5. Situations when its really difficult to adapt. There are extreme cases which even a very reasonable person can find difficult to maintain his or her cool. Unexpected situations may arise at the time when one simply has no experience dealing with and feels completely helpless. Such situations can happen at any stage in our life: from infant to elderly.
6. Whether one enjoys or lacks the support of other people or of society in general. An active team member can find it easier to overcome challenges than a lonely person. Keeping ones cool is much easier when everything is calm rather than when the situation is critical. A state with a well-established social programme facilitates the resolution of various emergency situations unlike a society where every man is for himself.
Other risk factors
There are other reasons that may cause fear. If ones immune system is weak, it is easier to get an infection. In exactly the same way when the overall energy level of a person is low (or even when one hasnt had enough sleep or has recently had the flu), then there is a chance that this person has lower self-esteem and might end up suffering from a phobia.
Our brain works consistently if it gets enough oxygen. In the case of painless ischaemia, that is in the case of insufficient blood supply, our brains energy goes down. In this situation a person is prone to catching a fear.
Lack of oxygen can also cause panic attacks. When the brain doesnt get enough oxygen, it tries to increase the blood flow and triggers an adrenalin rush. As a result, the blood flow increases, the heart rate increases, and blood pressure goes up, but this state is rather unpleasant. In this situation a person might think that he or she is losing their mind or dying.
Unfortunately, the majority of people who experience a sympathoadrenal episode dont know that this is a sign of life and not a preview of death. Its just a very awkward way our body regulates itself. Such episodes trigger our fears that something might be wrong with our health. If that is your case, you will find more information on it in part 1.15 where I will show several examples from practice and will offer you a step-by-step action plan.
Special cases
Important information: some conditions can have different origins but are manifested through similar symptoms. It is very important to understand that not all these conditions have psychological grounds.
Anxiety and phobic disorders after chemical intoxication (delirium alcoholicum, for example) are to be treated with a complex approach. In such cases medication, and psychotherapy only wouldnt be enough. More than that, relying exclusively on psychotherapy may lead to the death of the patient.
Phobias caused by endogenous psychosis such as schizophrenia, manic-depressive psychosis, etc. which are usually accompanied by hallucinations and delusions are a separate case. In these situations, a patient would also need a combination of medication and psychotherapy.
Organic lesion of the central nervous system (CNS) caused by oxygen deficiency during pregnancy or labour (asphyxia) or head injuries and brain tissue injuries, can also lead to phobias: nervous processes are characterized by lower degree of stability, and that is why failures such as micro epilepsy occur.
A vitamin D deficiency during childhood, which influences calcium uptake can lead to the conditions when a child becomes easily scared.
What doesnt have to be treated
We have to note that one has to distinguish between manifestations of phobias or neuroses and a natural activation of energy sources which takes place before crucial moments in our lives. For an actor who is about to go on stage or for an athlete getting ready for a competition feeling nervous is absolutely natural. There is a special term for it: stage fright. It is characterized by an increase of the heartbeat and hurried breathing. However, this is a healthy reaction if it doesnt reach any extreme manifestations. Many people would experience the same feeling before public speaking or before an important meeting. The reason why we have to go through these physiological changes is to get some additional strength. It is a way the body prepares itself for a challenge, thus its a preparatory stage and not some traumatic consequences.
Lack of confidence, however uncomfortable it may be, cannot be considered as a traumatic consequence either. What one might find there is the lack of competence and a feeling of ones vulnerability but there is no psychological wound.
It is the reaction to psychotrauma that we would like to talk about in this book. According to the clinical scale psychosis psychopathy neurosis, we will focus our attention on the disorders of the neurotic level.
A phobia is an information trauma
A phobia is a result of an injury inflicted by frightening information at the moment of ones confusion. This process triggers old survival strategies characterised by stereotypic simulation of defence mechanisms caused by any sign of danger, however distant and associative it may be.
In other words, a phobia is the state of a body when it experiences tension, feels traumatized by this encounter for the first time, and then tries to avoid this aspect of ones life in subsequent situations.
When a physical trauma takes place, it means that a foreign object enters the tissue of the body. Trauma impedes the normal functioning of the body. In this case there is something that disrupts the integrity of the body and gets stuck in it (like a splinter, for example), and then theres a reaction to this intrusion. The body cannot feel good unless this foreign object is removed. When our mind is traumatized, then it means that the splinters get into the body of our mind.
The signal of danger is like a splinter in this case. Our intellect fails to find an answer to an important question, and the body goes into emergency response based on the ancient strategies of survival. The trick is that this ancient reaction function in a single-shot mode. Having been activated once, it reappears every time when theres even the slightest reminder of possible danger. This happens even in the situations when a new encounter doesnt actually bear any harm but theres just a hint of danger.
A phobia is similar to an allergy
Just like pollen might seem as a virus to a perturbed immune system, to a person suffering from a phobia some life circumstances are perceived as a threat which require an aggressive reaction, when in fact this problem can be resolved without panic.
Allergies are the state of heightened sensitivity, that is: excessive reaction of the immune system to the environment. A phobia has the same mechanism but at the psychological level. A phobia leads to the distortion of reality and to an inadequate energy-consuming response to a certain aspect of life.
What do our sensations reveal to us?
Fortunately, we are able to observe the processes that cause tension with the help of our internal vision. Our sensations function as a detector.
I have thoroughly studied the sensations of my patients suffering from phobias and discovered that there are two components in this feeling that one should learn to distinguish:
I have thoroughly studied the sensations of my patients suffering from phobias and discovered that there are two components in this feeling that one should learn to distinguish:
1. Fright as a trauma;
2. Fear as a reaction.
In the case of fright, we are talking about the information which our intellect failed to process and sent to the autonomic depths of our mind. If the intellectual response cannot be produced, then the body will provide an energetic one.
The signal that triggers autonomic reactions usually looks like greyness, darkness or blackness. When a person is frightened, it feels as if some black powder is poured through the top of the head to the solar plexus where it forms a lump of fear.
Ways to react
Fear leads to an increased heart rate and hyperventilation; it increases blood pressure, a person feels hot, theres tension in the muscles, the pupils are dilated, and all the senses are heightened. When this happens, other functions, such as those responsible for digestion, rest and sexual interest are slowed down or upset. This is done in order to prepare the body for an attack or retreat. Mobilization effects are connected with the active work of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system.
Fig. 1. Physiology of the autonomic nervous system: as we see, the work of the sympathetic nervous system mobilizes the body, and parasympathetic brings it back to calmness and helps to store energy.
The opposite reaction is a collapse: blood pressure falls, and a person feels cool and close to fainting.
This reaction can be compared to the one of a bug that got touched: it keeps still and doesnt make a single move.
There have been cases when people froze as if they were dead when meeting a bear, and the bear walked away.
We can see the similar reaction in the painting The Nightmare by Johann Heinrich Füssli (17411825). Fear is sitting on the stomach, while the mind is switched off.
Such reaction can be justified at the moment of danger but the problem is that the person remains in this state even after the danger has passed. The body seems to find it hard to return from the extreme mode to a normal state.
Fig. 2. J.H. Füssli. The Nightmare. 1790.
Psychocatalysis helps in the case of phobias
The techniques which help set oneself free from phobias and other psychological traumas have been developed within the frames of my original methodology called Psychocatalysis. Psychocatalysis is a method of focusing the attention of a person on the processes that get stuck, with the intent of restoring these processes back to normal functionality. Our ability to trace the signals in our internal space is the foundation of our self-regulation. This ability can serve not only for diagnostics but also as a way to introduce changes. When the conscious attention of a person helps the profound wisdom of a body, even long-lasting fears can be cured within a short period of time. Now lets take a closer look at how phobias are formed and what one should do to get rid of them quickly and easily.
1.3. How phobias appear
Rest state
A well-rested healthy person feels that his or her body is light and cool, theres the feeling of calm in the chest, and his or her head is clear. It is as if the person was filled with light. Energy of the body is flowing freely, and the mind is calm. In a state like that a person is absolutely aware of the fact where he or she is and what is happening. This person knows what to do next. The inner self at the level of the solar plexus is guiding this person through life. Reason at the level of the forehead helps the person. At the level of the chest theres a firm and calm sensation. These are the three states of the completeness which save the person: the completeness of the mind, soul and will. Clarity, calmness and strength. I think this state is what we can find in the painting by Zinaida Serebriakova (18841967). Every person tries to maintain this state, but it doesnt always happen.
Fig. 3. Z. Serebriakova. A Girl with the Candle. Self-portrait, 1911.
The beginning of neurosis
The metro trains in Moscow never come to a halt in the tunnel, but this time the train has stopped in the tunnel and it is not moving. One can simply wait for this episode to end, especially taking into account that there are people in charge of restoring a regular train service. One can simply continue reading a book or watching a film, listening to music or simply looking at the surrounding people and thinking his or her thoughts. This is exactly what most people do: they exchange opinions and interpretations on whats going on and make some assumptions, all while remaining calm.
However, a person who is not used to the metro might think that the train will remain like that forever and there wont be enough oxygen for everyone underground. Even though oxygen is not a problem, as the systems for oxygen supply are well thought through. Anyway the mind of such a person quickly pictures something really pessimistic.
What is happening at the level of the brain at this moment? Following some misleading ideas and fantasies our mind makes false assumptions and assesses the situation as an emergency. The cerebral cortex freezes, and the signal is sent deep down into the body where ancient evolutionary mechanisms spring to action. As a result, instead of sensibly doing something useful, a person suffers an autonomic storm. Moreover, once activated, this reaction will not turn off automatically.
This is what sets the beginning of neurosis. Most likely this person will not be able to enter a metro station again.
Neurophysiology of fear
The Human being is a multilevel person
Our nervous system (NS) consists of mutually supporting elements which were developed at the different stages of the evolution. There are basic levels which unite us with much more ancient forms of life; there are also superstructural elements which are relatively newer from the evolutionary point of view: they are the unique patrimony of a human being.
Fig. 4. Neocortex is a human brain; limbic system is our animal brain, and our reptile, or lizard brain is located in the brain stem. In this figure you can see several elements of the limbic system: thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, and a basal gland, all of which take part in the way our body reacts to any incoming message.
Reptile level is our brainstem: this is what unites us with dinosaurs, turtles, and crocodiles. Animal level is our limbic system, which we share with cats and dogs. Finally, there is the human brain, per se; it is called the neocortex, and it is what makes us unique. All of these elements coexist within our nervous system. Of course, such a division is only relative since dinosaurs also had a cortex. However, the cortex plays a far more important role in the life of a human being. To a large extent evolution can be viewed as embraination, or cephalization, as it was noted by a famous philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881 1955).