Skip to content
Home » cortex

cortex

Amygdala-Based Anxiety

Amygdala-based anxiety originates in the amygdala, an ancient brain structure focused on protection. It operates rapidly and without conscious awareness, triggering the physical stress response and causing symptoms that can feel sudden and illogical. It is often driven by emotional memories and learned associations, which may not be consciously accessible. It can be distinguished from cortex-based anxiety by its typically unexplained nature, the onset of physical symptoms as a primary sign, and the reduced ability to use logic during intense episodes.

Rewiring the Anxious Brain: Techniques and the Role of the Havening Therapist

Rewiring the anxious brain leverages the brain’s capacity for neuroplasticity to change its responses to anxiety. Anxiety is understood to involve the amygdala and cortex pathways. Techniques targeting the amygdala, such as exposure therapy, relaxation, exercise, and Havening, aim to modify emotional memories and threat responses through experience and direct neurological intervention. Techniques targeting the cortex, like cognitive restructuring and mindfulness, focus on changing anxious thoughts, interpretations, and awareness. Other approaches such as NLP, SFBT, Hypnotherapy, and Neurofeedback also contribute to this process by addressing subconscious factors, promoting solution-focused thinking, conditioning relaxation responses, or directly altering brainwave patterns. A Havening therapist is particularly integral to this process by facilitating amygdala depotentiation through techniques like Havening and guiding clients in self-practices such as CPR for the Amygdala, enabling effective and controlled healing of trauma and building resilience. The goal is to build new neural pathways that resist anxiety and allow individuals to live more fully according to their values.

The Underlying Mechanisms of Anxiety

Anxiety arises and persists through a combination of the body’s stress response, specific brain mechanisms involving threat detection and information processing, neurochemical influences, and the impact of learned psychological patterns like worry, avoidance, and negative thinking. The brain’s neuroplasticity allows anxiety responses to become entrenched habits, while psychological factors such as fear of anxiety and non-acceptance further perpetuate the cycle.