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    But Breathing Doesn't Help! Unlocking Teen Anxiety by Understanding Your Body
    But Breathing Doesn't Help! Unlocking Teen Anxiety by Understanding Your Body
    But Breathing Doesn't Help! Unlocking Teen Anxiety by Understanding Your Body
    Ebook76 pages1 hour

    But Breathing Doesn't Help! Unlocking Teen Anxiety by Understanding Your Body

    By Wendy Nystrom

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    About this ebook

    Too often well-meaning people give you a few tools to help with your anxiety, but that’s it. Just a few random tools with no explanation of why they are helpful. This book lays out the anatomy and physiology of anxiety – the why and how of it. Mystery is great in books and movies, but unlocking some of the mystery of the brain can help us feel empowered.
    Everyone has anxiety at some point or other. Due to brain development, and all the new things life brings your way when you are a teen or preteen, anxiety can happen a lot. It can be easy to get caught in an anxiety spiral, gradually becoming more anxious about the fact you are anxious until you feel completely trapped or flattened. Once you know why your body and brain are behaving in certain ways, it is much easier to figure out how and when to grab what tools, and why.
    Get ready to find out why some types of deep breathing don’t help at all (while others really do), and many other tools, tips, metaphors, audio files and more.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWendy Nystrom
    Release dateMar 17, 2019
    ISBN9780578455082
    But Breathing Doesn't Help! Unlocking Teen Anxiety by Understanding Your Body
    Author

    Wendy Nystrom

    Wendy Nystrom, LMHC is a licensed mental health counselor working with kids and teens in private practice in Seattle, Washington. She has been specializing in anxiety and trauma for over ten years. When not at work you can find her writing, hiking, kayaking or performing improv. Her Japanese Chin, Zorro, works with her. His chill presence helps many. In his off hours, he dreams of conquering cats and dragons.

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      Book preview

      But Breathing Doesn't Help! Unlocking Teen Anxiety by Understanding Your Body - Wendy Nystrom

      BUT BREATHING DOESN’T HELP!!

      Unlocking Teen Anxiety by Understanding Your Body

      By Wendy Nystrom

      But Breathing Doesn’t Help! Unlocking Teen Anxiety by Understanding Your Body published by Wendy Nystrom PLLC, Seattle, WA

      © February 2019 Wendy Nystrom

      www.wendynystromcounseling.com

      All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

      For permission contact: wnystromcounseling@gmail.com

      Too often well-meaning people give you a few tools to help with your anxiety, but that’s it. Just a few random tools with no explanation of why they are helpful. This book lays out the anatomy and physiology of anxiety – the why and how of it. Mystery is great in books and movies, but unlocking some of the mystery of the brain can help us feel empowered.

      Everyone has anxiety at some point or other. Due to brain development, and all the new things life brings your way when you are a teen or preteen, anxiety can happen a lot. It can be easy to get caught in an anxiety spiral, gradually becoming more anxious about the fact you are anxious until you feel completely trapped or flattened. Once you know why your body and brain are behaving in certain ways, it is much easier to figure out how and when to grab what tools, and why.

      Get ready to find out why some types of deep breathing don’t help at all (while others really do), and many other tools, tips, metaphors, audio files and more.

      bb1

      Wendy Nystrom, LMHC is a licensed mental health counselor working with kids and teens in private practice in Seattle, Washington. She has been specializing in anxiety and trauma for over ten years. When not at work you can find her writing, hiking, kayaking or performing improv. Her Japanese Chin, Zorro, works with her. His chill presence helps many. In his off hours, he dreams of conquering cats and dragons.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Chapter One: An overview of the Brain

      Chapter Two: The Mammalian Brain and Anxiety

      Chapter Three: Brain Development and Anxiety

      Chapter Four: Our Reptile Brain and the Vagus Nerve

      Chapter Five: Moving Forward

      Chapter Six: Recap of all the Tools

      Appendix

      CHAPTER ONE

      An overview of the Brain

      Have you ever been stuck in a situation that leaves you feeling really anxious?

      You walk into the cafeteria and all eyes seem to be on you. Staring. No friendly faces, just staring people. You try to gulp in a few breaths, but it doesn’t help. Your anxiety grows. Unable to face the gauntlet, you turn and flee.

      You’re walking down the hall when a friend groans to you about not feeling prepared for today’s history quiz. A quiz you had completely forgotten about. Your thoughts scatter as your heart races. You feel alternately hot and cold. Going to history feels out of the question. Should you claim illness and seek out the nurse, or just outright skip class? You remember a breathing exercise the school counselor taught everyone. But breathing wouldn’t help you pass a quiz you didn’t study for, would it?

      You hear an odd rattling sound and freeze, your heart racing as you try to identify the cause. Even though nothing bad happens, you are still left uneasy and uncertain for the next half hour.

      You’ve probably had people tell you to just take deep breaths when you get worried, anxious or stressed out. You may even have tried it. You gasp in a few breaths. And notice that it doesn’t seem to help at all. Or, worse, it makes you even more anxious.

      You try one more time… still no help. Giving up, you decide that even though deep breathing might be helpful for some people, it just isn’t helpful for you.

      This is because some types of breathing make us more alert and vigilant, and therefore can make us even more anxious. In addition, the time it takes to become calm again varies depending on what, and how much, stress hormones have been racing through our body. A quick shot of adrenaline after a spider lands on your shoulder can dissipate as soon as you remove the spider. However, a panic attack brought on by something reminding you of a past trauma… that might take you twenty or thirty minutes to fully feel calm and relaxed again.

      Why does this happen? And what can we do once our mind and body has gone into overdrive? Let’s take a look at how our brain and body works so we can understand this better.

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