The Brain, Body and Stuttering: Two Ways to Anxiety

There are two ways to anxiety — either through the ancient brain or the thinking brain. It’s helpful to know where your anxiety begins, as this is a clue which strategy will be most helpful in reducing it.

In Episode 18, Paige delves into the relationship between the brain, body, and stuttering, focusing on anxiety. The episode introduces insights from the book 'Rewire Your Anxious Brain,' exploring how anxiety manifests through the ancient brain (amygdala) and the thinking brain (cerebral cortex).

Addressing the prevalence of anxiety in stuttering experiences, Paige distinguishes between fear and anxiety, emphasizing their role in speaking situations. The two paths to anxiety are: the primal responses of the amygdala and the conscious anticipation of the cerebral cortex. Strategies for tackling anxiety include leveraging neuroplasticity to rewire the amygdala through relaxation techniques and reshaping thought patterns.

Do you know where anxiety is created in the body? Gain self-awareness about your anxiety triggers and stress responses during speaking situations. Explore coaching solutions for overcoming anxiety-related stuttering: Book a FREE call or reach out to paige@thehappystutterer.com.

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Transcript

When I was a young adult, I went through an intensive fluency shaping speech therapy program. This program taught me how to control my speech by learning new ways to use my body with specific breathing and fluency shaping techniques. since then I've realized there's been a gap in my knowledge of how the brain and body works together.

In order to understand your unique experience with stuttering, a helpful part of the puzzle is knowing and understanding how the body works. Without this, a big piece is missing. Otherwise, you are left to your own interpretations trying to figure it out. When you know how your body works, it takes away some of the mystery feeling.

Fear and anxiety isn't something you can always automatically control at your wish and come mad. So knowing this reduces internalized guilt and shame. In this episode I'm sharing with you learnings from a book That really helped me a lot to understand how my brain and body works.

It's called Rewire your Anxious. Brain. How to use the neuroscience of fear to end anxiety, panic and worry. This book was written by Catherine M. Pittman, PhD, and Elizabeth m Carl. MLIS. Not sure what those letters mean, but sounds pretty important. It's fair to say that for many people who stutter anxiety plays a role in their everyday experience.

I certainly know it did for me. So today I'm sharing the insights I've gathered from the book, shedding a light on how anxiety is created in the body. Here's what we're going to explore first. There are two ways to anxiety, either through the ancient brain or the thinking brain. Number two. Learn the clues behind anxiety that originates from the amygdala.

And number three, using the power of neuroplasticity to learn two strategies that help reduce stuttering related anxiety. For many individuals, the experience of stuttering can bring overwhelming feelings of fear and anxiety. It makes sense if you want to get rid of these unpleasant feelings.

At one time in my life, I thought that all I needed was fluency so that all the fear and anxiety would go away. Now I know that not only is this thought inaccurate, it's also biologically impossible. Yes, anxiety can be reduced and eliminated, but fear is a natural response that is hardwired into your body to keep you safe.

It's also important to know that even though the words fear and anxiety tend to be used interchangeably, there are differences. Fear is typically associated with a present and identifiable threat. Generally physical danger. Anxiety, on the other hand, occurs in the absence of immediate threat with a sense of dread and worry about future events.

So even though you might feel fear at times, anxiety tends to play a bigger role in the experience of stuttering. as speaking situations are always just right around the next corner. Did you know that there is more than one pathway for anxiety to be created in the body? The first way anxiety can be created is through the amygdala and our reactions to the environment.

The second way anxiety is created is through the cerebral cortex, the thinking brain in what we think about. Okay, let's learn about the amygdala. If you are not sure what the amygdala is, it's made up of two small almond shaped structures, one on each side of the brain. Though they're small, they're mighty in what they can do.

the main function of the amygdala is to protect and keep you safe. The amygdala is on the lookout for anything that might indicate potential harm. So when activated, the amygdala triggers different types of stress responses, we can thank the amygdala for the survival of our species.

The most ancient is the fight or flight response. Other fear, stress responses are freezing and fawning. I hope to dive deeper into each of these on a future episode. For now, here are some traits about the amygdala.

The amygdala is fast. As the amygdala has numerous connections to other parts of the brain. It can mobilize a variety of bodily reactions very quickly, like in less than a 10th of a second. We really have little control of the amygdala's rapid response. We experience our fear and anxiety responses rather than consciously control them.

And so because the anxiety response can happen in an instant without your conscious control, this is what's scary about being out of control. The amygdala creates the physical effects you feel. Your awareness of the amygdala is likely based on your experience of the powerful physical effects that the anxiety you feel in your body, it provides a surge of adrenaline, increases your blood pressure and heart rate, and increase muscle tension and more bodily changes, such as nervousness and the desire to avoid a certain situation and having aggressive impulses.

The amygdala learns by association. When you fear a specific object or situation, your amygdala is responsible. When sensations, objects, or situations have been associated with a negative outcome, these memories are stored in the amygdala. The amygdala does this by attaching negative emotional memories to an object or situation through association based learning, which means if this was learned, you can also unlearn and create new associations by retraining your amygdala through positive experiences.

the amygdala forms emotional memories. The amygdala attaches emotional significance to situations or objects that form emotional memories, both positive and negative since negative experiences are felt much more strongly. The amygdala attaches anxiety to negative experiences and creates anxiety producing responses.

These negative reactions may range from weak to strong, depending on the original experience. Another trait of the amygdala is that it acts as a trigger. Triggers are the language of the amygdala, which refers to anything. It could be an event, objects sound, smell, or sight that activates the amygdala's alarm system.

Once one association has been made, you'll feel anxious when your amygdala receives and recognizes similar sensory information. It is important to understand the amygdala is in control. Once triggered, you can't outthink your amygdala. When you feel out of control during the experience of stuttering, you think it's just a matter of trying harder to get control of it.

In fact, is this thinking that is false and works against you when anxiety begins in the amygdala? Logic and reason don't help to reduce anxiety. It's true. You literally can't think straight. When the amygdala takes control, the thinking processes of the cortex are hijacked and you're under the influence of the amygdala.

It's extremely difficult to use reason based thought processes to control anxiety once it's been activated by the amygdala. Have you ever tried to use your fluency shaping tools and techniques in a stressful situation? Were you successful? If not, this is the reason why. Another trait is that the amygdala influences avoidance behaviour.

The amygdala's emotional processing influences our behaviour Amygdala based anxiety will continue as long as you're successful. In avoiding triggers, sometimes the trigger is impossible to avoid. So reducing or eliminating the fear requires retraining the amygdala. And finally, some amygdala's are more sensitive.

Some amygdala's are more sensitive than others, even quite early in life. One interesting quote I pulled from the book was this. Children with reactive amygdalas don't necessarily learn amygdala based strategies for dealing with their anxiety, and the result is often entrenched patterns of overreacting or extreme avoidance.

Does this resonate with you? It definitely does with me and explains a lot from my childhood, especially growing up with a stutter. I. So how do you know when you're experiencing anxiety that originates from the amygdala?

Here are some clues. Number one, the anxiety seems to come from out of the blue. Like, have you ever experienced a speaking situation where in one moment your speech was fine, but then you changed environments or started talking to a different person and then stuttering, flared up? This is the amygdala at work.

A second clue is that you experience strong physiological responses and your reaction seems out of proportion to the situation. A lot of people don't understand why ordering food through the drive-in or using the phone to make an appointment might cause you a lot of stress and anxiety. This is also the amygdala at work.

Let's switch gears now and explore the cerebral cortex. The cortex is the second and more conscious pathway to creating and fuelling anxiety. The thinking brain is the large gray part of the brain, which fills the topmost part of the skull. This area of the brain is also where it creates language, thoughts, and perceptions.

I. The cerebral cortex plays a big part in anticipation and interpretation. As humans, we have the ability to predict future events and imagine their consequences. Anticipation and interpretation can often lead to anxiety even when there's no real immediate danger present. The cortex also attaches meaning and memories to those perceptions and interpretations.

If you've had a bad speaking experience, the thinking brain is where you can become preoccupied with negative thoughts and images. This can lead to worrying about negative outcomes in future situations. Now that you know, there are two different ways that anxiety can be created in the body, what strategies can you use?

First, let's geek out with a bit of neuroscience. The science of the brain research in the field of neuroscience studies, the structure and function of the brain and nervous system. For a long time, it was believed that the brain was fixed and unchangeable. Now with technological advancements, science is showing a different story with brain neuroplasticity.

There's a surprising level of flexibility and potential for changes in your brain. The circuits of your brain are influenced by genetics. As well as shaped by your experiences. So with the power to influence your brain, it's possible to change your experience of stuttering. As just mentioned, the circuitry in your brain is shaped by your experiences to change anxiety.

You need to change the neural connections that lead to anxiety responses. The power of neuroplasticity is when fresh neural connections are made through new and positive experiences. So you might be thinking, how do you do this? Well, first you can rewire the amygdala. The only way to change your amygdala based stress response to like an object such as a phone or a challenging situation like giving presentation is by creating positive experiences with the object or situation for new learning to occur.

So in order to create these positive experiences, you need to retrain the amygdala using the language the amygdala understands, and what language is this? You might not like this answer, but it's a language of relaxation and breathing techniques. Slower breathing and relaxed muscles sends the message directly to the amygdala that the body is not in danger.

This is how you retrain the amygdala so that it no longer overreacts out of proportion to the speaking situation you are in. The second way to create new positive experiences is to change your thoughts. I found this quote online. Until you change your thinking, you'll always recycle your experiences. If your anxiety begins in the cortex, the more effective approach is this.

Change your thoughts and the images you see in your mind to decrease activating the amygdala. Decreasing the number of times your cortex causes your amygdala to become activated will cut down your overall anxiety. It's when you change your perceptions that you change the outcome of your behaviour and experiences.

It is helpful to know where your anxiety begins as this gives a clue which strategies will be most helpful in reducing it. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to start your own journey of self-awareness. Question number one, to what degree do you experience fear and anxiety during speaking situations?

Number two, do you believe your anxiety is being activated from the cortex or amygdala, or maybe a bit of both? And question number three, what bodily stress responses do you experience on a daily or regular basis, like sweating fast, heartbeat. Butterflies, muscle tension, and even shallow breathing as we're almost to the end.

It's understandable if you want control over the anxiety, that tends to be part of this stuttering experience. So when you say you want control, what you really might be asking for is control over your amygdala as this is what has been activated. It is the emotional and physiological response you want to have control over to start doing this.

It begins with understanding where anxiety is being activated even before it starts. If you want to get on top of anxiety related stuttering, I invite you to book A free call with me. This is your chance to get clarity on how coaching can work for you, and explore the possibility of us working together for inquiries. Reach out to me here: paige@thehappystutter.com