In Cognitive Behavior Therapy, we try to undo negative thinking. CBT holds that each thought has a distortion, most of them are negative. In this article, we’ll discuss fifteen common negative thought distortions. Maybe you can identify the ones you use most often. When working on undoing  or rerouting negative thoughts, it helps to know what distortion(s) you gravitate towards. If you’re like me, you’ve done all fifteen so don’t be worried if you notice that you do a lot of them. It doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from CBT. Rather, it points to the contrary.

What Are Cognitive Distortions?

A cognitive distortion is an exaggerated pattern of thoughts that is NOT based on factual information. Cognitive distortions lead you to view things more negatively than they actually are. Basically, these distortions are a way for your mind to convince you to believe negative things about yourself and your world that aren’t necessarily true.

If you fall into negative thought patterns often, your mental health can take a hit. Many mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, phobias, OCD and PTSD can be directly linked to negative thought patterns. By using a methodology like Cognitive Behavior Therapy, you can learn how to restructure those thoughts into more factual and positive thoughts.

The 15 Common Cognitive Thought Distortions are:

1. Filtering
2. Polarization
3. Overgeneralization
4. Discounting the positive
5. Jumping to conclusions
6. Catastrophizing
7. Personalization
8. Control Fallacies
9. Fallacy of Fairness
10. Blaming
11. Should Statements
12. Emotional Reasoning
13. Fallacy of Change
14. Global Labeling
15. And Always Being Right.

Let’s examine each of these thought distortions in greater detail.

Filtering – When we filter, we are draining and straining all positive in a situation and focusing only on the negative. If you’ve ever had a performance review and your manager gives you ten positive statements about your work and one negative, if you’re like most of us, you’ll hyperfocus on the negative feedback and discount the positive. It’s just human nature.  We have a natural negativity bias. (We’ll talk more about the negativity bias in a future article.)

Polarization can also be referred to as all-or-nothing or black-and-white thinking. Think of ‘either/or’ as a tip off that you’re using this cognitive thought distortion. Generally speaking, polarization usually leads to unrealistic expectations or standards for yourself or others, setting you up for failure. They can also negatively impact your relationships with others.

Overgeneralization implies that you take an isolated negative event and turn it into a never-ending pattern of loss or defeat. Words such as ‘always,’ ‘never,’ ‘everything,’ or ‘nothing’ indicate that you are overgeneralizing.

Discounting the positive is similar to filtering. The main difference between the two is that you dismiss it as something of no value when you think of the positive. For example, if someone compliments you on your appearance, you think they’re just being nice.

Jumping to conclusions can also be referred to as mind-reading. When you jump to conclusions, you interpret an event or situation negatively without evidence supporting the conclusion. Then, you react to that assumption as if it were true.

Catastrophizing is related to jumping to conclusions. It occurs when you jump to the worst possible case scenario in a given situation. It’s something the anxious brain does very well. However, the likelihood that the worst will happen is not usually that high. “What if” is the hallmark of catastrophic thinking. For example, “What if she never forgives me, what if the car crashes, etc.”

Personalization leads you to feel responsible for events that, in reality, are not in your control – at least partially not. This cognitive distortion usually brings up a lot of guilt or assuming blame without contemplating all the factors involved. Basically, when you personalize something, it means you’re taking it personally.

Control fallacies can be exemplified by the following – you feel responsible or in control of everything in your life and other people’s lives or you don’t have any control whatsoever.

Fallacy of fairness refers to measuring every behavior or situation on a scale of fairness. When you find that other people don’t assign the same value of fairness to the event that you do, you become resentful or angry. In other words, you believe you know what’s fair and what isn’t. When others disagree with you, it upsets you. This fallacy can directly lead to confrontations with others. The important thing to remember is that fairness is not absolute and can often be self-serving.

Blaming discusses making others responsible for how you feel. “You made me feel bad” is usually at the root of this cognitive distortion. It’s important to note that EVEN IF OR WHEN others engage in hurtful behaviors, you are in control of your responses. When you blame, you give over control to others and you may believe that they have the power to affect your life more than you do.

Shoulds – I call this ‘shoulding’ on yourself. Should implies an obligation, a necessity or a “HAVE TO”. Shoulds are ironclad rules we set for ourselves and others without considering the specifics of a circumstance. You tell yourself that something SHOULD be a certain way. When things don’t occur as they should – according to your rules – you feel down, disappointed, guilty, let down or frustrated. You may believe that you are motivating yourself with these statements. For example, “I SHOULD GO TO THE GYM TODAY.” However, this often can and does have the opposite effect because we are rebellious by nature and will sometimes avoid the behavior we ‘SHOULD’ be doing.

Emotional reasoning occurs when you believe that the way you feel is a reflection of reality. This cognitive distortion may also lead you to believe future events could depend on how you feel. In some cases, we will assess a random situation based on an emotional reaction. For example, if someone says something to make you angry, you may believe that they are treating you poorly, which may not be the case.

Fallacy of change is what happens when we believe that other people will change their ways to suit our expectations of them, especially when you put enough pressure on them. Think, for example, of a woman who thinks a man who said he never wanted to get married in the first place will change his mind and do so just because she remains with him for long enough.

Global labeling occurs when we take a single attribute and turn it into an absolute. It means you judge and then define yourself or others based on an isolated event. The labels we assign in this case, are usually very negative and often extreme. Global labeling is an extreme form of overgeneralization in which you judge an action without taking the context into account. Therefore, you may see yourself or others in ways that might not be accurate. When you assign labels to others, it can impact how you interact with them, oftentimes causing friction in the relationship. When you assign the labels to yourself, it can negatively affect your self-esteem and confidence, leading to insecurity and anxiety.

Always being right allows you to see your own opinions as facts of life, often disregarding actual facts or other people’s experiences. As a result, you will go to great lengths to prove you are right because your self-concept depends upon it.

 How Can You Stop These Cognitive Distortions?

The good news is that most irrational thought patterns can be reversed once you become aware of them. The same goes for negative thoughts. Sometimes, cognitive distortions go hand in hand with personality disorders or other mental health conditions which can make them even more insidious to break free from. However, it’s not impossible. With the techniques learned in Cognitive Behavior Therapy you can – think about your thoughts, replace absolutes, label the behavior (not the person), search for positive aspects of situations and look for concrete evidence to support your negative thoughts. Oftentimes, you will not find it and the thought will be able to drift away.

Want to learn more about Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) in a coaching context? Great! Reach out to me at dcgoodson@gmail.com. Remember that coaching is not a replacement or substitute for traditional therapy.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy, or CBT as it’s more often referred to, is considered by many to be the gold standard of mental health treatment. CBT can be used to treat a variety of mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, OCD, phobias, PTSD, Insomnia and more.

How Does Cognitive Behavior Therapy Work?

CBT utilizes a structured process to deal with negative thought patterns. This helps clients cope better with emotional challenges and respond more effectively. Cognitive Behavior Therapy is usually a short-term treatment methodology because learning the ‘formula’ for restructuring negative thought patterns is not extremely difficult.

The basic premise behind CBT is to get people to change their unhelpful ways of thinking. In so doing, this will change unhelpful behavior responses. The brain is neuroplastic, which means it’s malleable, so with time and effort we can change our thoughts, emotions and reactions to them, aka behaviors.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy requires that you learn what your triggers are so that you can intervene for yourself earlier on in the process so you are not so overwhelmed by the negative thinking and emotions that you can’t help but react negatively. When uncomfortable feelings surface, it’s okay to struggle with them. We are not meant to be happy every moment of our lives. Sometimes, a situation is uncomfortable, but, with Cognitive Behavior Therapy, you will feel a little more in control of your responses to those uncomfortable situations.

What Does CBT Generally Do?

At its core, CBT is about reducing stress related to negative thinking. It is not so much the feelings that we have that are hard to handle, it’s what we tell ourselves about our feelings. In another article, we’ll talk about the different thought ‘distortions’ or negative thought patterns that most afflict us.

How long does it take Cognitive Behavior Therapy to Work ?

Cognitive Behavior Therapy doesn’t take long to work. Of course, it depends on the client and their willingness to do the work. Some thought patterns are stickier than others and, therefore, more difficult to unravel or change. Patience is important for both provider and client. Expecting the thoughts to go away entirely is not the goal. The goal is learning how to better manage reactions to those thoughts and find healthier coping mechanisms when you are triggered.

How Do I Utilize CBT in my coaching practice?

In my work with clients, I try to get them to tap into their sticky, or negative thought patterns. I ask them to come to subsequent sessions with thoughts that get them caught in a negative thought loop. Sometimes, we use anchor thoughts based on positive, but believable statements that the client comes up with. They serve as mantras they can use when they start going down a negative thought spiral.

Over time, we begin to work on distorted thinking. The first way to challenge is by asking is the thought is valid. Questioning a thought’s validity is just one way that we can start to put it into question and if we can put it into question, then it’s easier to change.

I also recommend that clients get in the habit of trying to isolate their negative thoughts and think of what they’d say to someone they love instead. Generally speaking, we are kinder to others than ourselves and the way we talk to ourselves is not how we would talk to others.

After that point, people notice some relief and we can begin working on the actual restructuring of actual thoughts. Eventually, they’ll be able to do it in real time. It’s a very simple formula. As you can see from the example below:

Initial thought

I am stupid

Identifying Distortion(s) * (as mentioned before, we’ll discuss those in a subsequent article)

• Filtering
• Judgment
• Label

Reframed thought (more positive but also believable and true)

Sometimes, I do stupid things.

As you can see in this example, the client went from calling herself stupid to realizing that sometimes she did things that were stupid. Over time, we got rid of the word stupid entirely because it is utterly negative in connotation and. CBT, in my experience, works on a continuum. You will slowly change the thought and the goal is not to get to the opposite thought, just to one that is still believable and essentially positive so that the emotional charge surrounding it is also positive.

Hopefully you found this basic primer on CBT helpful. I have found both personally and professionally that it can be a game changer. If you’d like to work on your negative thinking and improve your emotional resilience, I’d be happy to work with you. Reach out to me at dcgoodson@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you.

In a previous article, we talked a bit about the basic anatomy of the human brain. We didn’t delve too deeply into it. The brain, as you may have guessed, is a complicated organ with many parts to it. As we mentioned before, the brain has two hemispheres, which are part of the cerebellum. Within these hemispheres reside four sections, known as lobes. The lobes of the brain are:

• The frontal lobe,
• The parietal lobe,
• The temporal lobe,
• And the occipital lobe.

Each lobe is responsible for different functions.

The Frontal Lobe is the largest lobe in the brain. It resides in the front of the head. It is involved in personality characteristics, decision-making and movement. Recognition of the sense of smell is usually found in the frontal lobe, which also contains Broca’s area, which is associated with the ability of speech.

The Parietal Lobe can be found in the middle of the brain. This area assists us in identifying objects and understanding spatial relationships. Spatial relationships related to where one’s body is located in comparison to objects surrounding them. The Parietal Lobe is also responsible for interpreting both pain and touch. Within the parietal lobe is Wernicke’s area which helps us understand spoken language.

The Occipital Lobe, which is housed in the back of the brain. It is involved with sight.

The Temporal Lobe is on the sides of the brain. This area, which is rather important, is involved in short-term memory, speech, musical rhythm and a small degree of smell recognition.

Deeper structures within the brain include the:

• Pituitary Gland,
• Hypothalamus,
• Amygdala,
• Hippocampus,
• Pineal Gland,
• And Ventricles & Spinal Fluid.

Pituitary Gland

Also referred to as the master gland, the pituitary is small (pea-sized) but mighty. It is located deep in the brain behind the ridge of the nose. This powerhouse governs the functions of all the other glands in the body, regulating the flood of hormones from the thyroid, adrenals, ovaries and testicles. The pituitary receives signals from the hypothalamus.

Hypothalamus

Located above the pituitary gland, it sends chemical messages which control its function. The hypothalamus regulates body temperature, regulates circadian rhythms (sleep patterns), controls hunger and thirst. It also plays a role in certain aspects of memory and emotion.

Amygdala

This small, almond-shaped structure is located under each hemisphere of the brain. Included in the limbic system, the amygdala regulates emotion and memory. It is also associated with the brain’s reward system, stress and the ‘fight or flight’ response when one perceives a threat.

Hippocampus

This is a curved, seahorse-shaped organ located under each temporal lobe. The hippocampus is part of a larger structure known as the hippocampal formation. It supports learning, memory, navigation and the perception of space (distance between ourselves and between objects, not space as in the Universe). The hippocampus receives its information from the cerebral cortex. Studies suggest that it plays a significant role in Alzheimer’s Disease.

Pineal Gland

Located deep in the brain, the pineal gland is attached by a stalk to the top of the third ventricle. It responds to light and dark. This gland also secretes melatonin which regulates circadian rhythms and regulates the sleep-wake cycle.

Ventricles and Cerebrospinal Fluid

Deep within the brain are four open areas that have multiple passageways between them. These open into the central spinal canal and the area beneath the arachnoid layer of the meninges. The ventricles manufacture cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). CSF is a watery fluid that circulates in and around the spinal cord and ventricles. It also exists between the meninges. Cerebrospinal Fluid surrounds and cushions both the spinal cord and the brain. It also washes out impurities and delivers nutrients.

What’s the deal with arteries?

Blood and oxygen are supplied to the brain by the vertebral and carotid arteries. The external carotid arteries extend up the sides of your neck. You can feel your pulse when you touch this area with your fingertips. The internal carotids branch into the skull and circulate blood to the front of the brain. The vertebral arteries follow the spinal column directly into the skull. There, they join together and form the basilar artery, which supplies blood to different portions of the brain. The circle of Willis is a loop of blood vessels located near the bottom of the brain connecting major arteries, circulating blood flow from the back of the brain to the front. It also helps arterial systems communicate with one another.

Cranial Nerves

Inside the cranium, aka the dome of the skull, reside 12 nerves. Unsurprisingly, these are referred to as the cranial nerves. They are in order:

1. Olfactory Nerve (allows for sense of smell).
2. Optic Nerve (governs eyesight).
3. Oculomotor Nerve (controls pupil response and eye movements).
4. Trochlear Nerve (controls eye muscles).
5. Trigeminal Nerve (conveys sensation from the scalp, teeth, jaws, sinuses, parts of the mouth and face to the brain. It also allows for functionality of chewing muscles, among other things).
6. Abducens Nerve (innervates some eye muscles).
7. Facial Nerve (supports facial movements, taste, glandular functions and more).
8. Vestibulocochlear Nerve (facilitates both balance and hearing).
9. Glossopharyngeal Nerve (controls taste as well as ear and throat movements, etc.).
10. Vagus Nerve (allows sensation around the ear and digestive system. As part of the Parasympathetic Nervous System, it controls motor activity in the heart, throat and digestive system.)
11. Accessory Nerve (innervates specific muscles in neck, shoulder and head).
12. Hypoglossal Nerve (supplies and controls motor activity of the tongue).

Where are the nerves located?

The first two originate in the cerebellum. The remaining ten emerge from the brainstem, which you may remember from our previous article, has three parts – the midbrain, pons and medulla.

I hope you enjoyed this two-part foray into the brain. As you can imagine, I find brain anatomy fascinating. However, as a mental health coach, I am much more interested in brain functionality specifically when it comes to regulating and generating emotions. If you’d like to book a complimentary 60-minute session with me, I’d love to chat with you. Reach out to me at dcgoodson@gmail.com for more information.

The brain is a complex organism controlling thought, memory, emotion, touch, motor skills and so much more. In fact, the brain is behind every process regulating the human body. Therefore, it’s extremely important. The brain and the spinal cord make up the central nervous system (CNS).

What is the brain made of?

Weighing in at about 3 pounds in an average human adult, the brain is about 60% fat. The remaining 40% is a combination of proteins, water, carbohydrates and salts. The brain itself is not a muscle. However, it does contain blood vessels and nerves, including neurons and glial cells.

What are gray matter and white matter?

Gray matter and white matter are two different regions of the central nervous system. In the brain, the grey matter refers to the darker, outer portion of the organ. White matter, conversely, describes the lighter, inner section underneath. In the spinal cord, white matter and gray matter are in reverse.

Gray matter is primarily composed of neuron somas. Neuron somas are round central cell bodies. White matter, therefore, is mostly made of axons. Axons are long stems connecting neurons together wrapped in myelin, a form of protective coating. The different composition of neuron parts is why the two appear as separate shades on certain scans.

Gray matter is mostly responsible for processing and interpreting information while white matter takes that information and transmits it to other parts of the nervous system.

How does the brain work?

The brain sends and receives both chemical and electrical signals throughout your body. These different signals control different processes. Your brain interprets each of them. Some of these processes make you feel tired, others cause you pain and so on and so forth. Some of these messages are kept inside the brain whereas others are relayed through the spine and across the body’s vast network of nerves.

The Main Parts of the Brain and Their Functions

The brain can be divided at its highest level into three parts:

• The cerebrum,
• The brain stem,
• And cerebellum.

Cerebrum

The cerebrum is the front of the brain. It is comprised of gray matter in the cerebral cortex and white matter in the center. This is the largest part of the brain. It initiates and coordinates movement and regulates our body temperature. The cerebrum is also responsible for regulating speech, judgement, thinking and reasoning, problem-solving, emotional responses and learning. Other functions of the cerebrum relate to vision, hearing, touch and the other senses.

Cerebral Cortex

The cerebral cortex describes the outer gray matter covering the cerebrum. It has a large surface area due to its folds and comprises about half of the brain’s weight. Divided into two halves or hemispheres, the cerebral cortex is covered with ridges (gyr) and folds (sulci). The two halves join together at a large, deep sulcus known as the interhemispheric fissure. This runs from the front of the head to the back. The right hemisphere controls the left side of the body and the left controls the right side. The two hemispheres communicate with one another through a large, c-shaped structure of white matter and nerve pathways referred to as the corpus callosum, which is in the center of the cerebrum.

Brainstem

This is the middle of the brain. The brainstem connects the spinal cord with the cerebrum. The different parts of the brain stem are:

• The midbrain,
• The pons,
• And the medulla.

The Midbrain, aka mesencephalon, is a complex structure with a range of different neuron clusters known as nuclei and colliculi, neural pathways and other structures. The midbrain facilitates various functions including hearing and movement, calculation of responses and environmental changes. Inside the midbrain is the substantia nigra, an area that is rich in dopamine neurons and part of the basal ganglia, enabling movement and coordination. The substantia nigra is most notably affected in Parkinson’s disease.

The pons is the origin for four of the 12 cranial nerves. It enables a wide variety of processes including tear production, chewing, blinking, focusing vision, balance, hearing and facial expressions. Pons is Latin for the word “bridge” and it is accurate because the pons bridges the midbrain and the medulla.

At the bottom of the brainstem, the medulla is where the brain meets the spinal cord. Essential to survival, the medulla regulates heart rhythm, breathing as well as oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. Reflexive activities such as swallowing, vomiting, coughing and sneezing originate in the medulla. The spinal cord extends from the bottom of the medulla and through a large opening in the bottom of the skull. It is supported by vertebrae and carries messages from the brain to and from the rest of the body.

Cerebellum

Also known as the “little brain”, the cerebellum is about the size of a fist. It’s located in the back of the head, below the temporal and occipital lobes. It resides above the brainstem. Just as the cerebral cortex has two hemispheres so does the cerebellum. Its function is to coordinate voluntary muscle movements and to maintain posture, balance and equilibrium. Studies are being conducted to see what role the cerebellum plays in thoughts, emotions and social behavior as well as its possible involvement in addictions and psychological disorders like schizophrenia.

Meninges

The brain has three protective coverings referred to as meninges. The outermost layer is referred to as the dura. This layer is thick and tough. Within this layer are two deeper layers – the periosteal layer (cranium) and the meningeal layer which is below the periosteal layer. Any spaces between the layers allow for the passages of veins and arteries which supply blood flow to the brain. The arachnoid mater is weblike as its name suggests (arachnid being the Latinate term for spider). This web connects tissue without nerves or blood cells. The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) lies below the arachnoid mater and it cushions the entire central nervous system. CSF circulates around these structures to remove impurities. Finally, the pia mater is a thin layer of membrane which cradles the surface of the brain. It also follows its contours. This part of the brain is full of veins and arteries just like the dura.

In the next article, we’ll talk about the lobes, what they control, deeper structures of the brain and nerves.

Most people know the sympathetic nervous system. It’s how we handle stress – via fight or flight (and I would add freeze into that mix). The Sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is activated not only when we are stressed but also when we are in danger or are physically active. The effects of the sympathetic nervous system include an increase in heart rate and breathing ability. It also slows down processes like digestion.

What is the sympathetic nervous system (SNS)?

Part of the autonomic nervous system, the Sympathetic nervous system could be called your ‘automatic’ nervous system because it’s responsible for many bodily functions that you don’t have to think about to control. These functions control heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, urination, sweating and several others. We are generally familiar with the sympathetic nervous system as it relates to our stress responses. In such situations, the SNS kicks into high gear, speeding up your heart rate, delivering more blood to areas of your body that need oxygen and any other responses you need to help you get out of real or perceived danger.

What is the function of the Sympathetic Nervous System?

As mentioned before, the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) controls your flight, fight or freeze response. Depending upon how you react to stress or perceived (or real) dangers, certain things may happen in your body such as:

• Pupil dilation to let in more light and improve your vision.
• Increased heart rate which improves delivery of oxygen to other parts of your body.
• Relaxed airway muscles so as to improve oxygen delivery to your lungs.
• Slowed digestion so energy used in this body process gets diverted to other parts of the body.
• Activation of energy stores in the liver so that they can be used quickly.

This all occurs to help you in situations in which you may need to think or act rapidly. Your eyesight, reflex, endurance and strength are sharpened so you can ward off attack. The SNS can also be activated when your body is under other types of strain such as stress or illness.

Neurotransmitters and the SNS

There are three specific neurotransmitters, also known as your body’s chemical messengers, that play an important role in the Sympathetic Nervous System. They are acetylcholine, epinephrine and norepinephrine.

Acetylcholine plays a role in regulating heart rate, blood flow and digestion.

Epinephrine is more commonly known as adrenaline. It is, therefore, both a hormone and a neurotransmitter. A small amount of this neurotransmitter is produced by the nerves, but it still plays an important role in attention, focus, excitement, metabolism and panic.

Norepinephrine is also a hormone and a neurotransmitter. You may know it by its hormonal name, noradrenaline. This substance is made from dopamine, the neurotransmitter that controls both pleasure and pain. Norepinephrine does the following:

• Increases alertness, arousal levels and/or attention.
• Constricts blood vessels to regulate blood pressure during stressful situations.
• Affects mood, memory and your circadian rhythms (sleep/wake cycle).

Where is the Sympathetic Nervous System located?

Most of the signals in the SNS start in your spinal cord. These signals leave the spinal cord and activate the ganglia. Your sympathetic ganglia is like a network throughout your body, that sends signals far and wide to different parts of your body such as the heart, lungs, arteries, sweat glands and digestive system. The main type of cell in the Sympathetic Nervous System is a neuron.

What conditions can be caused by a dysregulated Sympathetic Nervous System?

As you’ve seen in this article, the SNS has a big impact on bodily functioning. Common conditions related to sympathetic nervous system dysfunction include but are not limited to:

• Type 2 Diabetes.
• Chronic Stress.
• Anxiety and panic disorders.
• Cancer.
• Sexual dysfunction.
• And Trauma.

In order to avoid such health problems, you can take some necessary steps to safeguard your health. One such step is to eat a healthy, balanced diet full of fruits, vegetables, high quality protein and fiber. You should also abusing substances like alcohol or drugs. You will want to remain physically active by exercising regularly and work on keeping your weight at a healthy level. When in dangerous situations, please wear safety equipment to protect yourself from any nerve damage that injuries may cause. Finally, you’ll want to manage any chronic health conditions so that you can be at your best. If you have questions on how to do just that, please reach out to a qualified health care professional.

The Vagus Nerve is the longest of our twelve cranial nerves. It makes up about 75% of the parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS). It begins in the medulla oblongata, at the base of the brain that connects the spinal cord. The vagus nerve splits off from there into many different branches that extend all the way to your abdominal cavity. Perhaps this is why the PSNS is called the ‘rest and digest’ response.

This important nerve helps us to calm down as we exit flight or fight mode. This is the normal stress response that activates the sympathetic nervous system, which we will discuss in a future article. The vagus nerve provides signals from your brain to the rest of your body which regulate the following:

• Heart,
• Taste,
• Speech,
• Skin Sensations,
• Muscle Sensations,
• Immune Response,
• Respiratory Rate,
• Blood Pressure,
• Mucus Production,
• Saliva Production,
• Digestion,
• Frequence of Urination (Note: it can also help the bowels to eliminate feces),
• And Mood (which is most important for our purposes).

As mentioned earlier, the vagus nerve has multiple branches. Did you know that your left and right vagal nerves join to form the vagal trunk? These branches connect at your esophageal hiatus. This is the exact place where your esophagus passes into your abdominal cavity (belly). Your vagal nerve branches include:

• The inferior ganglion branch – serves nerves and muscles to your throat (pharynx) and voice box (larynx).
• Superior ganglion branch, which serves nerves that go to your spine and ears.
• Vagus nerve branch – handles nerves that serve your heart, lungs and esophagus. (Note – your esophagus is the tube that connects your mouth and your stomach).

It’s important to keep your vagal nerves healthy since they affect so many body parts and functions. The best way to protect the health of your vagus nerve is through lifestyle changes such as:

• Eating well
• Exercising
• Managing conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes
• Practice relaxation techniques like yoga, meditation or hypnotherapy, among others.

As you can see, the vagus nerve is central to many bodily functions. It is a powerhouse of the Parasympathetic Nervous System. Learning how to care for it is a great way to practice self-care and can improve your ability to regulate your emotions and self-soothe. If you are looking for tips on activating the PSNS, please reach out to me at dcgoodson@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you.

Emotional Freedom Technique, aka Tapping, is something that can be used to regulate emotions and reduce anxiety. I have found EFT to be a great tool to have in my anti-anxiety toolbox. One time, I went to a Renaissance festival. It was crowded and I got overwhelmed (I sometimes have social anxiety especially in large crowds). I performed the tapping routine at least seven times that day to self-soothe. It worked every time.

Now, I try to do it daily as a way to strengthen my resilience to stress and improve the health of my Parasympathetic Nervous System (PSNS). I am a certified practitioner of EFT and have taught many clients how to use it. I teach it a little differently than it is done in this video, but basically both methodologies demonstrate how you can utilize acupressure points on the face, neck and hands to stimulate your PSNS.

The way I learned to do tapping does not include thinking of a specific issue that’s bothering you and I do not require that you place an intention into your tapping. Some people find this to be helpful. I do not think it’s necessary, but if you wish to try it, feel free to make the practice your own. Once you get good at, you should try to do it daily. I recommend after brushing your teeth as part of your morning routine. Think of it as going to the gym for your Parasympathetic Nervous System.

Some people do not find that they are sensitized to the points immediately. That’s okay. Try to be patient and give it a few times to take root.

So, how do I do it?

A caveat before we begin – I suggest you start by using your dominant hand to tap on your non-dominant hand. I am left-handed so, naturally, I use my left hand to tap. If you’re right-handed, it’s preferable to use your right hand. However, the important thing is that you hit the right points regardless of which hand you use. Do what feels most comfortable to you. Tap each point for about thirty seconds. Wanna now how to do it, okay – let’s go.

1. Karate chop the mid-point outside of your non-dominant hand where the pinky lies between the tip of the pinky and the wrist.
2. Tap your crown chakra. This is located at the crown of your head (up top, above your hair line.)
3. Tap your third eye which lies between your eyebrows near your forehead.
4. Move your finger (preferably the pointer finger) to your outside of your eyebrow. Tap there.
5. Place your finger underneath your eye in the center just below it. If you feel around, you can detect a little nodule. It’s very tiny, but once you find it and tap – you’ll know it’s the right spot.
6. Find the divot underneath your nose and above your lip. This point can be helpful to tap when you don’t have time to do the whole routine. I find it to be one of the most sensitive points of the lot.
7. Move your finger to the base of your chin and tap there.
8. Take both hands and use the pointer finger and the middle finger on each side of our collarbone where it meets the neck. This is supposed to stimulate the lymphatic system and is very soothing.
9. Take your non-dominant hand and place it under your armpit. For women, this is where your bra line is. Men, it’s around the side of the pectoral muscle.
10. Place your finger and tap it on each of the insides of your fingers.
11. Finally, tap the gamut point. What is the gamut point? It’s located between the pinky and ring fingers, where the webbing of our hands resides. If you feel between the fingers, you can find a little nodule similar to the one under your eye. Press firmly but not too firmly. EFT should make you feel good.

When complete, you can move on with your day, hopefully feeling less anxious and more emotionally regulated. I find that Emotional Freedom Technique can be a great way to release tension and stress. If you’d like me to teach you the routine, I’d be more than happy to do so. Book a session with me today. I’d love to hear from you.

In a previous article, we discussed what the parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS) is and what it does. Basically, the PSNS is the rest and digest response. It soothes us when we are stressed out. Many medical and mental health professionals will not tell you about the parasympathetic nervous system much less how to activate it. It’s not that they have ill intent. They would just rather prescribe you an anti-anxiety medicine.

The body wants to be calm and well. The PSNS returns our bodily functions to homeostasis so we can feel better and recover when we are stressed. There are ways we can intervene for ourselves and activate the parasympathetic nervous system. In my practice, I teach my clients some of these ways. Not every way works for everyone. I encourage folks to try each of these interventions and assure them that there are more. I ask them to be patient and give each at least three chances to see if they work.

If not, I encourage them to move on to the next tool and we can figure out what works for them and adjust accordingly. Now this is not a comprehensive list of PSNS interventions by any means. These are just ways I’ve found throughout my personal and professional lives to help not only myself but others.

The VOO

For a demonstration on how to do this, check out the following YouTube link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYOKFi4m-ic. The VOO is a vocal technique from somatic therapy. Somatic therapy, in a nutshell, is a way to get more in touch with your body and get out of your head. It can be very helpful in stimulating your anti-anxiety responses.

To do the VOO, you breathe out in a long inhale. As you do, you intone the word VOO. Your body sort of tunes itself to a calming frequency as you do this. It can really help you connect to your breath and use your voice to self-soothe.

Breathwork

The VOO encourages you to use your breathe and your voice to soothe. Connecting to your breath can be a great way to activate the parasympathetic nervous system. I encourage people to try a few different breathing techniques and find the one that works for them.

As you may or may not have noticed, when we are stressed, our breathing seems to get more shallow. During a panic attack, which is an extreme stress response that happens to those who are prone to anxiety disorders, such as myself, we often struggle to catch a full breath. This can lead to more stress and deepen the attack.

I encourage people to try and catch their breath on the ramp up. It’s very hard to activate the PSNS when we are too stressed. At some point, the brain becomes like a lit up pinball machine and it’s so hard to calm it down. Identifying your triggers is important and beginning to intervene for yourself early on the process can make quite a difference.

In yogic modalities, the breath, or prana, is very important. I love the deep belly breath. I learned it in Vinyasa yoga classes and use it as part of my restorative yoga practice. Vinyasa and Restorative Yoga are gentle, meditative forms of yoga with a deep emphasis on soothing. If you are prone to stress or anxiety, I highly recommend trying them out.

The deep belly breath requires that you take a deep inhale, as full as is possible. You should feel the diaphragm go up as you breathe in. As you exhale, you will release air until you feel the diaphragm return to its normal position. I often recommend that you repeat the process three times in a row. Three is relatively easy to remember and, I have noticed in my own practice, that it seems to really help soothe when you do these interventions in repetition of some sort. 

I use the concept of three when I teach someone about box breathing. Box breathing can get very complicated. Some instructors encourage you to inhale for varying counts. I find that can be hard to do when you’re stressed out. I simplify it by asking my clients to inhale for a count of three, hold for a count of three and then exhale for a count of three. I ask them to repeat the activity three times in a row. Three, three, three, three completes a box of breathing.

The final breathing technique I encourage folks to try is referred to as the Ujayii breath, aka Lion’s Breath. You can watch a tutorial here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIfWjHuBCrI 

I often do this in the car. I am a very anxious driver and I find it helps me to cope when I feel stressed, especially in traffic. I do recommend that you wait to do this until you are at a light because it does take a little bit of concentration.

How do you perform the Ujayyi breath:

1. Take a solid, strong inhale.
2. Release the air slowly, making a guttural sound as you do.
3. Feel the air release from your lungs and the heat of the sound soothe you.
4. Repeat as often as needed.

The Half-Smile 

This skill comes to us from Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, aka DBT. (Yes – we, in the mental health field love acronyms.) Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is skills-based training, that works well especially for those who have impulse control disorders like bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder (BPD).  However, I find that many of the skills I’ve learned in DBT as a patient and as a practitioner can help just about anyone.

I love the half-smile because it’s simple and effective. You perform this action by taking your tongue and placing it to the roof of your mouth. Let it sit there for about 30 seconds to 1 minute – you don’t have to count it out. Just use your best guess. After that time, you should notice that you break into a full smile or may outright laugh. The interesting thing is that this throws anxiety off it’s game because it’s hard to hold humor and anxiety in the same space.

This is often why I tell people to try and laugh for 15-20 minutes a day as a way to strengthen their parasympathetic nervous system. You don’t have to laugh continuously. Watching a comedy special, a sitcom or listening to a funny podcast or reading jokes or checking out silly videos on Instagram and TikTok can do the trick.

Lip tapping

The nerve endings on your lips are directly connected to and stimulate the vagus nerve, which you may or may not remember from my article on the PSNS, is the central part of the system. Lip tapping is pretty simple. All you have to do is take two fingers and lightly tap on your lips. It shouldn’t take long for you to feel a release of tension in the neck and shoulders. You may also sigh or take a breath. I find it very soothing although it doesn’t work for everyone. I guess I’m just sensitized to it after engaging in the practice for years.

The Brain Hold

Finally, I encourage people to try the brain hold. This is a relatively new addition to my arsenal of PSNS intervention tools. I learned it from my therapist who is working on her certification in Somatic Therapy. This helped me recently when I was going through a manic period – I have bipolar disorder as well as Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). It’s really simple. You put one palm at the base of your neck behind your head and under your hair. You want to make skin to skin contact if you can. You then take the other hand and place the palm on your forehead. Apply gentle pressure (light squeeze) and voila you have a surefire way to calm the nervous system.

I hope you find at least one or two of these PSNS interventions helpful for you as you attempt to self-soothe. If you’d like to book a session with me, I’d be happy to teach you more about these methods and help you figure out your anxiety triggers.