So where do you feel anxiety?

My name is Mark Wigley, a first aid, ligature and self-harm trainer and Director of Meducate Training Ltd and owner of markwigley.online.

Everyone feels anxiety at some point in their life, at work and outside work. In our line of work it may be as a support worker (concerned over your client or your job); as a manager (juggling the many balls you have to on a day to day basis); when changing supplier to one you have never used before; when being asked to stand up and do a role-play in a first aid class; heck, even after 10 years delivering training I still get nervous sometimes before presenting to a class!

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When we feel anxiety, we often fall back on what is familiar and known to us, even if what is familiar and known is no longer serving our best interests!

Although anxiety happens in our brains where do we really feel it? In our body, that’s where.

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When our brain activates the fight-flight response all sorts of cool stuff starts happening in the brain with corresponding reactions manifesting in the body. Chemicals are released by the brain like epinephrine (also knowns as adrenaline) and norepinephrine (also known as noradrenaline). These chemicals act to constrict certain blood vessels, elevate heart rate, increase blood pressure and trigger greater metabolism of sugar.

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When you are suffering from anxiety (and modern humans have invented themselves many things to be anxious about) you might feel that you have a racing heart, cold and clammy skin, ‘butterflies’ in your stomach and more. Return to the familiar and the known (inside your comfort zone) and the feelings of anxiety dissipate quickly. The problem is that the brain now learns not to confront that situation again to avoid this response and the familiar and ‘known’ remains the norm.

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I always tell my 13 year old son that when he has those feelings of anxiety before doing something new, its just his body and brain getting ready for a new experience! It’s completely normal!

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Push through that anxiety and do the thing that is outside your comfort zone and your brain learns not to fear it as much next time until the task creates little or no anxiety at all!

 

So, who is Aaron Beck?

My name is Mark Wigley, a first aid, ligature and self-harm trainer and Director of Meducate Training Ltd and owner of markwigley.online and I thought I would share with you a brief biography of a very influential and well known person in the world of cognitive behaviour therapy.

So, who is Aaron Beck?

Aaron Beck (b 1921) is an American Psychiatrist who is regarded as the father of cognitive therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy* (CBT). His theories are widely used today in treating clinical depression and anxiety disorders. He also created self-reporting measures for depression and anxiety, notably the Beck Depression Inventory which is one of the most widely used scoring methods for depression and anxiety.

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He has conducted much research into psychotherapy, psychopathology, suicide and psychometrics and has authored or co-authored over 25 books on these subjects.

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Through some of his work with depressed patients for example, he found that they tended to experience streams of negative thoughts that appeared without anything triggering them. He called these ‘automatic thoughts’ and categorised them into three groups: negative ideas about oneself, the world and the future. The patient only had to focus on these automatic thoughts for a short amount of time to start treating them as valid thoughts!

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* Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a type of talking treatment which focuses on how your thoughts, beliefs and attitudes affect your feelings and behaviour, and teaches you coping skills for dealing with different problems.

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A very brief history of self-harm

My name is Mark Wigley, a first aid, ligature and self-harm trainer and Director of Meducate Training Ltd and owner of markwigley.online and I thought I would share with you a brief history of self-harm.

A lot of people think that self-harm is a product of the modern age however you might be surprised to learn that this phenomenon has a much longer and darker history then you might think.

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Self-Harm can be dated at least as far back the medieval times to the flagellant movement that gained notoriety at the time of Black Death. A form of religious expression flagellants would march through towns and cities in Europe, stopping at to whip and beat themselves in attempt to stave off plague afflicting the continent at the time.

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It was in the 19^th Century when Asylums started popping up across England that self-harm was considered a medical/psychological problem. There are some horrific stories of patients plucking one of their own eyes out (a process known as enucleation). At the time this type of self-injurious behaviour was linked with some form of insanity or hysteria.

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Fast forward to the later part of the 20^th century and self-harm started being associated with younger people (especially young women) and attention seeking behaviour, self-cutting and bloodletting which previously had not received much mention by professionals now became more prevalent. With the de-criminalisation of suicide, the matter of self-harm became a matter for psychiatric professionals rather than police so a person was more likely to get treatment rather than being ‘patched up’ and sent home.

With the proliferation of social media in the 21^st Century the subject of self-harm has become super-sized with hundreds of sites, social media profiles and images on the internet promoting or speaking out against self-harm. Many argue that increased pressures on young people at school and work have also acted to accelerate cases of self-harm.

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Kind Regards

Mark Wigley

www.meducatetraining.co.uk

www.markwigley.online

www.mwonlinetraining.uk