It’s one small step for man; one giant leap for sufferers of anxiety around the globe…
Researchers from Stanford School of Medicine believe they have located an off switch in the brain which may stop anxiety attacks.
Scientists discovered the presence of a certain brain circuit in test mice which, upon light-based stimulation, reversed the symptoms of anxiety.
- Test mice lost their anxiety about passing through areas which were previously avoided due to fear.
- Karl Deisseroth, neuroscientist and Stanford psychiatry professor, found through stimulation of the brain circuit that mice were able to overcome anxiety and panic attacks.
- Scientist believe they have overlooked this area of the brain before because it is associated with the production of feelings of fear, anxiety and panic.
- According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), approximately 20% of all Americans experience anxiety disorders, but only a third receive treatment for anxiety.
- Scientists hope that this new technology, optogenetics, will help scientists gain a deeper understanding of the circuits in the brain associated with stress and anxiety.
- More studies on the amygdalae nerve cells may one day be used to help anxiety patients learn how to stop anxiety attacks.
The results of this study were published on Nature.com, an online medical journal.
How will this help you?
As a tinnitus sufferer, you probably have had moments of extreme anxiety, stress and feelings of helplessness; the constant buzzing, whooshing or crackling sounds make it difficult to sleep, concentrate on work, or relax. The resulting stress aggravates the symptoms of tinnitus and hence, the vicious circle. Furthermore, some anxiety medications such as anti-depressants might even exacerbate tinnitus symptoms, making it all that much more difficult to find anxiety relief.
This article, Finding Tranquility with Tinnitus:Homeopathy, addresses the subject of coping with anxiety and tinnitus through homeopathic medicine.
Some relaxation techniques which will help ease anxiety disorder symptoms can be found in this article, titled Finding Tranquility with Tinnitus: Relax the Mind.
Sources:
Huffington Post, National Institutes of Health, Stanford School of Medicine, Science News, RedOrbit
Tinnitus relief can be obtained by utilizing Emotional Freedom Techniques (a.k.a. EFT). Some people find that stress aggravates their tinnitus symptoms. Therefore, alleviating stress by performing EFT will help clear up the tinnitus as well.
Acupuncturists have outlined energy pathways of the body, known as meridians. EFT requires a person to tap each one of ten points along these meridians. In addition to tapping, the person recites specific statements related to his emotions responsible for creating the stress.
Gary Craig founded the EFT method. When he was only 13 years old, he realized that his thoughts had a tremendous impact on the quality of his life. He concluded that the source of all negative emotions is a breakdown in the energy system, and then developed the EFT method based on this belief. The energy system referenced consists of the energy meridians used by acupuncturists. A single disturbance in one energy meridian allows feelings of hurt, shame and anxiety to develop. These negative emotions all contribute to stress, which can exacerbate a person’s tinnitus symptoms.
Through Emotional Freedom Techniques, a person is able to heal themselves, by clearing their minds of negative feelings, and thus help relieve the various noises of tinnitus.
This is how it works: You think about a negative memory or feeling. As you think about it, you formulate a statement relating to this. An example of a statement would be, “I am upset that my wife left me.” Then, you measure the strength of this memory or feeling based on a scale of 0 to 10.
The next step is to formulate a statement of acceptance. “Even though my wife left me, I fully accept myself.”
You tap three times on all the 10 EFT points while repeating this affirmation. These points include the beginning of eyebrow, chin, collar bone, top of head, under the eye, and others.
Following this procedure, you rate the intensity of this feeling a second time. Then, you repeat all these steps until the negative emotion is completely out of your system.
Since anxiety can exacerbate the symptoms of tinnitus, it follows that people with tinnitus should find Emotional Freedom Techniques helpful in obtaining tinnitus relief.
