Friends and family may try to help you when you are feeling anxious. In an effort to help you feel better, they may say…
“Stop worrying”
“It’s not a big deal”
“Everything will be fine”
“Just calm down”
And yet, as the person with anxiety, believing any of those statements feels impossible.
Researchers have explained why you can’t just “turn off” your worries when you struggle with anxiety.
This article explains that people with mood or anxiety disorders demonstrate shared differences in brain regions involved in emotional and cognitive control.
The regions are involved in a person’s ability to stop ongoing mental activities and switch to new ones.
In addition, brain scans revealed that patients with mood or anxiety disorders have hyperactive areas of the brain that work together to process emotional thoughts and feelings.
The good news, is that this information can help inform how to help people with mood and anxiety disorders. Neurofeedback can address these areas in the brain and improve function and communication in the brain to improve symptoms.