Stress and Anxiety Management: The How To Guide

The 3 best ways to get rid of stress for good, in the neuroscience era

There are many ways to get rid of anxiety and make it last. Here we present three proven techniques approved by today’s neuroscience: medication, psychotherapy and QEEG neurofeedback.

 

 

 

 

What is anxiety?

The human brain's mission is to keep the body alive. Any threat to survival can set off a stress alarm that spreads quickly from head to toe. Threats to survival are numerous and the brain is conditioned to spot them in an instant.

You may feel stressed by the simple look of a stranger, the presence of a virus in your veins, hunger, low blood sugar, fear of losing a close relationship, your job, your keys or cell phone. 

Several times a day, your brain detects threats and raises your stress levels to make you take action. This can give you a conscious, but more often times an unconscious feeling of stress.

Many of your unconscious stress signals are triggered by memories from past experiences. When in your past you experienced something stressful, and the more intense your emotions were, the more your brain kept it memorized to alarm you if it would ever come back. It’s part of your inner response program running on autopilot to protect you from threats. This is why we often feel tense without really knowing why.

Our problem in this modern age is that most theats are low level, constant and often unconscious. They can be linked to a memory, a body sensation, a thought, a noisy surrounding, electromagnetic pollution, food allergies and the list goes on.

Then comes worry. Focusing on an anticipated future or being stuck in a wheel of stressful thoughts can become somewhat of a habit that the more we do it, the worse it gets. But we can choose quit the anxiety loop and hop on a more peaceful wagon. 

If we want to live a healthy and happy life, we need to find ways that help us be in a positive and relaxed state of mind, as often as we can. This is the time where the brain can use its full capabilities and where the body can regenerate. This shift to a harmonious state of being produces brain changes and hormone secretions essential to reverse aging, think more clearly, be creative, fight against cancer, prepare for better sleep and so much more.

What are the symptoms of anxiety and generalized anxiety disorder GAD?

Everyone is different and experiences stress in a unique way based on their biology and history. Here is a list of the main symptoms that you may experience in your body, your emotions and thoughts:

The physical symptoms of anxiety are:

• Headache
• Palpitations in the chest
• Sensation of "knot in stomach"
• Migraines
• Changes in appetite
• Constipation or diarrhea
• Muscle tension
• Back pain
• Neck pain
• Others

The emotional symptoms of anxiety are:

• Restleness
• Irritability
• Impatience
• Frustration or anger
• Changes in libido
• Isolation
• Relationship conflicts
• Others

The cognitive symptoms of anxiety are:

• Difficulty concentrating
• Difficulty maintaining attention
• Difficulty memorizing
• Difficulty in learning
• Ruminations and inability to stop thinking
• Worry
• Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
• Obsessions
• Compulsions
• Difficulty having perspective and finding solutions to problems
• Disorganization
• Mental fatigue
• Others

What are the sources of stress?

1. Physical sources of stress: lack of sleep and illness
2. Psychological sources of stress: separation, relationship conflicts, race against time, excessive professional demands in relation to time or abilities, fears, financial insecurity, psychological trauma, performance difficulties related to ADHD or sleep difficulties, etc. .

How does your doctor diagnose an anxiety disorder?

Your doctor may diagnose a generalized anxiety disorder GAD when you have  specific symptoms described in DSM-IV or DSM-4, or its new version DSM-V or DSM-5.

To meet the diagnostic criteria that qualifies you as having a generalized anxiety disorder GAD, you must have been experiencing worries and concerns about things that are of concern to you or that you find difficult to control. These symptoms, among others, must be difficult for you to control, most of the time, over the past 6 months at least. They must also seem out of proportion to your real-life situation.

These anxiety symptoms must be affecting how well you function in your personal, social, or professional life. In addition, you should experience at least three of the following symptoms:

• Restlessness or feelings of being overexcited or exhausted
• Fatigability
• Difficulty concentrating or memory loss
• Irritability
• Muscle tension
• Sleep disturbance

 

What are the different forms of anxiety according to the DSM-V?

The diagnostic manual establishes the following forms of anxiety:

1. Generalized anxiety disorder TAG
2. Panic attacks
3. Agoraphobia
4. Panic disorder with or without agoraphobia
5. Specific phobias
6. Social phobia
7. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder OCD
8. Post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD

Anxiety test

Test yourself for anxiety:

1. Are you bothered by racing thoughts or continual thoughts about things that make you feel insecure?

2. Do you feel like craying or staying in bed, not wanting to be around people, not feeling like doing the things you normally like to do?

3. Do you feel physical signs of anxiety such as a racing heart, headaches, tummy aches, tension in your body that makes you feel stressed, difficulty breathing, over eating or not being hungry, difficulty falling asleep, feeling wired...?

Panick attack or anxiety attack

A panick attack or an anxiety attack can be any of the above symptoms that rapidly escalates and snowballs. Your body becomes tense, your heatbeat races up, your breathing shortens, you become aware of this and it makes you panick. The snowball continues on to roll on its own and soon you've lost control.

How to deal with anxiety? What treatments are effective for treating anxiety?

Anxiety is viewed differently in different countries and cultures. Elsewhere in the world, anxiety is treated with a vision and often different methods, but just as supported by scientific research.

If you live in North America, you are probably going to ask your doctor for help with your anxiety. Your doctor will assess you and possibly prescribe medication.

In Quebec, only the doctor can make a diagnosis and sign a work stoppage. The treatment proposed by the physician must comply with the guidelines of his professional order. The College of Physicians authorizes two types of treatments for anxiety: medication and psychotherapy. This CAMH document provides the details.

 

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What drugs are prescribed to treat generalized anxiety disorder GAD?

Les mMedicines prescribed by your doctor to calm anxiety are called anxiolytics. The most commonly prescribed type of anxiolytic is benzodiazepines, but you should be aware that it is at high risk for dependence. So it often happens that the doctor or psychologist prefers to prescribe an antidepressant or an azapirone.

What psychotherapies are effective for treating anxiety?

The patient is always free to accept or not a treatment and if he refuses the medication, psychotherapy is strongly suggested.

The most common type of therapy prescribed for an anxiety disorder is cognitive-behavioral.
The main goal of this form of therapy is to help you cope with your fears by learning to see them differently, reducing your avoidance behaviors, helping you find healthier ways to deal with your discomfort, and helping you cope. better calm yourself down.

A total of ten psychotherapy sessions are often recommended, but longer interventions are often beneficial.

Is neurofeedback effective in overcoming an anxiety disorder?

Neurofeedback is a brainwave training technique that changes how the brain works to permanently reduce anxiety. Neurofeedback was discovered in Russia in 1935 and used as a treatment in Germany from the 1970s.

Neurofeedback stimulates the growth of brain wiring that controls stress and anxiety levels.

It is a brain training that develops its capacities in a fast, safe and lasting way. The contraindications are rare and the side effects almost nil.

The science of neurofeedback is based on 30 years of scientific research. Its clinical efficacy is recognized by the International Society for Neurofeedback and Neuroregulation ISNR.

Can neurofeedback be used in conjunction with medication and psychotherapy?

Neuroplus offers you a practical solution for your generalized anxiety disorder or GAD which is complementary to the treatment of your doctor or psychologist.

By training your brain using EEGQ neurofeedback and practicing science-proven lifestyle and thinking habits to reduce anxiety symptoms, you are putting the odds in your favor to feel better, quickly and over the long term.

How does EEGQ neurofeedback work?

Neurotechnology trains your brain's circuitry to relieve stress. If we simplify the explanation, we can say that this stress control circuit starts from the regions behind your forehead, where your brain makes the decision to calm the stress, and exerts its control over the lower regions which react to the stress. stress and give you anxious feelings.

When you train in QEEG neurofeedback, you develop the size and power of the electrical circuit in your brain that relieves stress in a lasting way.

What is EEGQ neurofeedback neurotechnology?

QEEG technology is complex and sophisticated because it measures your brain hundreds of times per second to detect electrical power in the delta, theta, alpha, beta and high beta frequency bands for each 1.5 mm cubic region of your brain.

This real-time information is made possible because you wear a 19-sensor headset that picks up the electrical activity of your brain live. Powerful software analyzes this data live and extracts information about the electrical circuitry of stress and anxiety control.

Is neurofeedback training for anxiety the same for everyone?

There are several electrical circuits in the brain that have an influence to modulate the stress you feel. According to people, some circuits are stronger and others are weaker. It is therefore necessary to measure the brain of each person before choosing a training program. Therefore, each neurofeedback training program is highly personalized to the needs of your unique brain.

At what age can you start a neurofeedback training program?

Neurofeedback training can be practiced by people of all ages, from newborns to the centennial old. The neurotechnologies used at Neuroplus are suitable for people aged six and over.

From a scientific standpoint, neurofeedback training has been shown to be effective in reducing symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder in children, adults and the elderly.

What is the advantage of QEEG neurofeedback compared to one or two electrode neurofeedback?

Neurofeedback was shown to be clinically effective in the 1960s, when neurotechnology used only one electrode and trained only one or two frequency bands at a time.

Today, EEGQ neurofeedback delivers results twice as fast by training some 200 parameters of brain activity at a time. This is the 19-electrode Loreta z-score technology used at Neuroplus.
 

How does a QEEG neurofeedback training program work?

The EEGQ Neurofeedback Brain Training Program allows a person to take control of their stress and anxious feelings within four to five weeks. During this period, the person:

1. Receives an assessment of their unique brain activity using a quantitative EEGQ electroencephalogram
2. Train in EEGQ neurofeedback for thirty minutes, two to three times per week, according to a highly personalized training protocol
3. Receive coaching to optimize their lifestyle and thinking in a way to optimize their results.

What is the evidence for the effectiveness of neurotherapy called EEGQ neurofeedback in combating generalized anxiety disorder GAD?

This study published in the prestigious journal Nature has shown that neurofeedback operated with precision in a magnetic resonance device allows a person diagnosed with a generalized anxiety disorder to reduce their anxiety symptoms and regain control of anxiety-inducing situations.

This prestigious study demonstrated that neurofeedback training caused lasting changes in the brain of individuals on two levels:

1.    The limbic regions of the brain that are involved in producing anxious feelings have stopped responding.
2.    The prefrontal regions of the brain that are involved in controlling anxiety have become more powerful and efficient.

While studies on neurofeedback have 50 years of history, EEGQ neurofeedback appeared in Quebec in 2012. Scientific publications seeking to measure the effectiveness of EEGQ neurofeedback are therefore fairly recent, but until now, these studies confirm that the neurofeedback EEGQ provides significant and lasting reductions in anxiety faster than conventional neurofeedback.

The Neuroplus clinic in Rosemere offers the most sophisticated neurofeedback on the market, accurate to the nearest 1.5 mm and allowing you to train specific electrical circuits in your brain that cause and / or control anxiety.

Compared to traditional single-electrode neurofeedback, this neurofeedback called the "Loreta z-score" trains approximately 200 brain parameters at a time, halving the number of sessions required to achieve measurable results.

Neurofeedback in your business to help the epidemic of psychological health disorders

More and more companies are choosing to add neurofeedback to their list of employee services. This service accelerates the return to work of employees struggling with a psychological health disorder. This service also prevents absences linked to increased stress. Neurofeedback increases stress resistance and work performance.

Our team of experts has been working in the prevention of work-related absences for over 25 years. Our neuroperformance specialists master this science to maximize brain performance. To this end, our experts offer you consultations, organizational health strategies, cutting-edge training and innovative rehabilitation programs.

Neuroplus is a leader in complementary non-drug approaches to calm anxiety and generalized anxiety disorder GAD

Your brain is unique and it has its own unique way of perceiving stress, reacting and regaining its zenitude.

The better you understand the unique functioning of your brain, the better you can be helped to develop an effective strategy to calm your anxiety and develop a more stable and lasting serenity.

At Neuroplus, we measure the activity of your brain to the nearest 1.5 mm and analyze the electrical power of delta, theta, alpha, beta and high beta waves of brain structures involved in the control of stress and anxiety.

By better understanding your brain using this EEGQ electroencephalogram, we offer you a personalized action plan for your brain that is natural, safe, free from side effects and scientifically validated for its effectiveness.

Your rapid and effective return to serenity, the ability to relax and sleep well can include several combined approaches:

 

 

 

• Loreta QEEG z-score neurotherapy / neurofeedback training programs
• Biofeedback for stress management such as cardiac coherence, muscle tension, body temperature etc.
• Targeted physical training program for its anxiolytic effects
• Improved quality of sleep
• Management of thoughts
• Pro-brain nutrition
• Neuro-meditation
• Music and sounds pulling your brain into relaxing brain frequencies
• Light therapy
• Etc.

No matter what your brain state is right now, our professionals will teach you effective strategies that will become tools for life.

Summary of stress and anxiety management

Young people and adults alike often say they are overwhelmed by personal stresses linked to their professional and family obligations. To try to calm down, they resort to strategies that are sometimes healthy like exercise, time with friends or the outdoors, sometimes harmful like alcohol, cigarettes, sugar and junk food, gambling, pornography, cannabis, drugs, repeated use of prescription and non-prescription drugs, and natural products.

In recent years, neuroscience has unraveled the mystery of the brain and how the anxiety circuit can be turned on and off.

Neurotechnologies like neurofeedback EEGQ is a targeted solution that trains the stress and anxiety control circuitry in a targeted, natural and lasting way.

People can experience rapid relief from anxiety symptoms through a natural, healthy method without side effects.

The most important thing is that the person regains control of his stress by a phenomenon where his brain develops new and more powerful circuitry.