The Mind-Body Connection 8/30 How Emotions Get Trapped in the Body
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The mind-body connection is powerful. When we have a strong emotion our body has a physical reaction, and emotions can seem trapped in our body when we have a chronic stress response. In this section, you’re going to learn how to improve your mental health by working with emotions in the body.
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About Me:
I’m Emma McAdam. I’m a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and I have worked in various settings of change and growth since 2004. My experience includes juvenile corrections, adventure therapy programs, wilderness therapy programs, an eating disorder treatment center, a residential treatment center, and I currently work in an outpatient therapy clinic.
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
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If I don’t eat, I become way more emotionally disregulated! Once I get food going, I calm down and are able to process what I am experiencing. Problem, anxiety causes me to not eat! Stuck in flight mode and wait to eat when I am about to collapse. 😢
We have osdd1.b. We agree that who is fronting INP acts body. Exploring this idea further, and considering the logical inverse, It’s not clear to us that changing our physiology would change who is fronting in our system . However clearly for our system, how our physical body feels / posture does impact the experience of the alter fronting. — as one of our unnamed trauma holder alters/sub systems approach the front, cognitive function exponentially decreases, we become increasingly non-verbal, increasing difficulty with coarse and fine motor control, and overwhelming despair. If they front for 5 days, then we physically can’t work in programming for 5 days. No amount of emotional processing / crying reduces the intensity of the trauma experience. The only thing that reduces the experience of trauma at the front is for the trauama holding alter to move away from the front. So we are extremely distresssed about how to heal/reduced trauma for that alter/subsystem. — that said, the other videos you have made are helping us process trauma through the body in a way that results in improved emotional state for other alters with less severe damage in our system.
2:45 Back when I was in college
Neuro-plasticity of the brain is the problem, and also the healing path. Anxiety, depression, chronic fatigue, chronic pain and so many "syndromes" (the word the medical world uses when they cant explain it) are rooted in learned neural pathways that get stronger the more we fear, hate, notice or obsess over them. A vicious cycle. These get "trapped" in the body because we’ve sensitized our neural circuitry to do this, But they can be un-learned too, whatever the level of distress they may cause. I think understanding how emotions get trapped and how to un-trap them are great, but its essential to also decondition our brains from these states through various means of getting out of reactive mode, practicing willingness, trusting our essential goodness and doing what we know individual helps, whether its somatic tracking, meditation, exercising, or whatever works for you.
Hi Emma I am a counsellor in the UK 25 yrs exp. I have never heard such a clear description re feelings I have been aware of how thoughts can create secondary feelings but your description is much more precise and comprehensive. I am very interested in Somatic therapy having attended a number of Rosen Method Intensives and studying also Peter Levines work through his two books Waking the Tiger and In an unspoken voice. Your insights complement and add to this. I liked your shark tank metaphor. I will continue to watch your videos and see where that leads. Great work.
Sleep is too deep. Can’t awaken when I want to awaken. . Troubling lacking restorative strength to wake up ALERT.
Stress effect jaw, I thought someone sulking at me, when my jaw nerve tickling. Could you please tell how to cope up with jaw related problems. Suffering a lot due to lower jaw issue.
I have to rush to the toilet.
Where can i find this research on emotions experienced in the body please?
I get weak muscles in my legs, arms, and back. I am getting TMJ pain. I feel like my speech is getting affected. I am feeling a body shakes.
I’m transformed by the effects of this material. A book with akin insights ignited a revolution in my thought process. "The Art of Meaningful Relationships in the 21st Century" by Leo Flint
I had an GAD with Dissociation. I become like a child whenever I get stress . I was so afraid what is happening to me .. But then my therapist helped me a lot .. Now I can manage my stress and I m no longer suffering from dissociation Now .
I have a lot more control over my life than I thought I could seance I’ve been working on the tips of the videos for the mental health thank you very much Emma 13:02
appko koi bhi scabling jesi smsya hai to we side se planet ki mesicine ya ointment le skte ho scablin oil bhi le skte ho
Where are first 7?
Your videos make me feel so much better.
Normalize hippie and woo woo not being the worst thing something can be.
Thinking & feeling willingness to change. Yes?
💛💛💛
You are so good at explaining this! Thank you so much!
This past weekend on what was supposed to be a short family trip to see close friends and then visit a brand new grand baby resulted instead with being locked away in a dark hotel room for days in complete emotional freeze mode crying, sweating and sick. Everyone enjoying the two day visit with out me. No calming techniques worked. All I could do was sleep. I was embarrassed and confused and could not understand why I couldn’t just power through a few days.
It wasn’t until I got home and a day or so later when my anxiety finally broke and I realized what had really happened. Now your explanation made sense.
I remember being home and laying in my own bed thinking to myself that I’m safe, I’m home, I’m ok so what am I really afraid of?
It was at the exact moment, I allowed myself to feel the pain I had set aside that my mind cleared and the anxiety left.
You see it was only a few weeks earlier that I had suffered the loss of my beloved golden retriever Annie. Is only a few months earlier that I had to put my precious cat to sleep as well. The bottom line is there had been a lot of emotional things I was dealing with. I was pushing aside my emotions to get things accomplished and go on this trip but wasn’t able to give myself time to gather my thoughts and properly grieve.
The way we try to avoid feeling the emotions we need to feel is what literally makes us sick.
Thank you for your insight. ❤
I have terrible panic attacks and I feel this as shaking in my chest. It scares me and then this gets worse tipping me into panic.
My shoulders, I have a spot I call my stress button. I lose appetite, and eventually my back goes out and I have intense pain for a few days. Sleep problems, feeling worthless, hyper vigilant, a feeling of uncertainty and a repeat pattern about to play out. An intense anxiety to be blindsided and I am completely helpless. The physical pain is very real. When I recognize a familiar pattern that implies trauma cycle to repeat, I am right back to that moment and I physically feel the same intense shock & tense pain again, over & over. I can’t escape
Hey ,I hope everyone wins the battle they tell no-one as of my case it’s anxiety and fear of mulltitasking as i burn out myself so much that the brain became hypersensitive about effort as of where i feel it , it’s in the back of my head and neck ,but I think I’m healing day by day thanks to god .has everyone experienced something like this?
Just seeing this but right around the time this was released I had a breakthrough and had I seen this then it may have sped things up for me. I threw my back out last winter shoveling snow. I’ve had back issues for a couple decades. MRIs, physical therapy, traction, chiropractors, medications, none of it worked although the chiro was the only thing that gave me some relief however short lived. I started doing hip flexor stretches about a year ago after the shoveling incident and my left hip/femur joint popped/released and a flood of emotion overwhelmed me and so much of the not just physical pain left me but mental and emotional too. It’s like all that energy had been pent up so long and, finally releasing it, it had no other way to get out of me than to have an emotional breakdown. That was just the beginning, though. The weekend before Christmas last year, after all year of doing the stretching, my right hip released, then my left did right after. I slowly stood up and I felt my sacrum shift and about the next 5 or 6 vertebrae pop and shift into position and this time the flood of emotion made the first time seem tame. I bawled like I should have when my dad died and I couldn’t let myself at the time. It was like a light switch that made clear just how much I had screwed up not just my last 20 years of life but probably the rest of it as well as my relationship with my son because of the metal state I had been in for so long that I wasn’t the same person I used to be and thought in my mind I still was. I’ll vouch 100% that emotions are stored in the body. Emotions, depression and mental clarity are absolutely conditions of the state of the body. It’s very hard getting through writing this even now because the memory of that flood is still so very powerful. But I had to do this to not only validate what you’re saying and encourage you to continue along that line of thinking about it to better help people like you are but to maybe help others through my testimony to do the work needed to get themselves better physically to be able to take care of yourself mentally and emotionally because it doesn’t just affect yourself but so many other things and people around you that you have no idea it’s taking a toll on. It’s not worth losing half your life and most of your relationships like I did. It’s like the rule of turbulent air travel that you have to put your own oxygen mask on to help yourself before you’ll be any good at helping anyone else.
Thanks 👍😊😊😊
It’s interesting to me that some of the symptoms of depression are also symptoms of long Covid. I hope more research is done in this area.
Sleep masks are amazing !!!
WOOT! MANTA SLEEP! I loveeee their masks sooooo much! I sleep so much better- I believe that it resolved someones depression.
As someone who has struggled with social anxiety & self confidence for a long long time. I have found sometimes that attempts to "correct" some of my anxious/tense bodily habits have just resulted in the problem getting worse as a result of giving it more the attention. Has any one else here had similar difficulties? PS: Huge thankyou for these videos they are amazing!
This vid still making a deep impact 1 year later. Thank you Emma.
Lost 35 pounds because of nausea inhibiting me from eating…
Listening to this gives me hope of relief from anxiety/ depression…
It’s the first ‘therapy’ that actually ‘explains’ what is happening in my mind body connection.
I’m not crazy after all!
2:08 min watching this qt 4:12 am when I have my 1st day of work in a few hrs. No sure if Im nervous or exciting or the fact that my 1 year old might wake up any time crying…..is what keeps me awake. Yeah I’m a mess 🫢😩😅
🙏🏻 thank you
I have been practising the Mindfulness of Breathing technique https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxIIDVgnLN8pF_fPOyoZ1nTjbLvvZcib6r as taught in this CD for about 2 years having read about it in Paramananda’s Change Your Mind book and taken a real liking to it. However at times I struggle to remain focused on the breathing and thought that at such times this guided version might suit me. So after two years I finally decided to buy it! The first 7’24 of Track 1 of the CD is a body relaxtion which I do not use: I don’t like body relaxation techniques and I find 27′ just a little too long for meditation. The remaining 20′ of gentle, guided meditation helps me tremendously to relax and stay focused. I find him’s voice very soothing and whilst he is present to guide you through the 4 stages of the meditation, his presence is not intrusive or distracting. For the past two years I have tried to follow this technique as best I can with gentle meditation music despite music not being recommended. Having used this CD a couple of times I think I will try from now on to adopt a new routine of no music and just this CD as I find it so helpful. I realise now that the music really is distracting and I have enjoyed listening to the ambient sounds around me which I am normally unaware of. I can not comment on the other 2 tracks of Metta or Walking Meditation as I bought the CD solely to help me with the Mindfulness of Breathing and it does just that – very effectively. In my opinion this CD is money very well spent as it will guide you through a thoroughly useful and beneficial meditation technique and I don’t think you can put a price on that.
Experience feeling ??
My leg hurts amd limbs all when I overthink😢
I mostly feel emotions in my breathing. I get short of breath or breathe very shallow, when I’m anxious or sad. Also, I get migraines 😢
Why did I not get taught this 20 – 30 years ago – 50 years ago ! Its never too late right but geez so much good stuff around now on channels like this to help people like me who needed it since I was like a kid ! I have ended up bed ridden from pain and fatigue – this stuff – emotional stuff and unresolved childhood trauma issues can def incapacitate your physical body.
Shoulders, neck and fingers ache😮.
When I watch a movie, where someone comforts a teenager (like me), I always feel pain in my wrists. Bad pain and the more comforting there is, the more pain I realize, sometimes it also moves into the legs. Can you possibly say, why it is like that? Or what resonates there could be? Because no docter has your knowledge of stored emotions and stuff
Since I have been listening the last two months have been great.no one never told me how to handle emotions because I freak out going to get my blood pressure check.I didn’t know how to stop the panic attacks now I got some very helpful tool thank you so much I just stumbled across you.
We all are many people, depending on where we are, who we are with, what we are doing, or who we are trying to please.
This was one I skipped thinking I didn’t feel anxiety in my bo😢as much as it’s in my head. But now tuning in I found it helpful and insightful.
Physically, depression feels almost like you’re trying to move through molasses. Everything is more difficult, heavier. There is a feeling of additional weight on your back, making the normal ADLs seem so much heavier. Mentally, its like molasses was poured over your inner gears as well. Everything becomes murky, difficult to see, so tricky to move at all, let alone forward. If a person hasn’t experienced depression first hand, it can be very difficult to understand that it isn’t feeling "sad." I would trade depression for grief, because at least sometimes you pop out of the sea of molasses in grief.
I have a family member who felt as if their partner’s depression was an excuse for them to "do less." They never understood why their partner couldnt just "do the thing." Decades later, I notice a similar frustration come up any time this person faces someone who is depressed. "Why cant they just do the thing?!?"
I’m hoping other circles and families are more up to date in their understanding of depression.
Emotions in my body come from my belly, chest, neck and back of my head.
Good video.
I have DID among many other things and it’s ALL true about us DID folks! Thank you for addressing DID! You are the most helpful human ever!!
Tell my why did I laugh while doing this exercise but only for like 2 seconds. Also the tension was in my stomach I think and in my neck but I exercised only my stomach because it hurt a few first times I took a breath
I feel a smile on my face when I’m intellectualizing, but then feel the hair raise up on the back of my head when I share those intellectualizations with others
EMDR therapy is wonderful!!!