress may be effectively desensitized. The only question is “How?” Psychologically speaking, the most significant factors that will keep you from realizing the happiness and success to which you aspire are anxiety and excessive stress. Both of these contribute significantly to depression, as well. Over 44 years of clinical practice and university teaching, I’ve heard people say time and time again, “I’m an anxious person, I was born that way.” Or they might say I don’t do well under stress.” Or perhaps they say, “I get psyched out really easily.” Indeed social anxiety inhibits your ability to make friends and engage with other people. Performance anxiety inhibits your ability to perform academically and athletically. Stage fright can cripple performers. Here is the good news…“You are not stuck with the brain you have. You can make it better.” – Daniel Amen, TEDxTalks – Oct. 16, 2013. While Dr. Amen’s statement sounds like hyperbole, there is actually considerable evidence that, not only is he correct but, you may be able to cultivate some degree of “immunity” from excessive stress. Think of it as a form of “psychological body armor.” Neural pathways in your brain are malleable. Research has shown that your brain is highly responsive to both environmental stimuli, as well as your thoughts and emotions (Volkow, 2010). This phenomenon is referred to as neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity allows the brain to create functional neurological pathways and networks, as well as to reorganize previously existing pathways and networks in order to create the neurologic infrastructure for virtually every aspect of human behavior. This has important implications not only for adult learning, but also for our understanding of stress and anxiety and how to better manage them. TUNING OF THE HUMAN NERVOUS SYSTEMS A musical instrument can be tuned sharp and over-responsive. It can also be tuned down to be less reactive. So too can your nervous systems be “tuned.” Based upon elegant research investigations in the 1960s, the brilliant physiologist Ernst Gellhorn concluded that, based upon one’s thoughts, emotions, and experiences, the human nervous systems are capable of being “tuned” so as to be irritable, hypersensitive, and over responsive. This is especially true for the sympathetic nervous system responsible for the “fight or flight” response. This hyper-sensitization he called “ergotropic tuning.” So the more negative thoughts you have, the more negative experiences you have, the more negative emotions you experience, and the more you worry about things, the more likely you are to actually train your brain to experience stress and anxiety reactions with less and less provocation. He cogently argued that such hypersensitivity was the foundation for the development of crippling anxiety and a host of psychological and physical stress-related disorders. But the good news is that Gellhorn also concluded that your nervous systems could be desensitized. This he called “trophotropic tuning.” It suggests that we should have a far more optimistic view of what we once thought were intractable stress and anxiety disorders, even if you think you
