One of the most common brainwave profiles I’ve seen with clients over the years are related to anxiety. This is often correlated with very fast frequencies (high beta). (see video below)
https://youtu.be/uFvyu_A20Yw
A neurochemical that I think is not talked about enough but that actually has ‘anxiolytic’ (lowers anxiety) and anti-stress effects is Oxytocin. Oxytocin is based on bonding and affiliation. It is part of a biobehavioral synchrony mechanism that helps us attune to another person. It makes up parent-child, friendship and romantic bonds.
Oxytocin is actually also connected with the dopamine-reward system. The better we get at connecting with others, the more rewarding human connections in general become.
This system is enhanced when we engage in touch, eye gaze and using our voice - all things that are most powerful when we can be in person. This is why it’s so important for us to find ways to connect in real-time with people. We need more places to gather, shake hands, make eye contact, talk face-to-face. Having more time with kids lately and seeing the research on this has also made me realize how urgently we must acknowledge the importance of the bonding and affiliation system within families.
The research is clear that mental health issues in the long-term have very strong connections to what happens when this system is disrupted. When attunement and synchrony are not there, it impairs the circuits involved in stress regulation, empathy for others’ distress, perspective taking, leadership, ability to resolve conflicts, ability to decipher subtle social cues, plus many more issues (which I’ll likely go into in the next podcast episode) What we are seeing unfolding in society today is interwoven with the lack of attunement and biobehavioral synchrony of the mammalian-affection and bonding system.
More to come on this topic. I think that social media and technology are disrupting these systems. It’s part of Chapter 5 of my book I'm currently writing so thought I would send a short preview!
I have another book deadline soon so will likely not post until next week - so have a great week and weekend!
With Love from Me to You
Xoxo Stefanie
#brainwaves #oxytocin #mentalhealth #learning #patience #resilience #healing
