disussion 3 peer questions
Respond to two peers while being respectful of and sensitive to their viewpoints. Consider advancing the discussion in the following ways:
· Engage in conversation with your peers related to the sympathetic nervous system and anxiety, fear, and stress.
· Consider asking a question or sharing your personal experience.
PEER 1 -SS
Have you ever had a big exam and it determined whether you passed or failed a class? Do you recall how you felt before, during, and after the exam? I bet you were nervous, scared, anxious, and you may have even been sweating or having a funny feeling in your stomach. Those feelings and actions are caused by your nervous system. There are two parts and the one that puts us on edge and high alert is the sympathetic nervous system. The other part is the parasympathetic nervous system. This system gives us a sense of calmness and relaxation. It is essential for a balance to exist between the two systems. When the balance is thrown off it means that one system is over working the other which results in an imbalance which leads to problems and disorders/disfunctions. “For example: in today's world, we are constantly on the go, working too many hours, not getting enough sleep, and overly stressed on a daily basis. This activates the sympathetic nervous system to work more causing something putting the body in a hyper sympathetic state or sympathetic overload. When this happens, your heart rate increases, blood pressure increases, and you may experience an overall feeling of being "stressed out." At the same time, this over runs the parasympathetic system, and it cannot do its job as well. Due to this, you can't digest your food as well, you can't rest or sleep as well, you become tired throughout the day, sexual arousal can be decreased, and your body is unbalanced ("The Effects of Imbalance Between Your Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous System", 2021) ”.
The anticipation that is frequently experienced in generalized anxiety is that, “fear is a basic emotion (shared by many animals) that involves activation of the “fight-or-flight” response of the autonomic nervous system. This is an almost instantaneous reaction to any imminent threat such as a dangerous predator or someone pointing a loaded gun (Hooley, Knock, & Butcher 2020). On the other hand, specific phobia is the ultimate fear of an object or situation that leads to so much stress that is impairs one’s ability to function.
One way that a therapist might help a patient activate the parasympathetic nervous system to calm the mind and body is plan ahead as well as multi-task less. These two things correlate as if you do not plan ahead and give yourself the adequate time to complete tasks you may find yourself doing multiple tasks at once trying to get them all done. This is a problem for me as I do not anticipate time well. I have a newborn baby as well as a 13-month-old so my hands are full. When I do not schedule out feeding and nap times it runs into homework and study time which causes my sympathetic nervous system to kick in. I become nervous and overwhelmed which causes my anxiety to rise.
Anxiety disorders apply to self-care as it is important to be aware of your fears as you would want to plan accordingly so that you aren’t in situations that will cause you to become more stressed. Emotional intelligence applies also as the more you are aware of yourself and your emptions you can be better equipped to handle certain stressful situations.
References:
The Effects of Imbalance Between Your Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous System. (2021). Retrieved 18 May 2021, from https://patch.com/pennsylvania/perkiomenvalley/the-effects-of-imbalance-between-your-sympathetic-and-parasympathetic-nervous-system
Hooley, J. M., Nock, M. K., & Butcher, J. N. (2020). Abnormal psychology (18th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
PEER2-CS
· Why is it essential for a balance to exist between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems?
The autonomic nervous system, is the part of the nervous system that regulates activities of internal organs. The ANS is largely autonomous, acting independently of the body’s consciousness and voluntary control. It has two main divisions: sympathetic, SNS, and parasympathetic, PSNS. It has two main divisions: SNS and PSNS. In situations that require alertness and energy, such as facing danger or doing physical activities, the ANS activates its sympathetic division to mobilize the body for action. This division increases cardiac output, accelerates respiratory rate, releases stored energy, and dilates pupils. At the same time, it also inhibits body processes that are less important in emergencies, such as digestion and urination. On the other hand, during ordinary situations, the parasympathetic division conserves and restores. It slows heartbeats, decreases respiratory rate, stimulates digestion, removes waste and stores energy. The sympathetic division is there fore known as the “fight or flight” response, while the parasympathetic division is associated with the “rest and digest” state.
· Contrast the anticipation that is frequently experienced in generalized anxiety with the reaction to a phobic object in specific phobia.
It is a strong, irrational fear of something that poses little or no real danger. There are many phobias, one is acrophobia which is a fear of heights. Agoraphobia is a fear of public places, people with phobias try to avoid what they are afraid of. Individuals will experience the following: Panic and fear, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, trembling, a strong desire to get away. This anxiety is usually about multiple events (Hooley, Nock, & Butcher, 2020).
· Describe one way that a therapist might help a patient activate the parasympathetic nervous system to calm the mind and body.
One way a therapist might help a patient activate the parasympathetic nervous system to calm the mind and body would be the vagal tone and deep breathing. This indicates how good the patients autonomic nervous system is at calming down and just like muscle tone in your arms would indicate how much you exercise your arm, vagal tone is a measure of how much the patient use their parasympathetic nervous system and how strong. By doing vagal tone, find your pulse on your wrist, have the patient close their eyes to focus on breathing in and out very slowly, pay attention to what happens to the patients heart rate. When the patient breath in the heart rate increases and when they breath out slowly their heart rate slows down that is heart rate variability.
· How does an anxiety disorder apply to any of the following programmatic themes? You may want to review the Programmatic Themes document.
Anxiety disorder applies to self-care. Self-care can be different for each person, self-care is looking at your mental and physical health are priority. Taking the time to look after yourself and make sure you’re feeling re-energized and feeling ok to continue doing your daily routine. Self-care is so important for everything, to be able to help others you have to be able to help yourself. Exercise, eat healthy and reaching out to friends and family can help with anxiety disorder.
References:
Hooley, J.M., Nock, M.K., & Butcher, J.N. (2020). Abnormal psychology (18th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.