Fight or Flight Response
- Choose Joy In the Midst, Coping strategies, EMDR, Fight or Flight Response, Mental Health, Not Alone, PTSD, Pursuing health and wholeness, Stress response, therapy, Trauma
How Can You Decrease Your PTSD or Trauma Response? It is, in fact, Possible.
You Don’t Have to Be Stuck in Your PTSD or Trauma Response. There are ways to decrease and dial down the response in the moment friend. There is hope. The intensity of your responses to trauma can be dialed down. How? The first step is self-awareness. Being aware of what is occurring and what specific things trigger you. (A trigger is something associated with the trauma memory. A trigger is not something you choose, but something your amygdala has connected to the trauma. An object, a similar situation, a sound, a smell, etc.) I know it’s likely not something you want to think about or focus on because avoidance of…
- Choose Joy, Choose Joy In the Midst, Coping strategies, Fight or Flight Response, Mental Health, PTSD, Pursuing health and wholeness, Stress response, Trauma
Choose Joy In the Midst of PTSD & Trauma Responses
You may be wondering how on earth can both phrases “Choose Joy In the Midst” and “PTSD and Trauma Responses” be connected? I believe we *can* in fact find Joy and choose joy in the midst of very difficult trauma responses we face. We can choose joy and fight for goodness in our lives by pursuing healing and finding ways to positively cope and decrease our trauma responses. Read on, friend. PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) can ensue from trauma and cause your body to go into a fight or flight response when switched on (or triggered) by something that reminds you of that traumatic event. ➡️ Triggers can be…
- Breathing technique, calming techniques, Coping strategies, Fight or Flight Response, Mental Health, PTSD, Pursuing health and wholeness, Stress response, Trauma
Use Breathing To Regulate Your Nervous System & Decrease Your Stress
Using our breath to help decrease our stress in the moment is incredibly helpful and important. Follow the prompts in this picture. Breathe in for a count of 3. Hold for 3. Breathe out for a count of 3. The breathing out slowly helps brings online the parasympathetic system (to rest & calm & settle the body & nervous system). This technique has a name called: Boxed breathing- a technique of breathing in for 3 seconds, holding for 3 seconds, and exhaling slowly for 3 seconds helps regulate anxiousness or triggered moments, stressful moments. You can do it multiple times as long as you don’t get lightheaded. I also strongly…
- Amygdala, break the stigma, EMDR, emotional intelligence, Emotions, Fight or Flight Response, Free Resource, PTSD, Pursuing health and wholeness, Stress response, therapy, Trauma
The Amgdala
Do you know what the amygdala is?If you’ve heard of it, it’s probably in reference to the fight or flight response related to stress responses or PTSD.That is true. The amygdala’s importance goes far beyond that though.The amygdala is the emotional processing center. It works alongside other parts of your limbic system to process your emotional memories, good and bad, and store them.You can’t access these emotional memories easily with cognitive thinking. This is incredibly important to understand for trauma healing as trauma memories are processed here.This is also why I’m a big proponent of EMDR therapy for emotional and trauma healing.I will share more on that later though.Follow me…
- Amygdala, calming techniques, Coping strategies, EMDR, empathy, faith and psychology, Fight or Flight Response, Mental Health, Overcome anxiety & worry, positive self-talk, Prayer, PTSD, Pursuing health and wholeness, Stress response, therapy, Trauma
Fight or Flight Response Series: Part 3. Stress Responses Don’t Have to Rule Your Life- Decrease Tension, Find Calm, & Take Back Control!
Triggers, trauma, and PTSD don’t need to run your life. There are ways to have improved resilience and decrease those fight or flight symptoms when they hijack your life at unexpected and undesirable moments. We will talk today about some of those amazing techniques- Read on with the hope and knowledge that the intensity of the stress responses you experience can, in fact, be lessened. Their intensity can be dialed down. You can manage and begin to have more control over those intense responses you feel. You don’t have to live your life with amygdala hijack taking over at unexpected and unwanted moments. In my last fight or flight writing,…
- Amygdala, anaphylaxis, calming techniques, Coping strategies, EMDR, faith and psychology, Fight or Flight Response, Focusing on Truth, food allergies, Mental Health, Overcome anxiety & worry, positive self-talk, Prayer, PTSD, Pursuing health and wholeness, Stress response, therapy, Trauma
Fight or Flight Response: Part 2- Assessing Danger, Triggers, & Advocating with An Anaphylactic Allergy Focus
If you’ve dealt with a stressful fight or flight response where your body is on edge, anxious, worried, extremely alert and ready for action, or ready to deal with something dangerous, then you know you don’t choose when to feel that way, it just occurs all of a sudden sometimes. It can be disconcerting and worrisome to have your body jump into a revved up state all of a sudden. So, how do you get control back? How do you begin to tell your body what is dangerous and what is not, How do you calm down that stress response? How do we approach a fight or flight response, a…
- Amygdala, Coping strategies, EMDR, empathy, Encouragement, faith and psychology, Fight or Flight Response, Focusing on Truth, Mental Health, Overcome anxiety & worry, positive self-talk, PTSD, Pursuing health and wholeness, Stress response, therapy, Trauma
The Fight or Flight Response: Part 1- Steps to Take & How to Talk to Yourself During a Response
The fight or flight response. What actually happens when we are triggered and our amygdala takes over, in an instinctual way, to protect ourselves? What occurs and how can we help ourselves turn the dial down on the response when there is, in fact, no actual danger present? Read further on steps to take when a response occurs, how to talk to and interact with yourself when a response occurs, how to identify the reason you are having the revved up fight or flight responses, and ways to decrease the intensity of the response to “get back your life.”
- emotional intelligence, Emotions, Encouragement, faith and psychology, Fight or Flight Response, Mental Health, Pursuing health and wholeness
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence. Dr. Alison Cook on The Best of You Podcast, Episode 70 delved into what it is and what it looks like to enter into a social setting having emotional intelligence vs. not having emotional intelligence (using coping strategies to avoid one’s emotions). She speaks on EQ, which is emotional intelligence, and other types of intelligence and gives strategies for interpersonal relationships— How to interact with your emotions and other people’s emotions to lead to a healthier more resilient life. She even mentions the fight or flight response which is what I talked about on my blog, 2 posts ago. Scroll to the end for the link to her…
- Amygdala, Encouragement, Fight or Flight Response, Focusing on Truth, Mental Health, PTSD, Pursuing health and wholeness, Trauma
Emotional Memory & the Amygdala
Did you know that the amygdala is the emotional response center and incredibly important? It processes and stores emotional information, emotional memory. Emotional memories can be tied to items, similar situations, or one of your 5 senses, such as a smell or a sound. Seeing an item may prompt you to have a feeling or emotion tied to it, based on a prior circumstance and moment that occurred in your life, whether positive or negative. The item can evoke negative feelings and maybe unrest or worry and the person won’t possibly even cognitively remember what occurred but will know that that item makes them feel uneasy, weird, nervous, upset. For…
You May Also Like
The Fight or Flight Response: Part 1- Steps to Take & How to Talk to Yourself During a Response
Fight or Flight Response Series: Part 3. Stress Responses Don’t Have to Rule Your Life- Decrease Tension, Find Calm, & Take Back Control!
Fight or Flight Response: Part 2- Assessing Danger, Triggers, & Advocating with An Anaphylactic Allergy Focus
- Amygdala, Encouragement, Fight or Flight Response, Focusing on Truth, Mental Health, PTSD, Pursuing health and wholeness, Trauma
Trauma, PTSD, & the Amygdala
Trauma. It’s that thing that turns the dial up high on your amygdala, your emotional response/ emotional memory center, including the fight or flight response. A traumatic experience can cause intense negative emotion to include fear, anxiety, and helplessness, and other emotions too. PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) can ensue from trauma and cause your body to go into a fight or flight response when switched on (or triggered) by something that reminds you of that traumatic event. Triggers can be those unsuspecting moments that switch the amygdala to “on”, those deja vu moments or circumstances or words that immediately make you feel like you are back in that dangerous…
You May Also Like
Fight or Flight Response Series: Part 3. Stress Responses Don’t Have to Rule Your Life- Decrease Tension, Find Calm, & Take Back Control!
The Fight or Flight Response: Part 1- Steps to Take & How to Talk to Yourself During a Response
Fight or Flight Response: Part 2- Assessing Danger, Triggers, & Advocating with An Anaphylactic Allergy Focus
