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Anxiety in the Brain
Anxiety is a function of the brain, as indeed all aspects of
knowledge, intuition and personality are. The brain is a vastly
complex organic machine, home to the various glands and
neuro-connections that give us our reactions, memories thoughts,
maybe even the very ‘human’ part of us.
When a stimulus is experienced, or as is the case with chronic
anxiety not experienced, then it is the Amygdala (prl:
Amygdalae) that is in action. The amygdalae are found in the
medial temporal
lobe, one either side of the mid-line and very central to the
brain. They consist of clusters of nerve cells and function to
create and store memories associated with emotion.
When born, humans are quite notably without ‘experience’. We are
not wise to the world and have to learn everything from scratch
(whether we carry genetic memory, the existence of the collective
unconscious and whether we are pre-disposed to specific traits is
for arguing another time). Important in our learning and
understanding of our place in the world is the experience of pain
and the skill of anticipating pain so as to avoid it in the future.
It is the role of the amygdalae to respond to pain and store the
memory of the experience for reference.
When stimulated, in a bad way, the receiving nerve cells send a
message to the brain via two separate pathways. One travels through
the cortex for processing of the stimulus and reaction in the
pre-frontal cortex, the other ‘skips’ straight to the amygdala
which in turn stimulates the Sympathetic
Nervous System via the Hypothalamus.
It is this two pronged approach that means that if you touch a hot
surface, first you whip your hand away, then you say
‘ooowwwwwwhhhhaaa!’, then you think ‘mustn’t do that
again!’.
The beauty of the amygdala, but also its problem in relation to
irrationality is its accuracy or indeed lack of it. The amygdala is
designed only to be quick. The ‘fight or flight’ response that we
have evolved with has to be instantaneous. Over time (our lives)
the response we have to situations is altered to be more
appropriate. This is why in general adults are less ‘afraid’ than
infants, they simply have more experience and their amygdalae have
less reason to fire. This is not to say that sufferers of chronic
anxiety have under-developed amygdalae. The ‘conditioning’ that
keeps adults from general fear can work negatively and programme
people to be more afraid of everyday occurrences.
Remember, the brain cannot tell the difference between a real
danger and a perceived one. Whether or not a threat exists or not
is irrelevant to the amygdala, it will respond anyway. The symptoms
of anxiety are the by-product of the body going through extended
bouts of amygdala stimulation.
What this all means is that any anxiety disorder is a learned
behaviour. There may very well be a genetic pre-disposition to the
conditioning, but if the amygdala is responsible for anxiety, then
by addressing the amygdala directly we can treat anxiety at the
roots.
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