High Sensitivity and Anxiety

The basic characteristic of highly sensitive people (HSPs) is that their brains and nervous systems take in more from the environment and process it more deeply.

This depth of processing results in many strengths, such as empathy, creativity, and deep thinking.

It also can bring some challenges, including a greater tendency to anxiety (as shown by research).

To understand why, it helps to know more about how the brain works.

British psychologist Paul Gilbert came up with a great way to understand the three primary brain states, which he calls Threat, Drive, and Soothe.

Today we’re focusing on the Threat and Soothe brain states.

Threat is the system whose job is to protect us from danger.

The Threat system constantly scans the environment for potential dangers, and when it senses a danger it releases neurochemicals such as adrenaline and cortisol to help us run away, fight, or freeze.

One of the challenges of our modern world is that this powerful, most primitive part of the brain, can’t tell the difference between real threats (like a car about to hit us) and things that just feel like threats (like criticism from someone on social media or news about a faraway disaster).

The Threat system is designed to identify a danger, provide the energy to respond to it, and then go back into the background.

But for many people in our modern society, their Threat system is on red alert most, if not all, of the time.

Their brains are constantly pumping out stress hormones, which can lead to things like anxiety and chronic inflammation.

HSPs respond more deeply both to potential stressors and also to the hormones of stress, making it even more important for HSPs to learn ways to help calm the Threat system.

The antidote to the overactivation of the Threat system is to spend more time in the brain state that Dr. Gilbert calls Soothe.

This also has been called the “rest, digest, and repair” system because the neurochemicals released into our bodies in this state help with things like digestion and tissue repair.

Anything you can do to shift out of the Threat mode and into the Soothe mode is going to help your brain and body.

What helps you relax, slow down, and be present? What feels soothing, relaxing, and nourishing?

The most basic relaxation tool that we always have access to is taking some slow deep breaths.

There are hundreds of other helpful tools for shifting from the Threat System to the Soothe system.

Developing your personal toolkit of strategies that work for you is a great idea for everyone, but especially for highly sensitive people.

The great thing for HSPs is that, just like your sensitive brain and nervous system respond more to stress, you also are designed to respond more to soothing activities.

What helps you relax into the Soothe brain state? Send an email to liz@happybrainlife.com and let me know!

Love,

Liz