If you struggle with
feelings of anxiety and depression, you very likely
also are your own worst critic, judge yourself harshly and negatively compare
yourself to other people. You may engage
in this behavior believing that this is an effective way to motivate yourself
to do better, as a habit that you picked somewhere in your past or simply
because we live in a culture that reinforces the message that demanding more of
yourself is the way to move ahead in world.
If this sounds like you, you probably also do everything that you can do
run away and avoid these difficult and painful feelings (i.e. watch TV, listen to music, smoke, drink alcohol to “numb out,” or binge on food), experience guilt or shame when you
do not do as well as you wanted to and have a difficult time expressing your
emotions to people.
While short term many
of these coping behaviors do provide relief and pleasure, in the long run they
are not very sustainable and have a negative effect on your health. By ignoring your emotions and avoiding your
difficult thoughts and emotions, your “fight or flight” (i.e., amygdala and
adrenals) and PIN systems (psychoimmunoneurology, the study of how your thoughts
and emotions interface with your immune and neurological systems) get ramped
up, which damage your body by releasing more stress hormones like cortisol and
inflammatory cytokines.
On the other hand, when
you express your experiences and “talk it out” with your friends and family or
practice affect labeling (i.e., simply labeling and mentally acknowledging your
experiences), you activate a region in your brain (i.e., right ventrolateral frontal cortex) that helps you to process your thoughts and emotions and
mitigates the damaging effects of running away from your experiences.1,2 By talking to other people, you’re likely to also
receive caring and loving words of support and affection that increase the
amount of the “bonding hormone” (i.e., oxytocin) and feel good and pain relief
chemicals (i.e., endogenous opioids) that your body produces.
Learning and practicing
mindfulness meditation will lead to and produce many of these same beneficial effects. Research suggests that cultivating self-compassion and mentally noting your
experiences (i.e., skills that are integral to mindfulness meditation), help to
significantly down regulate your “fight or flight” and PIN systems.3,4,5
These practices will also help you to produce
more of feel good and pain relief chemicals.
You can practice mentally noting your experiences and cultivate
self-compassion by simply labeling your thoughts and emotions (e.g., each time
you experience any unpleasant or painful thoughts or feelings of anxiety,
gently repeat “fear” or “tension” and affirm “It’s okay.”).
To your health,
Dr. Sandoval
To
learn more about how working with a psychologist and holistic health
coach can help you to enhance your health and well-being, call or email Dr. Sandoval to schedule a free consultation.
- Nakazawa, DJ. (2013). The Last Best Cure: My Quest to Awaken the Healing Parts of My Brain and Get Back My Body, My Joy, and My Life.
- Lieberman, MD, Eisenberger, NI, Crockett,MJ, Tom, SM, Pfeifer, JH and Way, BM. “Putting Feelings Into Words: Affect Labeling Disrupts Amygdala Activity in Response to Affective Stimuli .” Psychological Science. (2007). 18(5), 421-428. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01916.
- Leary, MR, Tate, EB, Adams, CE, Batts, AA, Ashley; and Hancock, J. “Self-compassion and reactions to unpleasant self-relevant events: The implications of treating oneself kindly.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. (2007). 92(5), 887-904. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.92.5.887
- Neff, KD and McGehee, P. “Self-compassion and psychological resilience among adolescents and young adults.” Self and Identity. (2010). 9 (3), 225-240. doi:10.1080/15298860902979307.
- Creswell, JD, Way, BM, Eisenberger, NI, Lieberman, MD. “Neural correlates of dispositional mindfulness during affect labeling.” Psychosomatic Medicine. (2007). 69(6), 560-565.
