# the amygdala and getting control over negative thoughts and anxiety



## Anxiety75 (Feb 10, 2004)

Been awhile since my visit. I've learned a lot about some techniques. But it has taken me a long time to really get it. Anyway, my doctor has been working with me in controlling how my mind thinks and how the amygdala works.

When in a state of anxiety, panic, our frontal lobe switches off and our amygdalas turn on. In that state we get anxious, worried, panicked....when we practice positive statements and tell ourselves rational thoughts, over time we can automatically stop it before it starts. It's taken me awhile to start to believe it but it helps some. If we switch off the amygdala the frontal lobe starts to work and you will be more clear headed and rational. It's those thoughts that we perceive as dangerous, such as fear of public speaking, going to a job interview, or fear someone is following us, etc.

We may even feel fearful and not know why. That is because most of what is in our minds is subconscious. 

My fear is....will anybody understand this post? :serious: :laugh: 

I could write a very long post on this but I'm not going to go that far. You may want to learn also about brain "elasticity", "training the amygdala". We can change our brains. imho I don't know that everyone can recover 100 percent. This is a life long struggle. But I believe it can get better. Also if you haven't check out a guy named Dennis Simsek aka The Anxiety Guy on youtube. He teaches similar exercises. :nerd:


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## HiddenFathoms (Jul 18, 2017)

Anxiety75 said:


> Been awhile since my visit. I've learned a lot about some techniques. But it has taken me a long time to really get it. Anyway, my doctor has been working with me in controlling how my mind thinks and how the amygdala works.
> 
> When in a state of anxiety, panic, our frontal lobe switches off and our amygdalas turn on. In that state we get anxious, worried, panicked....when we practice positive statements and tell ourselves rational thoughts, over time we can automatically stop it before it starts. It's taken me awhile to start to believe it but it helps some. If we switch off the amygdala the frontal lobe starts to work and you will be more clear headed and rational. It's those thoughts that we perceive as dangerous, such as fear of public speaking, going to a job interview, or fear someone is following us, etc.
> 
> ...


Hi! YES!! You are speaking my language. Neuroplasticity is one of my strongest life interests.

For so many years I thought all of the "quirks" associated with anxiety were my fault. And, I would beat myself up constantly. Especially if I failed to improve quickly in areas I was working on in therapy.

Then I got to be part of a Neuro Clinic where they took scans of my brain and I finally could LITERALLY see where my brain was working against me.

You might be interested in learning about GABA (apologies if you are already familiar). Part of training my brain involved the fact that as a child I had not developed levels of GABA.

_"GABA is a chemical messenger that is widely distributed in the brain. GABA's natural function is to reduce the activity of the neurons to which it binds. Some researchers believe that one of the purposes that GABA serves is to control the fear or anxiety experienced when neurons are overexcited."_

https://www.naturalstacks.com/blogs/news/gaba-the-inhibitory-neurotransmitter

I learnt that often people who have_* chaotic childhoods or who do not receive a lot of parental support emotionally*_, do not develop GABA and as a result have anxiety.

Sounds like you have a cool Doc! I will check out the vid. I enjoyed your post immensely!

Oh one thing I wanted to leave you with: I survived very traumatic events as a child and told my neurologist very sadly: "No matter how much better I get, I will never be the person I was born to be". He disagreed, saying that new plasticity research shows (barring severe permanent brain death) 100% recovery is not too much to hope for. That with knowledge and application = we can be who we were meant to be


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## Anxiety75 (Feb 10, 2004)

Yes, I read about GABA too! Did you know that a lot of what we learned in our brains was because we unknowingly trained our brains to do the wrong thing? Regarding the neuroplasticity, if you learned to be sensitive, you can unlearn it. Leo DeCaprio had OCD after making the Aviator. He had acted out the OCD as Howard Hughes so much his brain was rewired.

He had to go and unlearn it from a therapist and he did. Too weird huh?


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## HiddenFathoms (Jul 18, 2017)

Anxiety75 said:


> Yes, I read about GABA too! Did you know that a lot of what we learned in our brains was because we unknowingly trained our brains to do the wrong thing? Regarding the neuroplasticity, if you learned to be sensitive, you can unlearn it. Leo DeCaprio had OCD after making the Aviator. He had acted out the OCD as Howard Hughes so much his brain was rewired.
> 
> He had to go and unlearn it from a therapist and he did. Too weird huh?


No, I didn't know that! It's fascinating. What a great story to illustrate the point.


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## SFC01 (Feb 10, 2016)

Anxiety75 said:


> I could write a very long post on this but I'm not going to go that far. You may want to learn also about brain "elasticity", "training the amygdala". We can change our brains. imho I don't know that everyone can recover 100 percent. This is a life long struggle. But I believe it can get better. Also if you haven't check out a guy named Dennis Simsek aka The Anxiety Guy on youtube. He teaches similar exercises. :nerd:


There are quite a few studies now showing the positive effects of mindful meditation (and other types of meditation) on brain elasticity and on significant reductions in amygdala activation when faced with with a stressful situation.


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## CloudChaser (Nov 7, 2013)

http://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/Amygdala


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## jasonweecl (Apr 7, 2018)

Any other way to shrink the amygdala by herbs or supplements etc 

Mindful meditation is not easy. Well, thinking of removing my right amygdala currently.


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