Flight or Fight
After you ran from the bull you were our of breath and shaking. Your heart was pounding. But you didn't question your body's responses. Your flight or flight mechanism probably saved your life.
When you were doing the dishes and your body reacted the same way, you were terrified. You thought the opposite, that you were having a heart attack, that you were dying. Your fight or flight mechanism was wrongly triggered.
In the instant between you seeing the bull and turning to run from it an amazing thing happened to your body. Yes, AMAZING. Your lungs expanded to get extra oxygen into your blood. The blood in your body drew away from non-vital organs such as your skin. Your heart beat faster than usual to pump extra blood to your muscles. Your mind came sharply into focus and you knew which way to run. Your eyesight became strongest at midrange so that you could find the quickest way to the fence.
When this same physical response happened to you while you were scrubbing the dishes, your body was fuelled with nowhere to run and nothing to fight. If you had realised this, the feeling would have passed over you quickly. Because you became frightened by it, you made the symptoms worsen. As they worsened, you became terrified. As you became terrified the symptoms came at full force. Probably in waves, getting weaker, then stronger. This is what some psychologists call the fear-adrenaline-fear cycle. In other words, you keep the fires burning just by being afraid. If someone had walked into your kitchen at that moment when you were scrubbing the casserole dish and said to you,"It's ok, just let the feelings pass over you. Relax your body and sink into it. Calm your mind. You've just tricked your body into thinking that doing the dishes is a life-threatening event." At this last comment you'll probably laugh. It sounds so silly! But it is that SIMPLE.
A PANIC ATTACK IS YOUR BODY'S RESPONSE TO A NON-EXISTENT LIFE THREATENING DANGER. Don't rise to it, let it pass. The fight or flight mechanism is there to save your life, to protect you from harm. It CANNOT kill you. Panic attacks cannot kill you. In fact we call them 'attacks' because they are unwanted responses. We don't consider our reactions to the bull to be an attack because it's a positive thing to want to save your own life! But when it happens in a normal domestic situation it's a nuisance. But nothing more. It will go away once you acknowledge that.
When you were doing the dishes and your body reacted the same way, you were terrified. You thought the opposite, that you were having a heart attack, that you were dying. Your fight or flight mechanism was wrongly triggered.
In the instant between you seeing the bull and turning to run from it an amazing thing happened to your body. Yes, AMAZING. Your lungs expanded to get extra oxygen into your blood. The blood in your body drew away from non-vital organs such as your skin. Your heart beat faster than usual to pump extra blood to your muscles. Your mind came sharply into focus and you knew which way to run. Your eyesight became strongest at midrange so that you could find the quickest way to the fence.
When this same physical response happened to you while you were scrubbing the dishes, your body was fuelled with nowhere to run and nothing to fight. If you had realised this, the feeling would have passed over you quickly. Because you became frightened by it, you made the symptoms worsen. As they worsened, you became terrified. As you became terrified the symptoms came at full force. Probably in waves, getting weaker, then stronger. This is what some psychologists call the fear-adrenaline-fear cycle. In other words, you keep the fires burning just by being afraid. If someone had walked into your kitchen at that moment when you were scrubbing the casserole dish and said to you,"It's ok, just let the feelings pass over you. Relax your body and sink into it. Calm your mind. You've just tricked your body into thinking that doing the dishes is a life-threatening event." At this last comment you'll probably laugh. It sounds so silly! But it is that SIMPLE.
A PANIC ATTACK IS YOUR BODY'S RESPONSE TO A NON-EXISTENT LIFE THREATENING DANGER. Don't rise to it, let it pass. The fight or flight mechanism is there to save your life, to protect you from harm. It CANNOT kill you. Panic attacks cannot kill you. In fact we call them 'attacks' because they are unwanted responses. We don't consider our reactions to the bull to be an attack because it's a positive thing to want to save your own life! But when it happens in a normal domestic situation it's a nuisance. But nothing more. It will go away once you acknowledge that.
posted by Ggirl | 5:44 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home