Havening technique for anxiety works by directly targeting the neurological and psychological processes involved in the experience of anxiety. It aims to reprogram the brain and change how it responds to different situations. Here’s a breakdown of how Havening helps improve specific brain and mind processes:
1. Amygdala-Based Responses
- Reducing Amygdala Activation: The amygdala is the part of the brain that is responsible for the fight, flight, or freeze response. Havening helps to calm the amygdala by creating a sense of safety. Havening directly impacts the amygdala by stripping receptors off of the surface of neurons, which reduces the intensity of traumatic memories.
- Depotentiating Traumatic Memories: Havening technique for anxiety is particularly effective for depotentiating (deactivating) traumatically encoded memories stored in the amygdala. This means that the emotional intensity associated with past events can be reduced, so they no longer trigger an anxious response.
- Interrupting the Stress Response: By activating the parasympathetic nervous system through touch and calming techniques, Havening can switch off the stress response activated by the amygdala.
- Rewiring the Amygdala: Havening technique for anxiety uses the amygdala’s own language of associations to make new connections. By using havening touch, while recalling a distressing memory, and using distraction and positive reinforcement, the brain can rewire and learn new, calmer responses.
2. Cortical Processes
- Reducing Cognitive Fusion: The cortex can contribute to anxiety through worries, obsessions, and negative interpretations. Havening technique for anxiety, when paired with cognitive techniques such as mindfulness, helps to create distance from negative thoughts allowing clients to observe them without getting caught up in them. This helps break the connection between thoughts and anxiety.
- Changing Thought Patterns: By helping clients reprocess traumatic memories, Havening technique for anxiety can reduce the tendency for the cortex to generate anxiety-provoking thoughts about the past or the future. Clients can learn to challenge negative thought patterns and reframe their interpretations.
- Promoting Mindfulness: While Havening is not a mindfulness technique, the process of self-havening and the resulting sense of calm and safety allow the brain to naturally become more mindful, creating a pathway to connect to experience more fully.
- Accessing Solutions: NLP based techniques used by a Havening practitioner can help clients learn to access solutions and resources, even when feeling anxious.
3. Neurochemical Changes
- Releasing Stress Hormones: Anxiety is linked to the release of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. Havening technique for anxiety can help to regulate the release of these chemicals by activating the parasympathetic nervous system which promotes relaxation, thus lowering overall stress levels.
- Creating a Safe Electrochemical Environment: The touch used in havening technique for anxiety helps to create a safe electrochemical environment in the mind and body. This, in turn, removes the amygdala filter from the psychotherapeutic process, allowing the client to respond better to the therapeutic interventions.
4. Emotional Processing
- Reducing Emotional Intensity: By targeting the emotional component of traumatic memories, havening technique for anxiety reduces the intensity of negative emotions associated with them, such as fear, shame, or guilt.
- Increasing Positive Emotions: Through techniques like Affirmational Havening, clients can reinforce positive emotions and feelings about themselves. This helps to build resilience and promotes a sense of hope.
- Promoting Self-Compassion: Creating a sense of kindness and support when processing feelings helps to calm anxiety by focusing attention on a different emotion system.
- Learning Emotional Regulation: Havening helps people to learn to manage and regulate their own emotions, which can help them feel more in control.
5. Habitual Behaviors
- Breaking Avoidance Patterns: The tools employed by a Havening practitioner helps clients identify and break patterns of avoidance and control that contribute to anxiety, making it easier to approach anxiety-provoking situations.
- Creating New Habits: By learning self-havening techniques and consistently practicing them, clients can establish new habits for managing stress and anxiety.
6. Overall Psychological Well-being
- Promoting Personal Growth: The overall effect of Havening technique for anxiety can help move someone forward and facilitate personal growth, by addressing past traumas.
- Empowering Self-Management: Havening technique for anxiety gives clients the tools and techniques to self-regulate their own emotional responses in the present moment, enhancing their sense of control.
Summary
Havening technique for anxiety works on multiple levels to reduce the impact of anxiety on the brain and mind. It primarily targets the amygdala to reduce activation and depotentiate traumatic memories, while also engaging the cortex to change negative thought patterns and promote mindfulness. Additionally, Havening supports the regulation of neurochemicals, encourages positive emotions, breaks patterns of avoidance, and enhances overall psychological well-being. By combining neurological and psychological approaches, Havening provides a comprehensive method for overcoming anxiety.
Tags: Havening, anxiety, neurobiology, amygdala, cortex, emotional regulation, stress response, trauma, mindfulness, habit change, resilience