Posted by Rene Thomsen
Many of the children and teens who come to our counseling office struggle with anxiety and we love to use play therapy and EMDR therapy to help children and teens respond to anxiety.
We are all biologically wired to notice and respond to danger and threats in the environment. When we perceive something as dangerous, our body gets us ready to fight the danger, run from it, or freeze, hoping the danger will pass. This is something that happens to everyone, and it’s a normal and healthy way to respond. When anxiety is happening in the right amount, it’s a great thing, but for people with anxiety disorders, it happens a little too much. An anxious brain is an overprotective brain – it does exactly what healthy, normal brains do, just more often. People with anxiety respond to things as though they are dangerous or threatening, even when
they aren’t.
There is a part of our brain called the amygdala; it’s small and shaped like an almond. Our amygdala turns on when it thinks we are in danger, I call it the barking dog or soldier, it is there to protect us. Our barking dog’s job is to prepare us to fight, flight or freeze from danger. If our dog thinks there is danger it immediately, without us having to think about it, gives our body what it needs to be strong, powerful, fast, and smart. It floods our body with oxygen, hormones, and adrenaline that we can use as fuel to power our muscles to run away, fight, or be really still and
quiet. If there is something dangerous like a bear we need to run away from or a fall we need to catch ourselves from then the barking dog is really great. Sometimes though, our barking dog thinks there’s a threat and fuels us up even though there’s nothing dangerous there at all. If we don’t need to freeze, run away or fight for our lives, then all that fuel our body made just builds up and that’s the reason we feel like we do when we have anxiety.
Have you ever made toast that got a little bit burnt and set off the smoke detector? The smoke detector can’t tell the difference between smoke from a fire and smoke from burnt toast. Its only job is to let you know there is smoke so you can get out safely. The amygdala works the same way. It cannot tell the difference between something that might hurt you, like a bear, and something that won’t, like meeting a new person or having a test. Sometimes our barking dog turns on before we even know what it’s turning on for. It’s always working hard to protect us – sometimes even when we don’t need protecting. When our barking dog gets fired up this is what happens to our body:
- Our breathing changes from slow, deep breaths to fast, little breaths in order to get oxygen to our muscles as fast as possible so they are ready to run or fight. This can cause us feel breathless. We might also feel the blood rushing to our face making it feel hot and look red. The oxygen in our body builds as the carbon dioxide decreases causing us to feel dizzy.
- Our heart beats faster to push that extra oxygen all around our body causingour heart to feel like it’s racing. Fuel gets sent to our arms to fight and legs to run, which can cause our muscles to feel tight and tense.
- Our body cools itself down by sweating to prevent it from overheating so we might feel a little sweaty.
- Our digestive system shuts down so our arms and legs can use the fuel it was using to digest food. We might feel like we have butterflies in our stomach, nauseous, or have a dry mouth.
How we feel when we are anxious is all because our amygdala is trying to protect us by getting our body ready to fight, flight, or freeze. Anxiety in kids can be especially confusing, not only for the kiddos who are feeling anxious but also for the adults who care about them. I will share some tips and strategies to help children with anxiety in part two.