031: the panic attack pathway (and how to turn it off)
Greetings fellow human
Hope your week has ended well, and if not, I hope you’ve been able to slice out a bit of time this weekend for some downregulation.
Swinging by with a new ep of the pod. It’s a passion topic of mine, after suffering from panic attacks for decades and running my head against the cultural poverty of our contemporary approaches to meeting disorganised states, it’s the grand sum of all the sparks that flew from what didn’t work to finally send me in the direction of what did work, which was, of course, my somatic Teacher and the subsequent efforts to translate that modality into our modern language of science.
We address:
The intergenerational pathways of panic disorder (e.g. the CO2 sensitivity that is characteristic of panic attacks will be higher in your first-degree relatives too).
The early life environment that predicts adult panic disorder, particularly the epigenetic changes as we climb up the defence cascade (e.g. oxytocin is actually higher in panic disorder, our kind body tries to save us).
The DNA continuation stress that emerges at these upper eschelons, which is predictable since the body fears for our longevity (this is largely ignored by contemporary approaches, and thus laddens us further with shame for our attempts at self-healing).
The step-by-step nervous system process of a panic attack, which enables us to radically expand our toolkit for supporting ourselves, particularly in the safety of our own home, because if panic disorder is our diagnosis, it’s often not very helpful when we are told to go to places that trigger us. Plucking out key players such as sex hormones, the hippocampus, BDNF, GABA, and even VO2 max provides milestones that are a lot more achievable, and frankly, in my experience, more effective.
The rite of passage that awaits us when we finally understand that our separation is the root of our suffering, and by doing so, drinking a big cup of clarity for what choices we make daily. We can then commit to auditing our lives, holding an image of our future self in one hand and a checklist of body-led targets in our other hand, that help to send us back down the defense cascade to safety, connection, and self-compassion where we deserve to be.
Wishing you well.
Youtube:
Spotify:
The episode material is drawn from pages 167-188 of the all-in-one book ‘Who Brought You Here?’
Should you wish to read along, country-specific Amazon links are as follows for paperback and kindle versions: Australia, United States, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Japan, Canada, India
To your healing 💙,
Jas
