Occasional feelings of anxiety or stress are a normal part of life and involve a temporary worry or fear when faced with a stressful situation.
Issues arise when anxiety is excessive, for example, because it is prolonged or severe and either happens for no apparent reason (“free-floating anxiety”) or is disproportionate to the event that has triggered it. Excessive anxiety can be debilitating and interfere with our daily functioning and day-to-day living. It can affect our physical and mental health and have a detrimental effect on our confidence and self-esteem.
Excessive anxiety can be the result of an active Moro reflex as this can cause the ‘fight or flight’ response to be inappropriately activated during normal everyday situations, resulting in excessive levels of stress hormones and feelings of physical anxiety such as tightness in the chest, a racing heartbeat, difficulty breathing, increased perspiration and ”butterflies in the stomach”. Not knowing the source of these uncomfortable physical sensations can further add to the distress experienced.
Excessive anxiety can affect our behaviour (often leading to avoidance or controlling behaviour) as well as our interaction with others, impacting negatively on our self-esteem and confidence. Knowing that there is no logical reason for our anxiety yet not being able to control it can make us believe there is something ‘wrong’ with our mind. As a result we can soon end up in a vicious cycle of anxiety.
Whilst some children display anxiety from an early age, many of us learn to compensate for our day- to- day anxiety. However, this can become more difficult when faced with major changes in our life, including changes in hormone levels. This is why anxiety-related issues often first surface at times of significant change such as starting or changing school, the onset of puberty, the prospect of leaving home, becoming a parent and menopause.
The treatment programme aims to ‘switch off’ a retained Moro reflex thereby enabling its successor, the adult startle (‘Strauss’) reflex, to develop and take over. The adult startle reflex is different from the Moro reflex in that once we have identified the source of our startle reaction, we have the ability to either take action and activate our ‘fight or flight’ response or ignore it, if we decide we are not in any danger. As a result, general anxiety levels tend to reduce and associated issues and behaviours tend to disappear.