|
Anxiety can be a disabling condition that seriously affects ones quality of life. Anxiety disorders can take a variety of forms including: irrational phobias, panic attacks, social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive behavior, or just a generalized feeling of anxiety which pervades one’s life. Anxiety is not only hard to live with, it is also hard on the body. When anxious, the sympathetic nervous system is provoked into a sustained hyperactivity which causes a number of physiological and metabolic changes. When stuck in an anxious state, the human body produces excess epinephrine, norepinephrine, and ACTH which releases excess cortisol into the blood stream. Over time, this hormonal imbalance can do damage to the immune and other bodily systems. Chronic anxiety also tends to cause memory problems and has been found to adversely impact the ability to learn.
While anxiety disorders have a variety of different causes, they are all manifestations of an extreme lack self-regulation by the brain. The profound over-arousal that manifests as anxiety is the result of the brain’s inability to respond to internal and/or external stressors with resilience and/or flexibility. Instead of being able to resiliently resist over-arousal, or flexibly shift back to normal after moments of high stress, the brain is easily carried away into a state of hyper-arousal from which it often cannot return. Neurofeedback training is highly effective in significantly reducing or, in some cases, even eliminating the paralyzing effects of anxiety disorders. By training the brain to function with resilience and flexibility, Neurofeedback enables individuals to efficiently regulate themselves and resist being carried off into downward spirals of anxiety. As this learning occurs, most individuals tend to notice their sleep patterns improve together with their mood. Because the brain actually acquires this learning and restructures itself accordingly, it is unlikely that follow-up sessions will be needed once the initial training is complete.
|
