by Jay Boll

Merging our bodies with our minds first starts with tuning into the places and ways we experience anxiety and grief throughout out bodies.

By Jay Boll

 

For years, I experienced anxiety as physical symptoms in my body: stiff neck; pins and needles on my face; queasy stomach, nausea, and loss of appetite; twitching nerves and muscle spasms. There was also the vague and nameless feeling of dread that would settle in my body while enveloping my mind—that was the closest I would get to an integration of the two.

I knew I had to get help for my anxiety when I felt that I could no longer live with the beating of my heart. The pounding in my chest was so intense I feared that life-giving organ would burst.

In younger years, I faced my share of threatening situations, living through the political violence of Central America in the 1980s and other crises. But this was different, as the danger felt like it was in my body, not my surroundings.

Even in a resting state, the pounding was relentless, as I imagined waves of cortisol coursing through my body with the pressure of a firehose pumped through arteries the width of drinking straws.

Like many people do today, I initially skipped the expense and bother of a doctor visit, and diagnosed myself online. There I learned that palpitations, or racing heart, are “extremely common” and can be triggered by anything from exercise and coffee, to medical conditions, such as heart disease and, of course, anxiety.

I already knew I had anxiety, but the mention of heart disease worried me. It finally took several visits to a cardiologist to convince me that I was not at risk for a fatal heart attack. The evidence of my body was so strong I could not accept that symptoms of such intense physical distress could be caused by a mental health condition.

I am not the only one guilty of flawed thinking in such matters. It is common in our culture to conceive of mind and body as separate realms and to separate mental from physical illnesses.

Bessel van der Kolk, MD, the trauma expert and author of the book The Body Keeps the Score, writes about the balance between the emotional and rational brains of human beings. The times when those two systems are in balance are when we most “feel like ourselves.” When they conflict, the “war is largely played out in the theater of visceral experience—your gut, your heart, your lungs.”

For years, I experienced anxiety as physical symptoms in my body: stiff neck; pins and needles on my face; queasy stomach, nausea, and loss of appetite; twitching nerves and muscle spasms. There was also the vague and nameless feeling of dread that would settle in my body while enveloping my mind—that was the closest I would get to an integration of the two.

The idea that our perception of ourselves results from a healthy interplay between our rational and emotional minds was foreign to me. Emotions were the part of my experience most removed from my physical body.

Fortunately, I found a doctor skilled in psychiatry and psychotherapy. The surprising thing about entering treatment for a problem in my head was how much of it focused on my body. In sessions, when I experience difficult emotions, my therapist asks me to find them in my body. I usually want to go on talking, but she gently redirects me to stay with the sensation.

Once I started tuning in, I am astounded at how many different places and ways I experience anxiety and grief throughout my body.

The messiness of it can seem overwhelming at times. Anxiety is everywhere in me. But what I am beginning to feel after several months in treatment is the sense that all these parts—gut, heart, lungs, back, neck, head, and face, emotions, thoughts, memories, and spirit—all belong to a whole.

The racing heart and other physical sensations of distress are my body’s way of helping me through threatening situations, real or imagined. Being able to identify and interpret them helps me understand their role in keeping me together.

While I may not be all there yet, I am starting to get a sense of what it is like to, in van der Kolk’s words, “feel like ourselves.”

 

Printed as “Viewpoint: Anxiety from My Head Down to My Toes,” Fall 2018

via Esperanza – Hope To Cope
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by esperanza

An expert in the practice of mindfulness, Daniel J. Siegel, MD discusses how you can gain more energy, focus and resilience despite the stress of everyday life.

 

New York Times bestselling author DANIEL J. SIEGEL, MD introduces his science-based meditation practice in his groundbreaking new book Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence. It’s a guide to the Wheel of Awareness practice that aims to make you more focused and present, as well as more energized and resilient in the face of stress and the everyday challenges life throws your way.

 

What is mindfulness?

The term “mindfulness” has no fully accepted definition. I think of it as a practice of training the mind that builds on three research-established pillars: focused attention, open awareness, and kind intention. It supports meditation—“mind-training practice.” It would include mindful awareness—being aware of what is happening without being swept up by judgments or reactivity.

 

How long should we meditate?

A dozen minutes a day may be the minimum we need.

 

What’s a good place for a newbie to start?

Begin with the basics: focused attention training. Being mindfully aware of the breath is a good place to start. Trying out the basic Wheel of Awareness is a natural next step.

 

What is the Wheel of Awareness?

Think of a wheel. The hub represents the experience of awareness itself — knowing. On the rim are four segments: the first five senses; the internal sensations of the body; the mental activities of emotion, thought, and memory; and finally, our interconnections. We send a spoke from the hub to the rim to show how we focus on one element of the rim at a time. By systematically moving the spoke around the rim, we can practice by differentiating these elements from each other, as well as by differentiating these elements from the knowing in the hub. We can even explore the hub of awareness itself. This is how the Wheel practice, and even the Wheel image, integrate consciousness.

 

What happens in the brain when people meditate?

It depends on the kind of meditation. For the three-pillar training, the brain becomes more focused, awareness more open, and intention more kind. In the brain over time, these become long-term traits that are associated with more integration in the brain. This means that the different areas of the brain become more interconnected. That allows for a more well-functioning brain.

 

Why is mindfulness practice helpful for people with depression?

Mindfulness practice has been shown to help prevent relapse of chronic depression. This may be because the brain becomes more integrated. Or it could be that the mind becomes more aware of the negative thought-emotion downward spiral and can reverse that depressing way of approaching life.

 

If you are already too inward-looking during a depressive episode, is turning inward for meditation really a good idea?

Mindfulness meditation during an acute bout of major depression may not be helpful, though research reveals it can help prevent a relapse.

 

What about people who can’t focus because they get caught up in rumination or anxious thoughts that won’t stop?

The Wheel can be helpful for people who ruminate because it helps them experience the difference between the hub of being aware and the rim of the ruminative thoughts. The more one can differentiate the hub from the rim, the more freedom one experiences from anxiety, mild or moderate depressive rumination, and traumatic intrusions of memory or thought.

 

How does awareness tie into resilience?

It’s like a cup of water. If awareness is only the size of an espresso cup, and life dishes out a stressful tablespoon of salt, that small amount of water cannot dilute the salt enough to make the water drinkable. Stress is then overwhelming. But imagine if that cup were the size of a child’s wading pool. Throw that same stressor of a tablespoon of salt into the water and the water is still fresh to the taste. That is what resilience is—not avoiding life’s challenges, but having enough awareness to handle whatever stressors life dishes out.

 

Printed as “Back Chat: Daniel J. Siegel M.D,” Fall 2018

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by esperanza

Researchers say their findings might eventually provide a better target for postpartum depression treatment

 

Newswise — SAN DIEGO – The immune system might play an important role in the development of postpartum depression after a stressful pregnancy, new research suggests.

Areas of the brain responsible for mood regulation showed signs of inflammation in the study, which used an animal model of postpartum depression to examine the possible connection between the immune system, the brain and the disorder. The study by researchers at The Ohio State University was presented Nov. 6 in San Diego at the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting.

“Postpartum depression is understudied and, as a result, remains poorly understood,” said lead author Benedetta Leuner, an associate professor of psychology at Ohio State.

“Gaining a better understanding of the factors that contribute to this serious and prevalent disorder will be key to finding ways to better help women who are struggling.”

Postpartum depression is common after childbirth—about 15 percent of all new mothers will experience the disorder, which has a variety of symptoms including prolonged depression, difficulty bonding with the baby, overwhelming fatigue and hopelessness.

“At least a half million women in the U.S. each year suffer from postpartum depression, and that is probably a low estimate. It’s surprising how little we know about how it arises,” Leuner said.

Previous research has focused primarily on potential hormonal explanations for postpartum depression, though some earlier work has been done on the immune system. In those studies, scientists have looked at signs of inflammation in the blood and found mixed results.

This study looked at the medial prefrontal cortex, a mood-related brain region previously implicated in postpartum depression.

For the experiment, rats were stressed during pregnancy to mimic a well-known risk factor for postpartum depression in human mothers. Similar to behaviors seen in women with postpartum depression, the stressed animals exhibited decreased attentiveness to their pups and depression- and anxiety-like behavior during various tasks.

And, unlike unstressed comparison animals, the stressed rats had higher levels of inflammatory markers in their brain tissue, Leuner said. Furthermore, the researchers found evidence that the stress might lead to changes in how certain immune cells in the brain – called microglia – function.

Study co-author Kathryn Lenz, an assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State, said she has become increasingly interested in the role of the immune system and its subsequent effects on the brain in mood disorders, including postpartum depression.

“It was especially interesting that we found no evidence of increased inflammation in the blood, but we did find it in this area of the brain that is important for mood regulation. We’re really excited because this suggests that inflammation in the brain may be a potential contributor to postpartum depression,” Lenz said.

“Eventually, this might provide a better target for treatment, whether through medication or other techniques such as meditation, diet and stress reduction,” she said.

“Postpartum depression is debilitating and can negatively impact the whole family. We are hopeful that this and future research will improve the lives of women and those around them,” Leuner said

Learn more:
Ask the Doctor: What Is Postpartum Depression?
Women Who Give Birth in Winter or Spring Less Likely to Have Postpartum Depression

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