Bodily responses to threat can be profound. That gut-wrenching, heartache, or ‘heart in the mouth’ moments are familiar to us all. Often we are unclear about the physiological causes of these experiences and therefore we find it difficult to understand them. Even when we seek this information, it is limited to the fight or flight response which only part-explains our experience and can lead us to have even more unanswered questions.

In this series of 'Beyond Fight or Flight' we explore three levels of autonomic nervous system response to safety and threat to develop a greater understanding of these responses.

Bodily responses to threat can be profound. That gut-wrenching, heartache, or ‘heart in the mouth’ moments are familiar to us all. Often we are unclear about the physiological causes of these experiences and therefore we find it difficult to understand them. Even when we seek this information, it is limited to the fight or flight response which only part-explains our experience and can lead us to have even more unanswered questions.

In this series of 'Beyond Fight or Flight' we explore three levels of autonomic nervous system response to safety and threat to develop a greater understanding of these responses.

Bodily responses to threat can be profound. That gut-wrenching, heartache, or ‘heart in the mouth’ moments are familiar to us all. Often we are unclear about the physiological causes of these experiences and therefore we find it difficult to understand them. Even when we seek this information, it is limited to the fight or flight response which only part-explains our experience and can lead us to have even more unanswered questions.

In this series of 'Beyond Fight or Flight' we explore three levels of autonomic nervous system response to safety and threat to develop a greater understanding of these responses.

The previous articles in the series on emotions have introduced us to models that describe the basic structure and function of emotions in helping us make decisions. The next article offers another working model of how our experiences can become patterns and form habits.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in upheaval and a diversion from our normal routines, consequently this has interrupted our usual attachments with others and resulted in a human population which longs for connection. How can we better understand ourselves to help manage the emotional struggles we may experience as a consequence of further limitations on our closeness with others? The way we may reach out or avoid reaching out to others in a way that helps us meaningfully connect is shaped by the narratives we have about love, loss and connection. Learning the rhythm, pattern and steps in our – namely, our attachment patterns - with others can help us to better meet our need for connection. Equipped with this knowledge, we can also consider changes to the typical patterns we have with others to foster new and increasingly meaningful relationships.

As our bodies respond to both the world around us and signals coming from within, we move between different levels of arousal. We are constantly adapting and shifting emotionally and physically. In this page we consider the different levels of bodily arousal. Exploring this fluid process allows us to notice associated experiences and develop better responses to our arousal level, often focused on working towards staying within our window of tolerance in which we can optimally respond to the demands of everyday life.

This introductory series of articles describes the foundation of what is required for any of us to live well. We are starting here because while we acknowledge that, for the most part, there are several things outside of our control, there are still lots of things within our control. No matter what is going on in our lives it can often be helpful to start with what we can control in order to help build our confidence and begin to move towards the kind of life we want for ourselves and those around us. This first article focuses on food and how important it is that we pay attention to what we eat as part of maintaining our health.

Grounding is useful for regulating intense emotional pain. Grounding involves generating signals of safety in the body that are transmitted to the brain and expanding awareness beyond emotional pain by using our senses: Sight, Hearing, Touch, Taste, Smell and Sense of space. Finding which grounding skills work for us takes practice and some experimentation. Here we consider the role of grounding, and it's possible benefits when managing emotional pain, and explore some suggestions about how to begin developing grounding skills in everday life.

A healthy body is a healthy mind. As described in other articles in this series, taking care of ourselves benefits body and mind. Another important area of taking care of ourselves that is often neglected is sleep.

This set of articles have hopefully provided some perspective on the importance of taking care of our basic needs as fundamental to having a healthy body and mind. Being “basic” is not always the same as “easy” and therefore for many reasons (some of which are covered in our articles on stress and childhood) many of us do not always know how to attend to these “basic” needs. This next article begins to look at how we can bring these elements together under the framework of a “routine” as a way to plan ahead to ensure we are taking care of our basic needs.

Taking care of the body is taking care of the mind. Continuing with the theme of taking care of ourselves in order to look after our mind this article considers the importance of movement, often described in the literature as “activity”.

This article explores the serenity prayer as a rule of thumb for approaching life's ups and downs.

The Brain's Response to Threat

When we detect threat the thinking areas of the brain partially shut down and activity in the emotional brain is heightened. The life sustaining areas react almost instantaneously in line with the emotional brain and send signals to the body to trigger survival responses.

Understanding the contribution that different brain areas have on our experience can seem like an overwhelming and complex task. Especially when we learn that there is a two-way relationship between our brain and our environment, in which our experiences shape our brain and bodily systems which in turn influences how we experience the world.

The three-part model of the brain can help us to better understand ourselves and apply findings from neurobiological research to everyday life.

This article offers an explanation of what emotions are and why they are important for us to live fulfilling lives.

The first article in this series introduced us to emotions as having multiple components (feeling, thought, and bodily sensations) the next article in this series examines how our emotions when properly understood with the help of our rational brain can be a superpower that allows us to live more fulfilling and connected lives.

This series of articles discusses the nature of thoughts as processes that go on in the mind. Hopefully, having a better understanding of how our thoughts operate (in mainstream psychology “metacognition” or otherwise understood as “insight” or “self-awareness”), can help us be kinder towards ourselves and others as well as develop more satisfying ways to be. There are many explanations, called models in psychology, of what thinking is. These models range from those based on contemplation and self-observation to those based on observations and measurements in laboratory studies. The ideas presented here draw on a few different models in order to present you with a ‘working model’ of thoughts.

This series of articles explores the nature of thinking by drawing on a number of psychological explanatory models. The previous article provided a brief introduction to the idea of sensations or direct experience as the building blocks of thoughts, as well as conscious and less conscious thinking. This next article looks at an even deeper level of thoughts which are stored in the deepest most primitive structures of our minds and often without words.

This series of articles explores the nature of thinking by drawing on a number of psychological explanatory models. The previous article provided an overview of the deepest level of thinking - the thoughts that are often outside our awareness and that have a strong connection to our emotions. This next article examines the double-edged sword of the virtual reality time machine (VRTM).