Human beings have the ability to experience a different kind of fear than other animals, psychological fear, this fear has nothing to do with a real, objective or immediate danger, mindfulness can help us overcome this psychological fear.
Psychological fear refers to something that can happen, as well as something that has already happened and can happen again, that doesn’t refer to something that’s happening right now.
- The body of the person suffering from psychological fear is “here and now”; however.
- His mind is in the future.
- Anticipating possible realities or repetitions of past realities.
Thinking about the disease is an uncoordinated state of mind and body, thoughts go on one side, emotions on the other and physical sensations by a third party, we will carefully try to coordinate these elements in perfect harmony.
In simple terms, besides not being in the present, we also live fragmented. Our perception of reality is divided, dispersed and distorted: there are distortions of attention, interpretation and finally, pathology of anxiety.
The mind of the anxious person has a life of its own, separated from body and objective reality. The anxious mind lives to avoid future dangers. Thus, the body ends up suffering from various anxiety disorders.
Thinking about the disease is an uncoordinated state of mind and body. Thoughts, emotions and physical sensations are at a very different “frequency”.
People who suffer from anxiety have a very particular behavior called “experience avoidance” (in terms of mindfulness). This avoidance occurs when a person does not want to be in contact with certain experiences (body sensations, emotions, thoughts, memories?). To protect themselves, a person changes the frequency and shape of these events and the contexts that cause them.
Experience avoidance does not allow us to be in touch with certain experiences and we change their form and context, which contributes to the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders.
All efforts to avoid these experiences lead us directly to the opposite of what we want: we become more and more anxious and out of control. People with standard experience avoidance behavior are much more likely to develop more fears.
They will try to escape in the face of an unexpected panic attack, much more than those who accept their inner experiences more. Suppression of thoughts and feelings contributes to the development and maintenance of generalized anxiety disorder, specific and post-traumatic phobias. stress disorder.
The main features present in all anxiety disorders and treated with mindfulness are:
? Behavioral or experience avoidance (as explained above)
? Cognitive rigidity (always think the same way and not be able to see alternatives).
? Rigid directory of responses (always doing the same thing, being paralyzed).
The process of curing anxiety through mindfulness is a process of “integration. “All separate, isolated or denied parts must be integrated into consciousness. Mindfulness is based on three key goals for treating anxiety:
? Be aware of our experiences. We need to observe our emotional responses more clearly, become aware of the external and internal evasion actions we take to control anxiety.
? Promote a radical change of attitude to life. We must try to change our mental attitude, which is very critical and dominant, to a more loving, compassionate and prejudiceless attitude.
? Improve our quality of life in all areas, we will focus on cognitive flexibility and live in the present to make changes that will enrich our lives.
The treatment of anxiety through mindfulness is integration. All separate, isolated or denied parts must be integrated into consciousness.
The benefits of regular mindfulness practice are gradually being implemented:
? We perceive all the internal content very clearly
? We expand our vision of ourselves and become aware and deeply aware of everything that happens to us and its causes.
? Instead of blocking, we consciously allow phenomena of thought, emotions, memories, feelings, etc.
When we allow it, we get the natural dissolution of all the circumstances that cause fear. This cycle of natural dissolution is like that of any living being. Thoughts appear before our observing consciousness, develop and die.
The practice of mindfulness helps us see our thoughts, emotions and feelings change rapidly. Do we realize that there is no way to maintain or repair?And we definitely reject “unpleasant” states.
In the exposure of mindfulness we use the same principle as?Exposure and prevention of response?used in cognitive behavioral therapy. We approach what we fear and stay there until the anxiety disappears and disappears.
Permanent observation, without judging feelings related to anxiety, without attempting to escape or avoid, can reduce the emotional reaction. Emotional suffering is generally lived as something less unpleasant, less threatening, in a context of acceptance that changes its subjective meaning. tolerance to adverse consequences and situations.
With mindfulness we can deliberately create a situation that causes us anxiety and learn to deal with it, which increases our ability to cope. We know that anxiety resists, the challenge is to spend enough time to get the desired results.