Worry is in our bodies, not our heads - Part One

My chronic worrying started when I was five years old the night before garbage was to be picked up in our suburban neighborhood. I didn’t talk to my parents about this worry; I kept it all in my head and every time I heard my parents drag the garbage bin out to the curb (this was before wheels were on garbage bins) the worrying would start after I went to bed. Worries of where the trash would go and if there was going to be enough room to hold it kept me awake for hours. My nighttime worries about trash would soon be replaced with worries about missing the morning school bus, forgetting my lunch, being the butt of jokes about my off-brand sneakers, or failing a math test.

Many people that come through Flourish have similar stories and experiences with anxiety and worry.. Sometimes they tell me their brain won’t shut off and haven’t slept well for years; the chronic worrying leads to arguments with their partner or family members; or they feel frozen and can’t make decisions because they are so worried about the potential outcomes. Some were prescribed medications like Xanax or Klonipin for years and received temporary relief but discovered the longer they took these medications the anxiety seemed to get worse not better; when they tried to get off of the medications they experienced intense discomfort, disruption to their daily lives and the return of severe symptoms of anxiety.

When we shift our perspective to understanding how worry is fueled by the signals in the body, not the brain, it makes sense that conventional treatments like Xanax or even cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) would not be able to offer sustainable efficacy and relief.

Stephen Porges, PhD spent decades researching how the body and brain talk to each other, how our nervous systems influence our thought patterns and how social interaction can help calm the nervous system. He developed the polyvagal theory from this research. In short, the theory weaves together the connection of messages between the body and brain, between us and another being (social engagement) and the implications of these messages traveling via an internal information super highway called the vagus nerve.

If we get mindful and curious about our worrying thoughts and apply the concepts of the Polyvagal Theory we will most likely discover feelings of discomfort or tension in our bodies such as tightness in the chest or throat, tension in the neck and shoulders, or nauseousness in the belly. The distress occurring in your body happens first as it is responding to signals from the vagus nerve.

Polyvagal Theory crushes the conventional psychiatric approach to worry and anxiety by finding the body’s autonomic nervous system creates signal(s) of danger or safety within your body first and thoughts, narrative, stories will follow in accordance with a state of danger or safety. The term 'story follows state’, created by Deb Dana, LCSW and frequent polyvagal collaborator, is often used to describe this phenomena.

When we revisit the example above regarding my worries about garbage at a young age we can speculate my young body was picking up perceived signals of danger. It is possible that my five years of experience within my family taught me not to bother my parents with my questions, leaving me alone with a problem my five year self could not solve. Feeling alone could easily trigger a perceived sense of danger within my body which in turn could produce worrying thoughts that were meant to protect me.

This research is new-ish; Dr. Porges first published his findings in 1994 and continues to evolve the theory by collaborating many others to expand this theory and it’s clinical applications (here’s the long list of research articles between 1969-2021). At Flourish, the Polyvagal Theory shares the center stage in our treatment of anxiety along with mindfulness. Our goal is to empower our people with awareness of their body’s signals to shift their reactions and narrative towards attending to the messages the body is sending them. We see worry and anxiety as a friend that is trying to warn and protect you; we help people develop a two-way relationship with this friend and the messages their body is sending them.

Part Two of this series will dive into how mindfulness, breath, curiosity and social interaction can calm worry and anxiety.