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when it comes to anxiety, which doesn’t take place in your thinking brain, it [CBT] places the focus on the thought (“I thought there was a tiger!”) and not the
by stakkur 6y ago
when it comes to anxiety, which doesn’t take place in your thinking brain, it [CBT] places the focus on the thought (“I thought there was a tiger!”) and not the physical response which preceded, and even caused, the thought (“my heart is racing and I’m full of adrenaline and I need tools to calm down”).
Inexplicably, the article seems to get CBT entirely wrong. A key part of CBT for anxiety is, in fact, about dealing with the body (e.g., the sympathetic nervous system) by activating the parasympathetic—through breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and so forth. This glaring miss on one of the most effective therapies for anxiety made me question the entire article.
- SubiculumCode 6y agoThe title was the give away for me. The titles thesis is quickly abandoned to mean something like conscious vs unconscious thought.
- wiz21c 6y agoDidn't read the article in detail, but as someone who is super problematic as far anxiety goes, I can safely say that tai chi practice does help me for the very reasons you've given : activating parasympathetic system by breathing, active relaxation, connecting mind to body and vice versa, grounding myself (ie connecting my sensations to environment), being in movement (that is, your brain is not thinking about stress alone, but participates in a complete action with your body), etc. (and not the chi/spiritual thing that brings everything together and explains the roots of the stuff but is, often, totally transformed by occidental culture into nonsensical bullshit). But that's my own sample point, just works for me. It's tough to push yourself to practice half an hour a day or so. You have to have the will and when you're tired it's difficult :-/