Brainfraid /#

Brainfraid, that's my new word for how you feel. You're fine, but your brain? Well, not so much. You know what I mean, you're minding your business, doing your thing, and then all of a sudden, your brain says, "Nope." You stop frozen dead in your tracks. You think maybe you should run. You don't see a reason to run, but your brain is experiencing a bout of brainfraid, and it is telling you something has to change right now. You start breathing fast and short, your mouth gets dry, and your thoughts take off, sprinting for their lives. They can't slow down, if they do, you might die. Sometimes, your whole body trembles, and you clench your fists, trying to stay in control. The room spins, the world turns black, and there you are, wondering what is happening. You think, " I have to get out of here." Yet, you see no way out. There is no escaping brainfraid. You may even feel like your brain is frayed, and you are getting a double dose of brainfraid and brainfrayed. You don't have to live this way; there is hope. You can get help and move past brainfraid, and often, it only takes a few sessions.

You know what I mean? Some call it a panic attack, and some have no words for it. You just know you want it to stop. Anxiety is a serious mental health condition that can leave you in the middle of the road, unable to decide which way to go and get out of the way. You feel yourself doing that squirrel dance every country driver has seen, not moving, just lunging one foot this way, the other foot that way, never leaving your spot while watching a wall barreling toward you menacing and planning to take your head off. A panic attack is a horrible experience, especially when it is unexplained. You start avoiding things that might trigger it, so you avoid everything because you can't find the one thing that sets brainfraid into motion. Stop avoiding your life; there is hope with Accelerated Resolution Therapy.

You wish you could do something about it, but you don't know what to do. You've heard of therapy and know a doctor will give you medicine, but you don't want to put that stuff into your body and talk therapy, psychotherapy takes forever, and you need relief today. Mental health treatment is expensive, but doggone it, you would pay a couple of thousand dollars if you thought your brain could heal and you would no longer suffer from those devastating brainfraid attacks. You are tired of looking like a wild person who is out of control; you are tired of screaming and crying and hiding from the world. Your family has moved on, and you feel as if they have left you behind.

Your whole being is frayed and stringy with no hope of ever getting any relief, and you don't know who you are anymore. You feel as if there is another being in the back of your mind, controlling you from the depths of your soul. Experts would tell you that feeling is very close to real; they talk about your sub-conscience, that part of your brain that runs on autopilot. You hear that and think your autopilot has been taken over by the enemy and is running you into a remote mountain where you will never be found. The enemy has injected brainfraid into your autopilot, and now you are infected with brainfrayed, and making a decision becomes impossible. Whew, it's a good thing there is hope. There is a solution for brainfraid and brainfrayed.

Psychotherapy only part of the answer

Psychotherapy, also known as talk therapy, doesn't work so well for this condition. You've already talked your head off about it, and it has gotten you nowhere. You don't know what triggers it, if you did, you would avoid that instead of your entire life. There are no warning signs; it just hits like a tsunami, drowning you and tearing you apart. You've been to therapists and counselors, and you've prayed and laid awake begging God for answers and to make it stop. You can't spend the rest of your life trying to figure out what caused it; you don't need to chase the source down and confront it. You need your brain back. You need to be able to finish what you started without having to curl up into a ball and cry for a few hours first. You need to get this under control and then psychotherapy can help you learn to live your life again.

Medicine has side effects, and it only relieves symptoms by about thirty percent. So you can live with panic, fatigue, dry mouth, jitters, anxiety, racing thoughts, not to mention loss of libido. Well, then, there is the question of habit-forming medications. You definitely don't want that. Most people know about valium and Xanax and that after taking them for a while, you can't stop because you may die. The other medications have side effects, too; you can't stop that cold turkey. You find it necessary to get instructions from your doctor before stopping those medications, too.

There Is Hope!

Brainfraid and brainfrayed both start in the back of your mind. So, it makes sense to treat it in the back of your mind rather than the front. Talking your way into the back of your mind takes forever, that is why talk psychotherapy takes forever. You want to get to a place where panic and anxiety can't take up residence and take over your entire body. You are tired of those squirrel moments. You are tired of feeling like the road runner flattened against a wall, leaving a hole the size of Mammoth Cave. You want to target the back of your mine. You want to tell your brain to stop it.

The process is easier than you think, and after the first few minutes, it becomes fun. There is a way to target the back of your mind, that autopilot that keeps causing you to crash. The method is called Accelerated Resolution Therapy. You know you like the sound of that. Accelerated means fast; Resolution means the problem is solved. There is a therapy that will solve these panic attacks for you quickly and efficiently. You can get up and start living again. You can rejoin your family. The ones who love you will look at you with gratitude and wonder what happened. They will be excited for you. People who never loved you will get confused and walk away, their ability to manipulate and trigger you will be gone.

Laney Rosenzweig took a type of therapy called EMDR and turned it on it's head. Now, we ask you to move your eyes side to side in short sets and give you instructions allowing you to get to that panicked part of your brain. The therapy works for trauma, depression, anxiety, and many more things. Psychotherapy has been turned on it's head. While you are moving your eyes, you figure out the best solution for you. Many times, I don't even have to hear the entire story. So, you can heal, not cope, but heal and since you only need a few sessions, it is affordable for most people. I am Vickie, a counselor in Maryville, Tennessee, and one of my favorite things to do is help people get rid of brainfraid and brainfrayed.