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PHOBIA LIBRARY
Read up on fear, panic and phobia to get a general overview of phobias and trauma and fear management. Learn mindfulness based self care principles and exercises for managing phobias from my books on trauma and self care.
JUMP TO A CHAPTER
Fear | Function | Thought | Treatment | Coping
For Help See: Fear in the Brain | Fear Dictionary
Fear | Function | Thought | Treatment | Coping
For Help See: Fear in the Brain | Fear Dictionary
THE LIBRARY TOPIC HOME PAGES
Introduction to Trauma, Fear and Phobia
Part 1: Defining Fear and the Fear Response
Part 2: Emotional & Cognitive Functions of Fear
Part 3: Maladaptive Thought Processing
Part 4: Professional Therapy & Mindful Self Care
THE PHOBIA COLLECTION DOWNLOADS
Browse Collection of Phobias by Topic
Download Collection of Phobias
Download Dictionary of Fear and Phobia
Download Self Care Guides for Coping
Introduction to Trauma, Fear and Phobia
Part 1: Defining Fear and the Fear Response
Part 2: Emotional & Cognitive Functions of Fear
Part 3: Maladaptive Thought Processing
Part 4: Professional Therapy & Mindful Self Care
THE PHOBIA COLLECTION DOWNLOADS
Browse Collection of Phobias by Topic
Download Collection of Phobias
Download Dictionary of Fear and Phobia
Download Self Care Guides for Coping
PART THREE - THOUGHTS
MALADAPTIVE THOUGHT PROCESSING
Articles defining thought, it’s processing, and the maladaptive thinking of cognitive malfunctions, psychological effects, overthinking and the delusions found within common delusional concepts and thoughts.
THOUGHT DIRECTORY
- It’s the Thought That Counts
- Maladaptive Thought Processing and Fear
- The Negativity of Negative Thoughts
- Spin the Positive Into Positivity
- Challenging the Cognitive Malfunctions
- The Psychological Effects of Thought
- Delusions and Delusional Thinking
- Overthinking the Overthinking
RELATED SELF CARE GUIDES BY KAIROS
View All Downloads
- Dictionary of the Mind and Brain
- The Complexity of Thought
- Glossary of Thought
- Uncovering the Traumatized Brain
- Riding the Crazy Train of Emotions
- Promoting Mindful Self Care
- Principles of Mindfulness for the Soul
- All Brain and Mind Glossaries
Phobia Home | Library Home | Topic Home
ALL CONTENT PROVIDED BY MY BOOKS ON MINDFUL SELF CARE FOR TRAUMA AND FEAR
Download for Free Here
Download for Free Here
SPIN THE POSITIVE INTO POSITIVITY
Every thought you have releases some type of chemical in your brain. When you are thinking positive thoughts and feeling happy, cortisol is decreased and your brain produces serotonin, which creates a feeling of well-being. When serotonin levels are normal you feel happy, calmer, less anxious, more focused and more emotionally stable.
Dopamine
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter and it helps control the brain’s reward system and pleasure center. Dopamine is spread through the brain by specialized nerve cells when a person achieves some kind of reward, such as by satisfying hunger and thirst, winning a game, or passing an examination. Dopamine is often called a “reward hormone” and it gives feelings of buoyant optimism, energy, power, and knowledge. When people consciously practice gratitude they get a surge of dopamine and they experience a brightening of the mind.
Prefrontal Cortex
Daniel Goleman author of “Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence” states that the brain has heightened prefrontal activity and positivity resulting in enhanced mental functions such as creative thinking, cognitive flexibility, and even faster processing. Positive emotions actually widen our span of attention and it also changes our perception and focus. With happy thoughts we experience brain growth through reinforcement and generation of new synapses. The prefrontal cortex is where all mind/brain functions unite and are sent out to other parts of the brain or transmitted to parts of the body. The prefrontal cortex is the switch that regulates the signals from the neurons. It allows you to think about what you are doing at the time. It permits you to control your emotions through your limbic brain. Since it allows you to focus, it also gives you time for being aware of your own thought processes. Repetitive positive thought and positive activity can rewire your brain and strengthen brain areas that stimulate positive feelings.
Benefits to Positive Thought
Studies show that positive thinking is good for both our mental and physical health. According to the Mayo Clinic, the health benefits of positive thinking may include:
Thinking positively simply makes us feel better. We have more self-confidence when we focus on things we actually like about ourselves rather than narrowing in on all of our self-criticisms. Thinking positively helps keep us out of negative thinking patterns, such as rumination that can lead to more self-hatred and depression.
What Negative Feelings Do
See Also: Negativity in the Negative Thoughts
Prefrontal Cortex
The brain draws metabolic energy away from the prefrontal cortex when you are processing negative thoughts. With these thoughts, the brain can’t perform at high or even normal capacity. When stressed or scared, you can’t properly take in and process new material and you can’t think creatively. Stress can alter plasticity in the nervous system, particularly in the limbic system. Brain scan studies have shown that negative thoughts reduce activity in the cerebellum, which controls coordination, balance, working relationships with others and the speed of thought.
Thalamus
The thalamus is responsible for sending sensory and motor signals to the rest of the body but it does not understand that negative thoughts aren’t the same as real danger. When you think negative thoughts, the thalamus assumes that it needs to prepare the body to flee. As a result, our bodies experience body stress symptoms like a rapid heartbeat, elevated blood pressure, and a state of heightened arousal.
Frontal Lobe
The frontal lobe houses the prefrontal cortex and it decides the amount of attention to pay to something based on its importance and how you feel about it. If you focus on negativity more synapses and neurons will be created to support your negative thought process. Negative thoughts will actually slow down the brain’s ability to function and it prevents cognitive functioning.
Temporal Lobe
Negative thoughts slow down your brain coordination. They make it difficult to process your thoughts properly which prevents you from devising solutions. They stifle your creativity which prevents out of the box problem resolutions. They impact the left temporal lobe (fear factor) which affects mood, memory and impulse control. Negative thinking is not healthy and your brain won’t let you be happy with them.
Amygdala
According to Dr. Rick Hanson, neuroscientist and author of Hardwiring Happiness, our brains process positive stimuli very differently from negative stimuli. Hanson explains that the amygdala, which is like an alarm system in our brains, “uses about two-thirds of its neurons to look for bad news,” Hanson writes. “Once it sounds the alarm, negative events and experiences get quickly stored in memory — in contrast to positive events and experiences, which usually need to be held in awareness for a dozen or more seconds to transfer from short-term memory buffers to long-term storage.” In order for positive thoughts to hold up to equally intense negative ones, we need to purposely focus on them for much longer. And our brains get used to certain patterns of thought. So, the more negatively we think, the more automatic the process of thinking negatively becomes, and the more difficult it becomes to break out of that pattern and start thinking positively
Positive thoughts increase the synapses (areas connecting neurons) which in increases mental productivity by improving cognition. Your ability to pay attention and to focus will intensify enabling you to think and analyze better. Positivity improves your ability to solve problems and finally it enhances your creativity and your work will demonstrate the results.
Train your mind to see the good in everything. Positivity is a choice. You are in control of your life and it is a choice only you can make. Your happiness depends on the quality of your thoughts. Thinking positively relieves stress, improves mood, inspires motivation and simply makes you feel good.
Make a Pledge and Meditate
Make a pledge to yourself. Repeat the following mantra in your meditations or in front of a mirror.
Dopamine
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter and it helps control the brain’s reward system and pleasure center. Dopamine is spread through the brain by specialized nerve cells when a person achieves some kind of reward, such as by satisfying hunger and thirst, winning a game, or passing an examination. Dopamine is often called a “reward hormone” and it gives feelings of buoyant optimism, energy, power, and knowledge. When people consciously practice gratitude they get a surge of dopamine and they experience a brightening of the mind.
Prefrontal Cortex
Daniel Goleman author of “Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence” states that the brain has heightened prefrontal activity and positivity resulting in enhanced mental functions such as creative thinking, cognitive flexibility, and even faster processing. Positive emotions actually widen our span of attention and it also changes our perception and focus. With happy thoughts we experience brain growth through reinforcement and generation of new synapses. The prefrontal cortex is where all mind/brain functions unite and are sent out to other parts of the brain or transmitted to parts of the body. The prefrontal cortex is the switch that regulates the signals from the neurons. It allows you to think about what you are doing at the time. It permits you to control your emotions through your limbic brain. Since it allows you to focus, it also gives you time for being aware of your own thought processes. Repetitive positive thought and positive activity can rewire your brain and strengthen brain areas that stimulate positive feelings.
Benefits to Positive Thought
Studies show that positive thinking is good for both our mental and physical health. According to the Mayo Clinic, the health benefits of positive thinking may include:
- Increased life span
- Lower rates of depression
- Lower levels of distress
- Greater resistance to the common cold
- Better psychological and physical well-being
- Better cardiovascular health and reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease
- Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress
Thinking positively simply makes us feel better. We have more self-confidence when we focus on things we actually like about ourselves rather than narrowing in on all of our self-criticisms. Thinking positively helps keep us out of negative thinking patterns, such as rumination that can lead to more self-hatred and depression.
What Negative Feelings Do
See Also: Negativity in the Negative Thoughts
Prefrontal Cortex
The brain draws metabolic energy away from the prefrontal cortex when you are processing negative thoughts. With these thoughts, the brain can’t perform at high or even normal capacity. When stressed or scared, you can’t properly take in and process new material and you can’t think creatively. Stress can alter plasticity in the nervous system, particularly in the limbic system. Brain scan studies have shown that negative thoughts reduce activity in the cerebellum, which controls coordination, balance, working relationships with others and the speed of thought.
Thalamus
The thalamus is responsible for sending sensory and motor signals to the rest of the body but it does not understand that negative thoughts aren’t the same as real danger. When you think negative thoughts, the thalamus assumes that it needs to prepare the body to flee. As a result, our bodies experience body stress symptoms like a rapid heartbeat, elevated blood pressure, and a state of heightened arousal.
Frontal Lobe
The frontal lobe houses the prefrontal cortex and it decides the amount of attention to pay to something based on its importance and how you feel about it. If you focus on negativity more synapses and neurons will be created to support your negative thought process. Negative thoughts will actually slow down the brain’s ability to function and it prevents cognitive functioning.
Temporal Lobe
Negative thoughts slow down your brain coordination. They make it difficult to process your thoughts properly which prevents you from devising solutions. They stifle your creativity which prevents out of the box problem resolutions. They impact the left temporal lobe (fear factor) which affects mood, memory and impulse control. Negative thinking is not healthy and your brain won’t let you be happy with them.
Amygdala
According to Dr. Rick Hanson, neuroscientist and author of Hardwiring Happiness, our brains process positive stimuli very differently from negative stimuli. Hanson explains that the amygdala, which is like an alarm system in our brains, “uses about two-thirds of its neurons to look for bad news,” Hanson writes. “Once it sounds the alarm, negative events and experiences get quickly stored in memory — in contrast to positive events and experiences, which usually need to be held in awareness for a dozen or more seconds to transfer from short-term memory buffers to long-term storage.” In order for positive thoughts to hold up to equally intense negative ones, we need to purposely focus on them for much longer. And our brains get used to certain patterns of thought. So, the more negatively we think, the more automatic the process of thinking negatively becomes, and the more difficult it becomes to break out of that pattern and start thinking positively
Positive thoughts increase the synapses (areas connecting neurons) which in increases mental productivity by improving cognition. Your ability to pay attention and to focus will intensify enabling you to think and analyze better. Positivity improves your ability to solve problems and finally it enhances your creativity and your work will demonstrate the results.
Train your mind to see the good in everything. Positivity is a choice. You are in control of your life and it is a choice only you can make. Your happiness depends on the quality of your thoughts. Thinking positively relieves stress, improves mood, inspires motivation and simply makes you feel good.
Make a Pledge and Meditate
Make a pledge to yourself. Repeat the following mantra in your meditations or in front of a mirror.
- I will no longer let negative thoughts or feelings drain my energy.
- I will focus only on the good.
- I will think positive, feel positive and speak positive words.
- I will send my good energy out into the world.
- And I will be grateful for all the wonderful things it will attract in my life.
PROMOTE NEUROPLASTICITY
Read More About Neuroplasticity Here
There is an area of neuroscience that studies the effect of thoughts on the brain. It’s called neuroplasticity. Researchers believe that our thoughts can change the structure and function of our brains and neuroplasticity is therefore the ability of the brain to adapt and change. “Neuro” is for the nerve cells, or neurons, and “plastic” refers to the modifiable nature of our brain and nervous system. Thoughts have the power to change the brain structure.
The concept of a changing brain has replaced the formerly held belief that the adult brain was pretty static or hard-wired, after critical developmental periods in childhood. While it’s true that your brain is much more plastic during the early years and capacity declines with age, plasticity happens all throughout your life.
Change is mostly limited to those situations in which the brain is in the mood. If you are alert, engaged, motivated, ready for action, the brain releases the neurochemicals necessary to enable brain change. When you are in a bad mood, negative, inattentive, or distracted your neuroplastic switches are “off.”
The harder you try, the more you’re motivated, the more aware you are, then the bigger the brain changes are. If you’re intensely focused on the task and really trying to master something for an important reason, the change experienced will be greater.
What actually changes in the brain are the strengths of the connections of neurons that are engaged together. The more something is practiced, the more connections are changed to retain all elements of the experience (sensory info, movement, cognitive patterns). You can think of it like a “master controller” being formed for a behavior that allows it to be performed with remarkable facility and reliability over time.
Your chance at improving a behavior is heightened with cell-to-cell cooperation and this is crucial for increasing reliability. The more powerfully coordinated your nerve cell “teams” are, the more powerful and more reliable their behavior.
The brain also strengthens its connections between teams of neurons so moments of successive things reliably occur in time. This enables your brain to predict what happens next and have a continuous “associative flow.” Without this ability, your stream of consciousness you have no teamwork.
Initial changes are temporary. Your brain first records the change, then it determines whether it should make it permanent or not. It puts a value on it. It only becomes permanent if your brain judges the value to be good enough or if the behavioral outcome is significantly good or bad.
The brain is changed by internal mental processes in the same ways changes are achieved through interactions with the external world.
You don’t have to move an inch to drive positive plastic change in your brain. Your internal representations of things recalled from memory work for progressive brain learning.
Memory guides and controls most learning.
As you learn a new skill or experience a new thought pattern, your brain takes note of and remembers the successful attempts, while discarding the unsuccessful. Then, it recalls the last event that you were successful, makes incremental adjustments, and progressively grows and improves.
Every act of learning provides a moment of opportunity for the brain to stabilize – and reduce the disruptive power of – interference or “noise.” Each time your brain strengthens a connection to advance your mastery of a skill, it also weakens other connections of neurons that weren’t used at that moment. This negative plastic brain change erases some of the irrelevant or interfering activity in the brain.
Brain plasticity is a two-way street; it is just as easy to generate negative changes as it is positive ones. It’s a “use it or lose it” situation. It’s almost as easy to drive changes that impair memory, physical abilities or mental capacities as it is to improve these things. Watch your negative thoughts. Your brain learns from them.
There is an area of neuroscience that studies the effect of thoughts on the brain. It’s called neuroplasticity. Researchers believe that our thoughts can change the structure and function of our brains and neuroplasticity is therefore the ability of the brain to adapt and change. “Neuro” is for the nerve cells, or neurons, and “plastic” refers to the modifiable nature of our brain and nervous system. Thoughts have the power to change the brain structure.
The concept of a changing brain has replaced the formerly held belief that the adult brain was pretty static or hard-wired, after critical developmental periods in childhood. While it’s true that your brain is much more plastic during the early years and capacity declines with age, plasticity happens all throughout your life.
Change is mostly limited to those situations in which the brain is in the mood. If you are alert, engaged, motivated, ready for action, the brain releases the neurochemicals necessary to enable brain change. When you are in a bad mood, negative, inattentive, or distracted your neuroplastic switches are “off.”
The harder you try, the more you’re motivated, the more aware you are, then the bigger the brain changes are. If you’re intensely focused on the task and really trying to master something for an important reason, the change experienced will be greater.
What actually changes in the brain are the strengths of the connections of neurons that are engaged together. The more something is practiced, the more connections are changed to retain all elements of the experience (sensory info, movement, cognitive patterns). You can think of it like a “master controller” being formed for a behavior that allows it to be performed with remarkable facility and reliability over time.
Your chance at improving a behavior is heightened with cell-to-cell cooperation and this is crucial for increasing reliability. The more powerfully coordinated your nerve cell “teams” are, the more powerful and more reliable their behavior.
The brain also strengthens its connections between teams of neurons so moments of successive things reliably occur in time. This enables your brain to predict what happens next and have a continuous “associative flow.” Without this ability, your stream of consciousness you have no teamwork.
Initial changes are temporary. Your brain first records the change, then it determines whether it should make it permanent or not. It puts a value on it. It only becomes permanent if your brain judges the value to be good enough or if the behavioral outcome is significantly good or bad.
The brain is changed by internal mental processes in the same ways changes are achieved through interactions with the external world.
You don’t have to move an inch to drive positive plastic change in your brain. Your internal representations of things recalled from memory work for progressive brain learning.
Memory guides and controls most learning.
As you learn a new skill or experience a new thought pattern, your brain takes note of and remembers the successful attempts, while discarding the unsuccessful. Then, it recalls the last event that you were successful, makes incremental adjustments, and progressively grows and improves.
Every act of learning provides a moment of opportunity for the brain to stabilize – and reduce the disruptive power of – interference or “noise.” Each time your brain strengthens a connection to advance your mastery of a skill, it also weakens other connections of neurons that weren’t used at that moment. This negative plastic brain change erases some of the irrelevant or interfering activity in the brain.
Brain plasticity is a two-way street; it is just as easy to generate negative changes as it is positive ones. It’s a “use it or lose it” situation. It’s almost as easy to drive changes that impair memory, physical abilities or mental capacities as it is to improve these things. Watch your negative thoughts. Your brain learns from them.
MORE ON THOUGHT PROCESSING
This content is provided for informational purposes only. Author is not a medical professional. Talk to your doctor to determine what therapy is right for you.
Self care techniques are meant to supplement professional treatment not replace it.
DISCLAIMER OF THE LEARNING LIBRARY
Self care techniques are meant to supplement professional treatment not replace it.
DISCLAIMER OF THE LEARNING LIBRARY
BROWSE PHOBIA COLLECTION
Phobia collection is presented in eight themed parts
VIEW LIST INDEX or JUMP TO A PART
PART [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ]
PHOBIA COLLECTION BY TOPIC
common ~ abstract ~ ordinary ~ bizarre ~ catastrophic ~ psyche ~ icky - academic ~ knowledge ~ education ~ literary ~ art ~ music ~ religion ~ political ~ law ~ order military ~ war ~ discrimination ~ science ~ chemical ~ energy ~ time ~ numbers ~ technology ~ nature ~ environment ~ astronomy ~ weather ~ geography ~ people ~ family ~ community ~ anatomy ~ medical ~ disease ~ emotions ~ senses ~ sensations ~ movement ~ conditions~ love ~ relationships ~ sexuality ~ lifestyle ~ places ~ events ~ objects ~ clothing ~ tools ~ vehicles ~ home ~ cooking ~ food ~ entertainment ~ sports ~ recreation ~ toys ~ games ~ monsters ~ characters ~ spooky ~ nightmares ~ delusional ~ joke ~ fiction
DOWNLOAD PONDERING THE PHOBIA
Now Available for Download for Offline Reading
All the phobias in one download. Browse by both topic/subject and by alphabetized list
Download/Share: http://bit.ly/ponderingphobia
OTHER PHOBIA AND FEAR DOWNLOADS:
Dictionary of Trauma, Phobia and Fear
Self Care Guides for Fear & Phobias
common ~ abstract ~ ordinary ~ bizarre ~ catastrophic ~ psyche ~ icky - academic ~ knowledge ~ education ~ literary ~ art ~ music ~ religion ~ political ~ law ~ order military ~ war ~ discrimination ~ science ~ chemical ~ energy ~ time ~ numbers ~ technology ~ nature ~ environment ~ astronomy ~ weather ~ geography ~ people ~ family ~ community ~ anatomy ~ medical ~ disease ~ emotions ~ senses ~ sensations ~ movement ~ conditions~ love ~ relationships ~ sexuality ~ lifestyle ~ places ~ events ~ objects ~ clothing ~ tools ~ vehicles ~ home ~ cooking ~ food ~ entertainment ~ sports ~ recreation ~ toys ~ games ~ monsters ~ characters ~ spooky ~ nightmares ~ delusional ~ joke ~ fiction
DOWNLOAD PONDERING THE PHOBIA
Now Available for Download for Offline Reading
All the phobias in one download. Browse by both topic/subject and by alphabetized list
Download/Share: http://bit.ly/ponderingphobia
OTHER PHOBIA AND FEAR DOWNLOADS:
Dictionary of Trauma, Phobia and Fear
Self Care Guides for Fear & Phobias
Library articles provided by my series Healing the PTSD Mind and my series on mindfulness based self care Be Mindful Be Well. The books are written from a trauma perspective. Content applies to fear, phobias and panic. Learn self care treatments with mindfulness techniques.
BE MINDFUL. BE WELL.
Books copyright 2021 by By Kairos
BE MINDFUL. BE WELL.
Books copyright 2021 by By Kairos
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A SERIES OF BEAUTIFUL WORDS
Collection of Vocabulary Books, Sites and Resources
Series Homepage | View Sites | Download Books
Words are also posted on twitter under the hashtags #beautifulwords and #wordoftheday and shared visually on pinterest bulletin boards
ABOUT SITE | SITEMAPS | SEARCH | FEEDBACK
Content by Kairos ~ @kairosoflife
Homepage | Portfolio | Contact
Original content © 2021 Copyright, Kairos
