Applied Tension Technique : For Children or Teens Who Faint at the Sight of Blood or Needles

Most people feel a bit uneasy when they see blood or have to get a needle. For some people, however, seeing blood or needles causes them to feel light-headed or actually faint.  It is rare to faint from anxiety unless you have this problem.  Children or teens who faint when they get an injection or have blood drawn might benefit from learning a simple technique that will help them either prevent fainting altogether, or speed up the recovery time if they do faint.  
Why does my child faint at the sight of blood or a needle?
Fainting is due to a sudden drop in your child’s heart rate or blood pressure.  In most cases,
fainting is harmless.  It is important, however, that you discuss your child’s fainting with a doctor
before teaching this technique or exposing your child to situations (such as needles or blood) that could cause fainting.  
The Applied Tension Technique
The Applied Tension Technique1 is a strategy developed to help prevent fainting or help people
recover faster if they do faint.  The technique involves tensing muscles in the body, which then raises blood pressure.  If your blood pressure increases, you are less likely to faint.
How To Do It
Have your child sit in a comfortable chair and tense the muscles in his or her arms, legs and trunk for about 10 to 15 seconds.  Your child should hold the tension until he or she starts to feel a warm sensation in the head.  Then, have him or her relax the body for 20 to 30 seconds.  Repeat five times.
Practicing
Encourage your child to practice the above strategy five times per day for at least a week.
Using With Exposure Exercises
After your child has practiced this technique for at least a week, he or she can start using this strategy when doing exposure exercises to blood and needles.  See Module on and Specific
Phobia and Helping your Child to Face Fears: Exposure.




You can use the following explanation to help your child understand:

We are going to give you a tool for your toolbox. 
When you use this tool, you will be the boss and
you’ll be able to stop yourself from fainting!




Helpful Tips:

Speedy Recovery!    If your child does faint, you can help him or her
recover faster by lying him or her down and elevating the feet.  
Tense & Relax! If you tense your arm when you are receiving a needle,
it can be more painful.  Encourage your child to relax the arm that will be receiving the needle, while tensing the other parts of the body.  Have your child practice this before going to get a needle.  
Warning!   If your child develops a headache when trying the applied
tension technique, encourage him or her to reduce the level of tension or the frequency of practices.
Warning Signs! It can be helpful to have your child learn to recognize
the early signs of his or her blood pressure dropping, such as feelings of lightheadedness.  Encourage your child to use the tension technique as soon as he or she starts to experience those sensations.
Practice! Even though this strategy sounds simple it takes practice to

be helpful! 

How to Teach Your Child Calm Breathing

What is “calm breathing”?
Calm breathing is a technique that teaches your child to slow down his or her breathing when feeling stressed or anxious.
Why is calm breathing important?
When your child is feeling anxious, his or her breathing will change. When we are anxious, we tend to  take short, quick, shallow breaths or even hyperventilate. 
This type of anxious breathing can actually make the feeling of anxiety worse!
Doing calm breathing can help lower your child’s anxiety, and give him or her a sense of control
Calm breathing is a great portable tool that your child can use when feeling anxious, especially in situations when you are not there to help him or her through it.


How To Do It
Step 1: Explaining calm breathing to your child
This is a tool your child can use anywhere, anytime! Other people will probably not even notice when your child is using this tool. For older children and teens, explain that taking short quick breaths actually increases other feelings of anxiety (e.g. heart racing, dizziness, or headaches). Calm breathing will slow down his or her breathing. 
Step 2: Teaching the calm breathing technique


Take a slow breath in through the nose (for about 4 seconds)
Hold your breath for 1 or 2 seconds
Exhale slowly through the mouth (over about 4 seconds)
Wait 2-3 seconds before taking another breath  (5-7 seconds for teenagers) Repeat for at least 5 to 10 breaths


Calm Breathing for Younger Children: Bubble Blowing
A fun way to teach your younger child how to do calm breathing is the “bubble blowing” technique. Using a toy soap bubble container and wand (available at any toy store), have your child practice blowing bubbles. The breathing required for blowing soap bubbles is the same as what is used for calm breathing. Simply make sure your child waits a second or two before blowing another bubble. Then practice “blowing bubbles” without a bubble wand.


Important Hint:            Although “bubble blowing” is a great way to practice calm breathing, it is important to
remind your child that he or she is doing this to learn how to breathe calmly. In other words, do not simply ask your child to blow bubbles without explaining this tool is used to help to manage anxiety.
Here’s a script of how to introduce bubble blowing to your young child
Talking about bubble blowing
“Today we are going to practice a new skill called calm breathing. This will be a new tool that you can use when you feel anxious, such as when you are at school. When you use calm breathing, you take slow breaths. A good way to practice it is to do some bubble blowing, because you have to take a slow, deep breath to make a big bubble, and you have to blow the bubble really slowly or it will pop! So let’s practice. Take a slow, deep breath in, hold it for a second, and then slowly blow some bubbles. Good job! Now
let’s try that again.”



For Older Children and Teens: Belly Breathing
Since calm breathing involves taking slow, controlled breaths from the diaphragm, another way to explain this technique is to present it as “belly breathing”. The steps for this exercise are as follows:
Inhale slowly for 4 seconds through the nose. 
Ask your child to pretend that he or she is blowing up a balloon in the belly, so your child’s belly should inflate when inhaling.
Wait 2 seconds, and then slowly exhale through the mouth. Ask your child to pretend that he or she is emptying the balloon of air, so the tummy should deflate.
Wait 2 seconds, and then repeat.


Helpful Hint: When belly breathing, make sure your child’s upper body (shoulders and chest area) is
fairly relaxed and still. Only the belly should be moving! 
Step 3: Practice, practice, practice!


In order for your child to be able to use this new tool effectively, he or she first needs to be        an expert at
calm breathing.


  
 The only way to become an expert is to practice this skill daily!



Rules of practice:
Until your child is comfortable with this skill, he or she should practice it at least twice a day, doing 10 calm breaths in a row.
When you are practicing calm breathing, start when your child is relaxed, before he or she is
feeling anxious. Your child needs to be comfortable breathing this way when feeling calm!
Once your child is comfortable with this technique, he or she can start using it in situations that cause anxiety.







    As a final note…


     If you are using cognitive coping cards with your child (see   Developing and Using Cognitive
      Coping Cards), calm breathing can also be used as a coping statement. For example,
I’m feeling a little anxious right now. Maybe I should do some belly breathing!”
“I don’t need to worry if I feel scared. I can always do some bubble blowing   !”


Psychology Today: As a Man Thinketh

“A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts,” is one of the quotes from James Allen's classic self help books, As a Man Thinketh. Published in 1902, it provides many more such insightful concepts on the power of thought and its effect on a human being's personality and behavior.

This volume is more of a literary essay than a complete book and its title is based on a Biblical proverb, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Taking this piece of ancient wisdom further, James Allen explores the far-reaching effects of the inner workings of a person's mind and motivation. He proposes that projecting one's own desires, goals and needs in the outer world can provide clues to a person's character.

Thinking and the subconscious mind are assumed to be hidden from the outside world, and hence powerless to change the course of events or circumstances of one's life. However, in this book, Allen presents ideas that can harness this subterranean force and bend our lives to our will if we so choose.

James Allen was a British writer who wrote mostly about everyday philosophy for the lay person and was in a sense, a pioneer of the self help movement. His books and poems were inspirational pieces, meant to help people realize their own powers and take charge of their lives rather than being mere tools in the hands of destiny. Born in a working class family in Leicester, England, Allen and his younger brother grew up in straitened circumstances. His father, a factory worker, traveled to America in search of a better job, but was tragically attacked and killed by criminals in New York. James, the older son, was compelled to leave school and seek work back in England. He found employment as a secretary to a stationer and later worked as a journalist. He later discovered a deep and enduring interest in spiritual matters when he began working as a writer with a magazine devoted to spiritual themes. His first book From Poverty to Power was published in 1901. Subsequently, he also launched his own spiritual magazine.

As a Man Thinketh was his third and most famous book. It became an instant bestseller and the sales of this tiny volume were so great that they allowed Allen and his family to retire to the country, buy a house and live in relative comfort for the rest of their life.

The book's language is very simple and the message presented here will certainly provide a basis for further thought and meditation.

Understanding Anxiety Problems : Self-Help

EVERYONE HAS ANXIETY, it is a survival instinct, deep inside us, that helps to protect us from getting hurt. And it does this by preparing our body (and mind) to fight or run away. To fight or flee, the fight-or-flight response, it is this that makes us scared and prepared in order to keep us safe.
In the past, dangerous things that could harm us included such things as wild animals, poisonous snakes and insects, strangers, heights and confined spaces. Being confronted by any of these could have been life threatening.
Today, we no longer face the direct threats of our ancestors. They still exist of course: wild animals, dangerous strangers
etc. and could potentially kill us in certain circumstances, but
they don't impact our lives as they did.



Today, the threats we face are more subtle and vague. Problems with…


x_   Partners in relationships
x_   Family members
x_   Work colleagues or the job itself
x_   Money and bills
x_   Health and diet
x_   The violence in the world

 can make us feel bad, unhappy and miserable for a long time. They make us uncomfortable, generally discontented and in a very real way, insecure.


When problems in our life persist or get worse we start to feel bad and insecure more often. Eventually anxiety (our self protection system) kicks in, mild at first, usually in form of increased nervousness and apprehension or some anxiety- related symptom.
We may notice that we are more shaky, sweating more, experiencing heart palpitations, tightness across the chest or blushing. Any symptom related to anxiety may develop. And worrying about these symptom only makes them worse for it increases the anxiety.
These anxiety symptoms reflect our mind and body warning us that something is not right in our life, something is making us insecure and we need to stop it or get away from it. If the situation remains unresolved we can become more and more anxious (with various anxiety symptoms getting worse) seemingly for no apparent reason. 


Reducing Anxiety Naturally

Today, many people start to experience anxiety symptoms for the reasons detailed above: unresolved life situations that cause continuous unhappiness and insecurity.
And the way to deal with short-term anxiety problems (that seem to have come on for no reason) involves three things:-


1.              Establish a Reason for the Anxiety (or Depression)
Identify any situation in your life that is regularly causing unnecessary stress and feelings of insecurity. Realise that such situations would cause anxiety in anyone and that your symptoms are justified and there for a reason.
This reduces much of their power. Seeing them as justified and with an external cause rather than being a medical condition or due to “something wrong with you” allows you to take control. When anxious (or depressed) accept it and that it is there for a good reason.
Stressful, negative situations should be removed from your life completely or avoided wherever possible. And when it's not possible to do this try to adapt how you react to them so they don't upset you so much.


2.             Learn How to Relax and Do it Regularly
Relaxation is the physiological opposite of tension. It is impossible for a relaxed muscle to be tense or a calm mind to be anxious. Find a relaxation technique that is comfortable and effective and practice it often. (The 'Progressive Muscle Relaxation' technique developed by Jacobsen in the 1930's still remains one of the most successful methods available today).


3.                  Exercise Often

Endorphines (natural morphine-like chemicals) released by the body during exercise to combat the stress of the exercise help to alleviate all stress. Physical exercise also provides a release for pent-up nervous energy and numerous studies show exercise to be better than anti-depressants at alleviating (not curing) depression.
Develop an exercise regime appropriate to age, fitness levels and health (always consult a medical and fitness professional before starting any exercise regime) and, again, do it regularly.


Identifying and dealing with any stressful life situation combined with counteracting the mental and physical effects of anxiety and depression through relaxation and exercise can help to remedy short-term problems.




Anxiety Disorders and Depression


Excessive and persistent anxiety, uncontrollable worrying, panic attacks, irrational fears and phobias (particularly social phobia), obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours, even severe depression…
These problems reflect how the human mind tries to deal with unresolved anxiety.
There is no doubt that persistent nervousness and anxiety, if unresolved, can lead to serious problems. Indeed, numerous research studies show that the first thing many people with




long-term anxiety disorders remember about the start of their problem is “being too nervous for a long time”.
Over time, anxiety that isn’t resolved starts to become linked to our self rather than any external situation that caused it.  It’s how the mind works and it does make things a bit more complicated, but when we truly understand how this happens it is possible to cure these problems completely.


Help for Anxiety Disorders and Severe Depression


If you would like to know more about these problems and about a new answer for them – one that shows how to cure them completely and permanently without therapy or
medication

Understanding Anxiety Problems : A Better Way?

TO OVERCOME ANXIETY and depression problems, the goal is not to get rid of the anxiety or the depression, for these are normal parts of being human. The aim is to understand why they have become so strong, deal with the cause and reduce them to normal levels.


Anxiety is a part of life; part of being alive and everyone experiences anxiety frequently. When this happens we feel shaky on the inside but relatively calm on the outside, this is normal, this is part of anxiety, this is how it feels. 



On a  popular television  quiz show, where the
contestants answer  questions and can double their innings up to a million, the  quizmaster has said to many contestants, words to the effect: “You look remarkably calm”.


In nearly every instance, the reply has been the same:
“On the outside yes, but inside I'm shaking like a leaf”.




Anxiety and depression become a real problem (and lead to more serious problems and disorders) when we start to associate them with something being wrong with us (our self) rather than with life situations.
We start to believe that we have anxiety or depression because there is something wrong with us.


And belief is a very powerful thing.


If ten thousand people say you are good and you feel bad about yourself ... you will believe you are bad. Conversely if ten thousand people say you are bad and you feel good about yourself ... you will believe that you are good.




Our reality is shaped by what we feel and what we believe.



“A man found an eagle's egg and put it in a nest of a
barnyard hen. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them. All his life the eagle did what the barnyard chicks did, thinking he was a barnyard chicken. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He clucked and cackled and would thrash his wings and fly a few feet into the air. Years passed and the eagle grew very old.
One day he saw a magnificent bird above him in the cloudless sky. It glided in graceful majesty among the owerful wind currents, with scarcely a beat of its stronggolden wings. The eagle looked up in awe. "Who's that?" he asked. "That's the eagle, the king of the birds", said his neighbour. "He belongs to the sky.
We belong to the earth we're chickens." So the eagle
lived and died a chicken, for that's what he thought he was.”


... AWARENESS ... Anthony de Mello




AND THE ANSWER LIES IN CHANGING WHAT WE FEEL AND BELIEVE.


To change beliefs, we have to understand how and why they developed. We have to understand our experiences, and more importantly, the conclusions we drew about them. For it's not the experiences themselves that do lasting damage, it's what we make of them. We have to understand how we learned to think and behave because of our experiences.



Our mind and body are so interlinked that in some ways it is
difficult to distinguish between them, thoughts generate feelings and feelings generate thoughts. Anxiety leads to tension but also tension leads to anxiety.
Many people with long-term anxiety and depression problems exist in a higher than average state of tension. Their whole body can be tense to some degree for most of the time. It isn’t surprising that various body aches and general fatigue are often seen in many anxiety disorders and depression.
A tense body is already making associations with anxiety, prepared to spark off a worrying thought or image and start the ball rolling towards panic, incessant worrying, obsessive thoughts or despair. A relaxed body equals a relaxed mind and vice versa.


And so… insight and understanding are essential in order to fully overcome anxiety-related problems. However, from the mildest anxiety to the severest depression, there is something
else that’s equally important … changing behaviour.


We can't just think our way out of these problems. To change behaviour we have to do the behaviour (it isn't possible to learn to ride a bike just by thinking about it!)
But changing behaviour alone will not help if we still feel bad about our self or still have unanswered questions about our problem. Any force over which we have little understanding and even less control will always hold power over us, for it is unpredictable and could harm us and as such remains frightening.



Therefore, successfully overcoming anxiety and depression

problems requires both insight and behaviour change.  

Understanding Anxiety Problems : Treatment

INVOLVING SELF-DOUBT, insecurity and fear, these problems often feel too powerful to deal with and it's not surprising that most people are desperately seeking something that will just take the problem away.
Doctors, scientists and drug companies have searched for this 'holy grail' for decades, the one pill or medication that will simply cure these problems. In doing so they proffer the 'medical model' to explain anxiety and depression problems. This model proposes that physical abnormalities explain the mental processes involved in these problems and, as such, any cure lies in 'correcting the thing' that has gone wrong, usually by medication.
This goes hand-in-hand with classification and treatment. Problems are defined, named, classified, listed, ordered,



placed in categories, placed in sub-categories in an attempt to
understand and control them. Strangely enough, exactly the same attempts to gain control are found in most forms of OCD. And while some argue that benefits of this system include a more accurate diagnosis and subsequent better treatment (which is debatable given such a lack of success) others argue that it is inaccurate, misleading and overlooks the bigger picture.


The medical model of anxiety-related problems ignores the incredible power of the mind and in doing so doesn't even come close to providing an answer. Indeed there is mounting evidence to show that beliefs about such things as genetics, physical brain differences and chemical imbalance are simply wrong. These are not responsible for these problems as it's often suggested and treatments based on these beliefs are actually trying to 'fix' the wrong thing.
More about this shortly, but first let's take a look at the range of anxiety medications available today.
(Medications as of 2014.)


Anxiety Medication


Currently there are four main types of medication used to treat anxiety problems and disorders.


1. Tranquilizers

Tranquilizers (anti-anxiety drugs) work by reducing brain activity and slowing down the central nervous system. This not only reduces anxiety but thoughts and feelings in general. This 'numbing' of feelings can be very calming but also habit- forming and long-term use should be avoided.


Benzodiazepines are the most common class of tranquilizers prescribed. They include:-


Ativan (lorazepam)
Klonopin (clonazepam)
Valium (diazepam) Xanax (alprazolam)




2.             Antidepressants (Depression medication)


Now that a link between anxiety and depression has been established certain antidepressants are becoming more widely used to alleviate anxiety. These medications can take up to 4-6 weeks to take effect and require long-term usage.


There are 3 main types of antidepressant used to treat anxiety: 




i.                Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI's)
These work by reducing the depletion of the neurotransmitter Serotonin (thought to be connected to mood) in the brain.



Celexa (citalopram)
Lexapro (escitalopram)
Paxil (paroxetine)
Prozac (fluoxetine)
Zoloft (sertraline)


They include:-
SSRI's are often used to treat: panic disorder, GAD (generalized anxiety disorder) and OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder)

ii) Tricyclic Antidepressants (TCA's) 

Thought to be less habit-forming than the cyclics (                    eg.
benzodiazepines). Largely replaced by SSRI's they are still used for some problems such  as  panic disorder. Unlike benzodiazepines, tricyclics usually require only a daily single dose. TCA's include:-


Gamanil (lofepramine) Tofranil (imipramine)
Timaxel(metapramine)


One major disadvantage of the tricyclics is that they sometimes produce cardiac effects such as dizziness and palpitations, the very symptoms they are used to alleviate.


iii) Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOI's)


eg. Nardil (phenelzine)



One of the oldest classes of antidepressants, this is often used
when others have not been effective. Possibly effective in relieving panic disorder and social phobia MAOI's can have very serious side effects (sudden increase in blood pressure) and people taking them often have to have a restrictive diet to protect from this.


3.             Azapirones
A newer treatment, there is only one medication available: Buspar (buspirone)


Buspirone is a milder tranquilizer. It works by regulating levels of Serotonin and Dopamine in the brain. Slower acting than the traditional anti-anxiety drugs, this medication has the advantage of not being as sedating or addictive as the older types of tranquilizer and having less withdrawal effects.




4.             Beta Blockers


Originally developed to treat heart problems by reducing stress on the heart, this class of drugs work by blocking the
adrenaline (produced when anxious) from acting on various
organs in the body. Common beta blockers prescribed are:- Inderal (propranolol)
Tenormin (atenolol)
Zebeta (bisoprolol)



Note that these drugs don't stop anxiety or adrenaline but stop
some of the effects of the adrenaline eg. a speeding heart.


It is important to realise that medication is not a cure for anxiety problems. Taking prescription drugs doesn't deal with the underlying cause of the problem and once the medication is stopped symptoms usually return with a vengeance. Also, many medications produce side effects, which may be as bad as or worse than the actual problem, and long-term usage can lead to addiction and withdrawal problems. The same is also true when taking medications for depression; they do not cure the underlying problem.
That said, medication does have a place in the treatment of anxiety problems. In some cases, good practice involves taking medication, short-term, to help alleviate symptoms alongside an appropriate therapy to help deal with any problematic thoughts, feelings and behaviours that exist.



Please Note:     sudden  withdrawal from certain medications can be
dangerous and under no circumstances, should anybody stop taking prescribed medication without fully qualified medical supervision.




Treating the Wrong Thing?


Current ideas about what causes anxiety and depression problems falls into three main areas: genetics, physical brain problems and chemical imbalance. 



Many treatments are based on these ideas. Yet there is
plenty of evidence to show that they are wrong, they are not the cause of these problems and looking for answers based on them cannot work.


Perhaps It’s in Our Genes?


Many anxiety disorders and depression problems can be seen to run in families, but it's too easy to see this as proof of genetics being the cause of these problems.
A depressed or anxiety-riddled parent may treat their child in such a way, and provide such a role model, that the child could develop emotional problems entirely through learning and conditioning.


Once the human genome was mapped (the entire DNA sequence that makes up humans) it was hoped to be able to identify and cure the genetic cause of almost everything. But that didn't happen. Whilst ground has been made identifying DNA mutations or variations that may be associated with a higher risk for certain diseases, the actual situation is a great deal more complex. The position of the genes in relation to others and interactions between them may exert as great an influence as the genes themselves. It's the structure as a whole, the system, not just its constituent parts that is important.
Anxiety and depression problems are the same, it is the whole system that counts: our mind and body and the environment they are in. Indeed there are numerous findings from gene research that suggest mental 'illnesses' do not occur because of a single gene.


Genetic information passed from our parents regarding
certain physical attributes (hair and eye colour, general size
etc.) may be fixed but the same cannot be said about our
behaviour. Information that is passed between a parent and child does not result in actual behaviours, but predispositions. Not fixed behaviours but ways of behaving we are susceptible to develop given the right stimulation. A parent cannot pass on fixed behaviours, for the environment the child is born into is unknown. The knowledge we inherit has to flexible to enable us to adapt and survive – reacting with extreme anxiety to unconditional love would not be adaptive.
We all come predisposed to learn language, but the main language we eventually learn to speak depends on where in the world we are born. Racehorses are bred to be good runners but they still have to be groomed and trained. Any genetic information that we receive from our parents can only be put into practice if the appropriate environment exists. DNA is our past not our future. In fact there is evidence to show that DNA (considered to be fixed and unchangeable) can actually change.
Experiments by Barbara McClintock in the 1950's showed vast changes in the DNA of plants occurring when they were stressed. A stressful environment actually resulted in whole sequences of DNA moving from one place to another, even inserting themselves into active genes. Not random behaviour, there was a method to their shifting and it was triggered by outside influences; changes in the environment such as extreme heat or drought that threatened the survival of the plant.
Initially ignored by her peers, McClintock received a Nobel Prize for her work, some thirty years later.



Genes were changing due to experience in plants. Imagine
what may be happening within the complexity of humans. Intuitively we would expect this to be the case. Life is about growing, learning and evolving. Genes shape our reaction to experiences and our reaction to experiences and learning must shape our genes. We need not be slaves to our genes!


Maybe It's Because Our Brain is Different?


PET (Positron Emission Tomography) brain scans of some people with severe anxiety disorders show increased activity and size in certain areas of the brain.
Often seen in people with obsessive compulsive disorder (brain scans of people with OCD show increased energy use in the orbital cortex of the brain, compared to those who don't have OCD) such evidence can lead to the conclusion that brain abnormalities (differences in the size and/or function of certain areas in the brain) may be responsible for these problems.
However, brain scans of violinists show the area of the brain devoted to his or her left fingers (the right primary motor cortex) to be 2 or 3 times larger than that of non- violinists. Constant use of these fingers in playing the violin have formed and embedded the associated pattern of neural connections in that part of the brain making it more active and larger.
It makes much more sense that the areas of increased size and activity in the brain are a result of continued behaviour, not the cause of the behaviour.



Or the Chemicals in Our Brain are Out of Balance?

Synapses, those connections between the neurons in our brain (around 10,000 for each neuron) are tiny spaces that are occupied by chemical messengers (called neurotransmitters) that carry information between neurons.
Serotonin and Dopamine are the two neurotransmitters regularly mentioned with regard to anxiety and depression problems. And chemical imbalance, usually referring to deficiencies in these two neurotransmitters, is often proffered as a reason for these problems. Well, anxiety and depression deplete the body of many resources including: vitamins, minerals, energy and, without doubt, also neurotransmitters.  Surely, any chemical imbalance is the result of these problems not the cause. Balancing chemicals in the brain through medication may alleviate some symptoms to a degree, but it never touches the root cause.


Current beliefs about mental illness, genetics, chemical imbalances, physical brain problems, and treatments based on these beliefs have failed millions of people looking for an answer to these problems. For they miss the real cause of the problem and never deal with it at all. They leave us struggling with symptoms, fighting in the dark, trying to deal with something when we don't even know what it is.
In viewing anxiety problems in terms of the brain and body and that something has gone wrong which needs fixing, the bigger picture is often overlooked. 
To deal with these problems successfully we need to understand the system as a whole – brain, mind, body, spirit and environment all interacting ... our whole being.