Anxiety is NOT a Mental Health Problem
Most people think anxiety is a mental health problem but that’s not really true.
Anxiety is really more of a physiological (and emotional) issue.
The symptoms can show up as mental issues like overthinking, negative thinking or worse-case scenario thinking.
However, it's important not to mistake the symptoms for the cause.
In this email, I would like to change what you believe about anxiety so you can understand what you *ACTUALLY* need to work on if you want to heal your anxiety naturally.
I'm going to cover:
- The Nervous System & Human Physiology
- The Anxious Brain on Cortisol & Adrenaline (AKA Stress)
- The Problem with Modern Society & "Mental Health"
- The Mind Launch Solution
I believe the mental health system and mental health education need a complete overhaul and this is exactly what I'm working towards at Mind Launch.
Let's start by looking at what actually causes these symptoms (anxiety, overthinking etc)
First we need to understand what's going on in the brain and why it's having this response (e.g. overthinking and anxiety).
The brain does not operate in isolation and therefore even the term "mental health" is limited and flawed.
The Nervous System & Human Physiology
The brain is intimately connected to the rest of your body through your nervous system and physiology.
Your nervous system is basically your bodies information highway and includes your brain, brain stem and spine (which are all connected if you didn't already know).
Your nervous system helps to control everything from your stress response to your heart beat and the distribution of chemicals and hormones through your body.
When you sense a threat in your environment (real or imagined), you start to perceive 'danger' which begins to activate your nervous system.
You'll start to engage the sympathetic mode of the nervous system which is responsible fot helping you survive.
This will then stimulate the production of survival hormones like adrenaline and cortisol to help you move faster which would be necessary if there was a real threat in your environment.
This is actually supposed to happen and it's not a bad thing *IF* the nervous system is healthy and functioning well.
If the nervous system is functioning well you should be able to easily return to resting in the parasympathetic mode of the nervous system.
The problem most people with anxiety have is their nervous system is not functioning well and they can't easily return to their natural resting state.
Now let's take a look at what happens when you're living in this heightened and stressed out state.
The Anxious Brain on Cortisol & Adrenaline (AKA Stress)
When cortisol and adrenaline levels are high in your body, your brain is impaired and the executive function in your pre-frontal cortex (which is the part of your brain responsible for logical thinking) doesn't function at its best.
It might help you to visualise this next bit as you read...
In simpler terms, the top of your brain near your forehead (pre-frontal cortex) is where your thinking happens.
When you're anxious you lose the ability to think reasonably because the 'brain activity' is more focussed on the survival area of the brain (amygdala) which is down the back near the brain stem and closer to the spine.
I'm over-simplifying this and people in the scientific community have much bigger and fancier ways of explaining this but basically your brain is operating out of survival when your anxious and it really struggles to be operating logically.
Again, this is a helpful thing in the right scenario but in our modern world, we have become a bit confused about what a real threat is and what an imagined threat is...
The Problem with Modern Society & "Mental Health"
In our fast paced modern world, stress levels are high, expectations are high and we all feel the pressure.
We've created ideas about what it means to "belong" and this often leads us to keeping up with the joneses, living in big cities with lots of noise, pushing financially, keeping up with career progression etc etc
I could go on but I'm sure you understand what I'm saying...
All of this leads to heightened stress and heightened nervous systems.
Now are you starting to see why mental health issues are rapidly increasing in the west?
Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of good and accessible education about this kinda stuff.
I believe it should be taught in schools as this is vital information about how to function well in the world as a human.
Because the vast majority of the population don't understand this stuff, mental health issues are increasing rapidly and the pharmaceutical industry is thriving.
Most people are confused and don't have the answers which means they seek answers from the doctors, the drugs, the government or where-ever you're supposed to get answers these days.
Furthermore, big pharmaceutical companies make a lot of money thanks to people relying on their drugs.
There's no money in teaching people to heal themselves but that's what I'm here for...
Sure my coaching program has a fee, but it's a one-time fee and then you get the return on the investment for the rest of your life by not having to rely on medication or ongoing medical fees for your "mental health".
The Mind Launch Solution
Over the last 5 years in my coaching business (and 15 years in my personal life), I have become obsessed with learning about and understanding the 'inner world' of humans.
From our minds, our thoughts, our emotions, our behaviours and everything in between.
I have been directly impacted by "mental health" issues in my own life and within my immediate family.
It's an issue that's close to my heart.
Which is why I've been so dedicated to finding out the truth and solutions that actually work.
I now understand we need to take much more of a holistic approach to healing anxiety (and most other "mental health" issues).
I've developed a 3-step process which I believe addresses the core problems.
Here's the 3-step process:
1. Learn to regulate the nervous system to reduce your stress and anxiety quickly.
2. Learn to reprogram the subconscious mind and change your belief systems and thinking.
3. Learn to manage your emotions in a healthy way instead of suppressing and avoiding them.
I believe this process helps you to re-connect with yourself at a deep level which helps you *actually* create long term and sustainable change.
To date, I have directly coaching over 225 people with this approach and have a very high success rate.
The only caveat that will determine the success of clients I work with is their own commitment to the process.
It's not a magic pill.
It requires you to put in the work.
If you're willing to muster up the courage, put your pride aside and do the work then I'm confident this process will work for you.
- If you'd like to learn more about the Mind Launch Method then you can:
A) Click here to watch my free 20-minute video training here to see how I can help.
B) Message me the word "DETAILS" on Instagram @itsjoshholliday and I'll send you all the details you need to know about my coaching program (including costs, time commitment etc).
Thanks for reading and I hope this was helpful for you.
With Optimism,
Josh