Understanding Trauma, Anxiety and Burnout in your Nervous System - Break the Anxiety Cycle 20/30
Understand how trauma, anxiety, and burnout affect your nervous systemโlearn strategies to restore balance, reduce stress, and promote emotional well-being.
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Anxiety is essentially a state of your nervous system. In this video weโll explore anxiety, trauma and burnout in your nervous system.
Thereโs two ways that your nervous system plays a direct role in anxiety and depression- your alerting activating system can get stuck on or stuck off. And most of the people who get stuck in these states donโt realize it, they are trapped in these cycles and just feel chronically anxious or chronically exhausted. But the good news is that when you learn to identify what is happening, you can change it.
According to polyvagal theory, there are 3 states of the nervous system.
Safety (aka Ventral vagal, or parasympathetic)
Activation (aka sympathetic, or FFF response) which looks like anxiety, PTSD, or an initial trauma response.
Overwhelm/Shutdown (aka dorsal vagal (which, confusingly, is also parasympathetic, but itโs a more primitive state)) This often looks like burnout or depression in the nervous system.
When you come to understand how hypoarousal looks like burnout or depression, you can come to better understand the essential skills to overcoming burnout.
00:00 Intro
00:58 So, What Does a Healthy Nervous System Look Like?
03:16 What Does an Anxious Nervous System Look Like?
06:28 Third State of Anxiety in the Nervous System
13:25 Becoming Aware
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Join Therapy in a Nutshellโs membership and get instant access to all 10 life-changing courses, live weekly Q&As, and a supportive community for just $27/month. Learn how to manage anxiety, process trauma, regulate emotions, and build lasting resilience. Take small, powerful steps toward healing and a richer, more meaningful life. Start your journey today! https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership
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Therapy in a Nutshell and the information provided by Emma McAdam are solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and are not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health.
In therapy I use a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Systems Theory, positive psychology, and a bio-psycho-social approach to treating mental illness and other challenges we all face in life. The ideas from my videos are frequently adapted from multiple sources. Many of them come from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, especially the work of Steven Hayes, Jason Luoma, and Russ Harris. The sections on stress and the mind-body connection derive from the work of Stephen Porges (the Polyvagal theory), Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing) Francine Shapiro (EMDR), and Bessel Van Der Kolk. I also rely heavily on the work of the Arbinger institute for my overall understanding of our ability to choose our life's direction.
And deeper than all of that, the Gospel of Jesus Christ orients my personal worldview and sense of security, peace, hope, and love https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/believe
If you are in crisis, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ or 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or your local emergency services.
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๐ง About This Track
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๐ฏ Best For
๐ก Listening Tips
- ๐ Enable looping for continuous relaxation
- ๐๏ธ Try the Ambient Sound Mixer to customize your experience
- ๐ฑ Works great through phone speakers or Bluetooth
๐ฌ What Listeners Say
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๐ How to Get the Most Out of This Audio
To fully enjoy "Understanding Trauma, Anxiety and Burnout in your Nervous System - Break the Anxiety Cycle 20/30", we recommend the following approach:
- Set the Scene: Find a comfortable position, dim the lights if possible, and minimize distractions.
- Use Quality Audio: Headphones or quality speakers will enhance the experience significantly.
- Adjust Volume: Keep the volume at a comfortable background level - loud enough to hear, quiet enough to relax.
- Enable Loop: Click the Loop button above for continuous play during your session.
- Try the Mixer: Use our Ambient Sound Mixer below to customize the audio with additional sound layers.
This 15:26 track is ideal for relaxation, focus, sleep. With 1.1M views, it has become a trusted choice for thousands of listeners worldwide.