Fight Flight Psychology E-Book

Staffan Garpebring

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 101

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

Tunnel vision and selective hearing operate when we experience psychological stress and can distort the flow of information from our senses and our mental flow. The vicious circles that take place between worrying thought and stress reflexes in the body can damage our health. Distraction, irritation, loss of memory, listlessness and insomnia makes things worse. As a result high bloodpressure, palpitations, breathing difficulties, sore muscles, headache, upset stomach and other psychosomatic complaints can afflict the body. This book provide both therapist and client with the tools to analyze the body-mind relationship, especially when dysfunctional stress reflexes are involved.

Leseprobe

Foreword

In this book I have revised and extended the contents of my book Stress Reflexes reflecting and affecting Perception of Life to give additional information to psychotherapists and clients about my theoretical frame of reference and my practice with clients. I wrote the swedish original Stressreflexer och tankefällor to help clients get a better understanding of fight-flight responses and their impact on our self-esteem, our mental, emotional and behavioural habits, and their consequences on our mental and physical health.

I believe that if we wish to comprehend the complex nature of life, we will fail if we disregard a systemic approach. A systemic psychological frame of reference (”FRAMES”) that is presented in this book was developed in my work at a youth centre in cooperation with my young clients.

Fight flight reflexes, calming reflexes and the feeling of gratification influence our sensual and mental focus, our emotion and action. Interaction between bodily and psychological function forms a “figure-ground” perception of our world, our life and our “self”. I.e. some phenomena come to the fore whilst others are put in the background.

Over and over again I will revert to six psychological components: Sensory focus, reaction in the body, action, mental reflection/ focus, emotion and how we perceive ourselves as a whole (as a complete sensual human being).

Thereby I wish to contribute to the understanding of stress, anxiety and depression.

In the thought zone we process thoughts and concepts. We receive sensory input from the outer zone through our five senses; sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Sensory input from the body comes through our inner senses; sense of balance, muscle sense (which informs the brain about our movements, and how tense muscles are), and many other nerve receptors which report to the brain when we are hungry, thirsty, in pain, if we are hot or cold, anxious or relaxed, etc.

In mindfulness, i.e. acceptance of the here and now, we scan the three zones without getting stuck in any of them. This way we can be more in contact with our needs and emotions, and the present situation, instead of fleeing mentally or thinking aggressively. Thereby we can also communicate better with other people.

FRAMES is an abbreviation of the following components of our psyché:

Formation of outer sensory input (”shaping/placing together” impressions from sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch).

And formation of inner sensations from inside the body due to thought, memories and associations, or due to outer sensory input – Sensory attention.

Reactions; (reflexes) in the body.

Physiological reactions, stress, relaxation, satisfaction, physical balance or imbalance.

Action; behaviour, body language and facial expressions. Linguistic expressions

Mental reflection; processing memories of previous relations and thought of upcoming relations. Cognitive function

Emotion; indignation, excitement, happiness, sedition, discomfort etc.

Self experience; self-image, self esteem, self confidence

Contents

Chapter 1 Life is in the body

Chapter 2 The FRAMES model

Chapter 3 Autonomic Reflexes

Chapter 4 Stress Reflexes - Fight-Flight response

Chapter 5 Prolonged, anguish evoking State of Alert

Chapter 6 Dysfunctional Breathing and Impaired Psychosomatic Function as a result of anguish, pain, fear, anger

Chapter 7 Depression and Passion for Life

Chapter 8 Unique FRAMES of the individual

Chapter 9 Polarized FRAMES

Chapter 10 Learned Stress Reflexes and Mind Traps

Chapter 11 Consequences at group level

Chapter 12 How to handle Mind Traps and Learned Stress Reflexes

Chapter 13 At the Health Care Centre

Conclusion

References

Appendix: Balanced FRAMES vs. Anxiety

Introduction

Imagine that you are walking down the street and you see that you are about to meet a group of loud youths. Your reactions to this situation can be different depending on what emotional state you are in at that given moment in time and experiences in similar situations. You may think about how you would behave if you were in such a group talking about music, the latest film you have seen, or just chatting about anything at all. However, if you are having a bad day or you have previously felt out of place in a similar situation you may feel stressed by the presence of these youths.

Many clients that I meet in therapy sessions at the Youth Centre recognize the following scenario: ”When I see the youths I get butterflies in my stomach, my heart starts to palpitate, I tense up, start fidgeting with my coat, bag or mobile phone, become self-conscious of how I walk, start to feel nervous and experience lower self-esteem.” This description of a personal experience can be analyzed using the FRAMES model which is a check list I use when I meet clients afflicted by inner stress. The causes of inner stress vary and can manifest themselves in many different ways.

We can analyze the situation above in the following way using the FRAMES model:

F - Focus of attention: See and hear the youths.

R - Reaction within the body: Butterflies, stiffer, tenser gait and palpitations.

A - Action: Start to fidget with my coat, mobile phone etc.

M - Mental focus: Become self-conscious of how I walk.

E - Emotional reaction: Feel nervous and anxious.

S – Self esteem: Is affected negatively.

Inner stress can encompass everything from stimulating, possibly exaggerated interest in something you have a passion for, irritation, an uncomfortable feeling of restlessness to an unbearable, horrifying feeling of panic and angst. No matter how we react to it, stress affects the way we live our lives.

In my work as a psychologist I am struck by the fact that clients who come to me with emotional and social problems often do not know much about the relationship between their thoughts and their reactions to stress and how fight-flight reflexes in the body actually contribute to their psychological problems.

When we perceive a possible threat we develop ”tunnel vision” and filter what we hear. This is an inevitable consequence of the physiological changes that occur when the body prepares for ”fight-flight”. Sensory impressions are amplified automatically as our bodies mobilize in preparation for what may happen. We prepare for potentially threatening situations that could arise, and if nothing happens we start to think; ”what if ….?” – and an anguish evoking state of alert may arise.

In this book I wish to emphasize the importance of bodily reactions in the analysis of psychological problems. The body’s reaction to stress affects our psychosomatic circuit fundamentally.

Changes occur in the body including the executive centre of the body – in other words, the brain.

Chapter 1. Life is in the body

The new-born baby clearly experiences life through its body, in the present. When the baby is content its body is totally at ease. When it is hungry it fumbles after its mother’s breast, starts to whine and eventually, if it does not find nourishment, starts to cry. When the baby needs to expel bodily waste, it just does it, without a sense of shame. When the baby wants company, it cries out for attention and so on. – A state of utopia you might think, before the child becomes aware of ”the tree of knowledge”. The experiences of our formative years create ”the child within”.

Childhood memories reflect the growing ability to handle relationships with others and deal with everyday life. The growing intellectual skills of the ”child within” are inter-twined with physical memories i.e. memories of bodily reactions to different experiences in life. The consequences of the child’s actions, in different situations, form its way of dealing with difficulties i.e. ”coping strategies”. Adjusting, being aggressive, creative, invisible, a clown, good or caring are all different behaviours the child may develop.

In any given situation the child will use the behaviour that is best rewarded. Usually the child chooses the behaviour that gives it the most physical satisfaction. The resultant positive feelings reinforce the child’s propensity to adopt that particular behaviour in the future and in time the behaviour becomes automatic. In other words, the child’s behavioural response to different situations becomes more and more subconscious.

If an adult behaves in the same way as a little child, acting on its immediate needs (Oh! An ice cream van – I want ice cream – NOW!!) he/she may be perceived as spontaneous and charming or spoilt. If an adult shows a lot of egocentric, childish traits, he/ she is seen as rowdy and irritating by other adults.

Over years we learn different ways to deal with and control our immediate bodily responses. We sometimes repress inner images and thoughts that trigger bodily responses in order to hide these responses. We can overcompensate and act even more politely towards someone when we are scared of or angry at that person. We can master our bodily urges and concentrate totally on one thing or on another person’s wishes.

When we meditate, however, everything is allowed to come and go and we can experience happy or sorrowful physical memories or bring to mind troublesome episodes. Thoughts, memories, fears, sorrows, things that make us happy or unhappy or any bodily phenomena are all parts of the self and should therefore be accepted and acknowledged by us.

Good meditation does not allow us to get bogged down in psychological or bodily phenomena. Instead it acknowledges the ”self” in its fullness; experiences, wisdom and creativity.

Our breathing reflects how we feel inside and is, in itself, an experience of being. Every time we see in ”tunnel vision” and lose ourselves in troublesome thought – thereby losing contact with the self as a whole – we can achieve mindfulness or become consciously aware of our current situation by concentrating on our breathing.

The figure below represents a way of seeing oneness of being. It shows five parts of the self – The figure in the middle represents the self.

Psychological phenomena have been described in many different ways throughout the ages and there is an enormous amount of information about them available nowadays. In my practice with clients I realised I needed a reasonably simple model to show the complex systemic interaction between body and mind. Therefore I conceived the FRAMES model.

Chapter 2. The FRAMES model

The FRAMES model encompasses emotions, thoughts, actions and conceptions of self. But above all I have chosen to highlight physiological phenomena and selective perception, i.e. shaping or compiling sensory impressions so that they make sense and have meaning. Last but not least, I wanted to find a model to address a particular phenomenon to be analysed – systemic circularity. The question; ”which came first – the chicken or the egg?” represents that central quandary in all studies of biological cyclical systems. The human psyche is a cyclical system.

There are numerous mutual relations between different aspects of the psyche and the body. For example, do I get a certain feeling because I think of a particular thing? Or, do I think about a particular thing because I have a certain feeling?

The relationship between mind and body works both ways. Interactions within the FRAMES model are reciprocal – every aspect of the FRAMES model mutually affects every other aspect of the model. Our senses focus on and constantly relay impressions to our brain. We are taught that we have five senses but that is an understatement. Hearing, vision, smell, taste and touch are five senses but we also have balance and kinaesthetic sense. Touch comprises several different sensory impressions; heat, cold, pressure, the feeling of gentle touch or the experience of pressure deeper inside the body. Inside the body nerve cells relay information to the brain about pain, breathing, heart palpitations, excitement. We can comprehend when we are hungry, thirsty, tired, need to go to the toilet etc.

There is an awful amount of sensations being relayed to the brain. Impressions communicated through our senses can be external (from the zone outside our bodies) or internal (from inside the body). When we focus our attention on something, it is often done subconsciously.