There are many aspects to anxiety, but there are two kinds of anxiety that appear to arise from different areas of the brain. Children and adults with developmental gaps or injuries in the pons/amygdala levels of the brain, which are coming on board at about 2 – 7 months, present with a different kind of trauma than our clients with gaps or injuries higher in the brain.
The pons/amygdala are at a level of the brain that responds to life and death signals, responds to the world to protect life, and make a lot of noise if life is threatened by perceived dangers. A child or adult with unresolved issues at this developmental level may experience what we called existential anxiety – “I am not going to survive this.” “I am dying.” Suicidal ideation and severe panic attacks appear to arise from dysfunction at this level of the brain. This existential anxiety is experienced as a constant threat to one’s safety, whether or not the stimulus is enough to indicate danger.
Clients with injuries higher in the nervous system, at the mid cerebrum, or midbrain, which is the dominant brain through approximately the second half of the first year, may experience a kind of environmental anxiety in which lights are too bright, crowds are too overwhelming, sounds are too loud. This experience of “too muchness” in the world can cause a different kind of anxiety that makes the person want to get away, not so much to save their life as to save them from the stress of an overwhelming environment. “Get me out of here!” “Don’t touch me!” may be vocalized or written on their faces.
NeuroDevelopmental Movement® seeks to relieve both kinds of anxiety by addressing the traumas at the level of the brain that is immature or impaired.
Psychologist Pamela Lyons Nelson who worked with adults with these issues described their recoveries as follows:
People recovering from what we are calling existential anxiety (whether or not they have the right to exist) come to feel “I can survive.” “People care about me.” “I belong.” “I have a place in the Universe.”
Clients recovering from environmental anxieties may feel a relief from stress, more comfort in a wide range of environments, a higher tolerance, and coping abilities. ©