Brain And Emotional Response
Our brain is covered in neural networks that get stronger or weaker depending how often they are used.
The ones that are used repeatedly become very strong “neural highways”. These “neural highways” define our default thoughts, emotional profile, and personality.
The good news is that our neural pathways can be changed; this is called neuroplasticity.
What are the areas of the brain involved in emotional response? There are a few key areas that make up how emotions work in the brain.
Our prefrontal cortex, is involved with emotional regulation and decision-making. The prefrontal cortex is also where we store our sense of self, value system.
The next key area is the amygdala. Our amygdala assesses our environment for potential danger. The amygdala is where we store emotional memory.
Our thalamus receives information from the senses – sight, touch, smell hearing, taste – and sends information to relevant areas of the brain.
Our hippocampus is where we store memory. We also use it for navigation. The hippocampus stores the physical sensations of emotion.
How do these areas work together in an anxiety response?
While our amygdala has been very helpful to our survival throughout evolution, individuals with anxiety disorders might be living with an over-active amygdala that perceives danger and threat disproportionately, and floods the brain and body with the same emotions that we might have needed an order to avoid real dangers in the past.
When we perceive something that makes us feel fear or anxiety, our thalamus sends this information to the amygdala.
The amygdala checks in with our hippocampus, to see whether we have previous memories that might inform us as to how to behave in the situation now. If our hippocampus shoots back painful emotional memories, we respond with fear and anxiety. Strong emotions can cause our rational brain to shut down.
Our amygdala is much quicker to respond than a rational brain.
Anxiety and fear lead to shallow breathing: this starves the brain of oxygen and leads to the areas of the brain not involved with survival to take a back seat.
Rational thinking creativity, and empathy are shut off. Breathing exercises can therefore be very helpful when experience fear or anxiety; ensuring that your brain is receiving the oxygen it requires in order to function properly will support you in better managing your emotions.