Resolving anxiety and panic attack with Nervous System Literacy, Somatics, and Breathwork.

Time doesn't heal. New Experiences do.

This is fictional character and situation based on common symptoms, themes and recoveries from my real life clients at Joy Somatics.

Jane is 19 years old, in her first year of University and going through her first exam season. Her relationship with her father is strained to say the least. He often gives her the 'silent treatement' since her mother died 3 years ago. She finds herself on 'eggshells' around him when anything stressful happens. He withdraws, can't make eye contact and if she pushes him, he closes off even more and won't speak to her for days.  

With permission, Jane borrows her father's car and gets in a minor accident. She isn't injured, but her body goes into a flight response, adrenaline increases her heart rate, and she starts breathing fast and deep. She feels some panic and trembles the remaining few blocks home, terrified what her father will say (or rather, not say). She braces herself in the driveway, grips the steering wheel tightly, and holds her breath while imagining her father's reaction.

Our behaviours are created by predictive coding in the brain.  

True to her prediction, when she reluctantly tells him what happened, her father silently gets up from his chair, walks outside to assess the damage. The only sound is a few loud sighs. He dusts his hand off, gets in and drives off fast. This only reinforces what she was anticipating.

So Jane proceeds to tidy the house, and make dinner in hopes that, when her father returns, he'll actually talk to her. She is extremely tense for days, has no appetite, doesn't sleep well, and cannot focus on her studies. Her dad eventually 'comes around' after a few days. As the weeks go by she avoids driving because she feels overly nervous and often on the verge of a panic attack.

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Let's pause and debrief so far.

Jane's brain predicted her father's response correctly. After the initial wave of adrenaline from the accident, her body went into a 'freeze' state in the driveway anticipating her father's response. Then she experienced a 'fawn' response (tidying up and cooking) in effort to appease her father.

This is conditioned behaviour based on her experience with her dad over the last few years. Trying to secure connection with him feels like survival.

So in addition to her brains predictions about driving and safety that create vigilance when driving, she is also 'bracing herself' for future disconnection with her dad, which feels much more terrifying.

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6 Months later with 3 Different Timeline Possibilities.

~ Just like the 1998 movie 'Sliding Doors', where actress Gwenyth Paltrow plays a woman who's life splits into multiple timelines, this is my 'Sliding Doors' case study to illustrate different possibilities.

Timeline 1: Talk therapy helps Jane

Jane goes to counsellor for 6 months and finds it very helpful. The counsellor helps her understand that her father's distance is about unresolved grief and tries not to take his emotional absence personally. The counsellor and her spend time processing Jane's grief around the previous loss of her mother. However, Jane now prefers taking the bus instead of driving. She says she feels anxious asking to borrow the car, she feels panicky and short of breath while driving it.

The result: Although the cognitive understanding is extremely helpful, her brain and body are still hyper focused on preventing an accident. Just thinking about driving triggers an increased heart rate and feelings of panic. Jane let's her driver's license lapse and reasons she 'is someone who just doesn't like driving.'

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Timeline 2: Jane and her dad both receive counselling

In addition to Jane's personal counselling, over the 6 months, her father digs in and gets the support he too needs. He 'comes around' to Jane faster and more often when things get overwhelming and scary for him. Over time and with numerous corrective experiences of 'connecting in hard times', Jane eventually feels more like herself again. Things will never be the same without her mother, but her and her father connect over meal making together a few times/week.

The result:  Cognitive understanding plus repetitive reparative external connections over time create new codes, belief systems and behaviours related to her relationship with her father. However, the physiological habits of increased heart and over breathing still exist creating the anxiety around driving overall. To manage, she limits her exposure to driving, uses some deep breathing when she has to and chalks it up to 'Everyone have anxiety about something.'

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Timeline 3: Nervous System Education, Somatics & Breath Retraining create new experiences for her brain and body.

Jane goes for counselling for 3 months after the accident and finds it very helpful. Mentally she gets it. She understands her own attachment wounds, her anxiety, and her dad's stuck-ness. Although her dad isn't open to any counselling, she isn't taking his disconnection so personally. Jane's counsellor notes that Jane is still avoiding driving, experiences anxiety about it, and starts sighing whenever they talk about it. She recommends she look into something body-based, like Somatics or breathwork to help with the body aspect of her therapy.

At Joy Somatics, we apply nervous system literacy, and personalized body based tools to increase client's ability to self regulate while broadening their capacity over time.

After 3 weeks of nervous system coaching, practices, and breath retraining, Jane;

• Can identify her nervous system state, trusts she can reduce her anxiety and interrupt panic attacks using simple body and breath-based tools

• Experiences less chest tightness and shortness of breath in general.

• Is sleeping better, and has improved focus.

• Reports less tension in her upper back, neck and jaw.

  After 3 months, Jane:

• Identifies the triggers related to her dad. She can clearly see how anxiety has generalized into other aspects of her life.

• Notices radical changes to her self-talk and her growing sense of self-compassion.

• Feels a sense of partnership with her body she's never really felt before.

• Feels lighter having processed the grief related to her relationship with her father (which was tied to losing her mom)

• Can breath easier, with very little anxiety and zero panic attacks.

• Continues to get better sleep and stay focused at school and work.

• Finds it easier to socialize

• Through role play, imagination and field work, she eliminates the habits of overbreathing when thinking about driving and eventually during the task of driving.

At Joy Somatics, we weave the use of biometric data (capnography) to measure and retrain clients' breathing behaviours to increase capacity and desensitize triggering situations.

Result: Repetitive, reparative experiences in co-regulation with trauma informed practitioner create new predictions, beliefs and behaviours. Even though Jane is sad her father isn't better at connecting, she's no longer feeling 'on egg shells' around him. Her father hasn't changed, but her reaction to him and these situations has.  

Time itself doesn't heal. But time with new experiences do.

Joy Onyschak is a Somatic Practitioner and Certified Breathing Behaviour Analyst that applies trauma-informed sequencing and the 'BioPyschoSocial' model to her work helping adults recover from chronic stress and trauma. She is based in Winnipeg and Manitou, MB. In addition to her 1:1 clients, she also offers in-person, small group training events focusing on nervous system wellness and Functional Breathing. Visit joysomatics.ca for more information, join her program waitlist, or sign up for her newsletter.