K.L. Aspden - Help! Ive Got an Alarm Bell Going Off in My Head!: How Panic, Anxiety and Stress Affect Your Body

Help! Ive Got an Alarm Bell
Going Off in My Head! of related interest The Panicosaurus Managing Anxiety in Children Including
Those with Asperger Syndrome K.I. Al-Ghani Illustrated by Haitham Al-Ghani ISBN 978 1 84905 356 3 eISBN 978 0 85700 706 3 Can I tell you about Anxiety? A guide for friends, family and professionals Lucy Willetts and Polly Waite Illustrated by Kaiyee Tay ISBN 978 1 84905 527 7 eISBN 978 0 85700 967 8 Frankies Foibles A story about a boy who worries Kath Grimshaw ISBN 978 1 84905 695 3 eISBN 978 1 78450 210 2 Help! Ive Got an Alarm Bell Going Off in My Head! How Panic, Anxiety and Stress Affect Your Body K. L. Aspden Foreword by Babette Rothschild Illustrated by Zita R Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia First published in 2016 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers 73 Collier Street London N1 9BE, UK and 400 Market Street, Suite 400 Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA www.jkp.com Copyright K.L. Aspden 2016 Foreword copyright Babette Rothschild 2016 Illustrations copyright Zta R 2016 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 610 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.

Applications for the copyright owners written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher. Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Aspden, K. L. Help - Ive got an alarm bell going off in my head! : how panic, anxiety and stress affect your body / K.L. pages cm Audience: Ages 9-11. pages cm Audience: Ages 9-11.

ISBN 978-1-84905-704-2 (alk. paper) 1. Panic attacks--Juvenile literature. 2. Anxiety disorders--Juvenile literature. Title. Title.

RC535.A87 2016 616.85223--dc23 2015029309 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 84905 704 2 eISBN 978 1 78450 227 0 This book is dedicated to the children I have
worked with, who have had the courage to share
their struggles and have taught me so much. Contents Foreword The brain and nervous systems alarm process, which helps us to recognise and survive danger, is fantastic. It saves lives. Literally. When signs of threat emerge, the middle part of the brain (called the limbic system) activates the body to flee or fight. If neither of those is possible it makes the body immobile by making the muscles freeze.

Stress hormones are released to meet these survival demands. At the same time, these same hormones ensure the thinking part of the brain (the cortex) is held back. When life is threatened, immediate and quick responses are necessary for survival. Thinking would slow down reaction times and put survival at risk. Most of the time, once the danger has passed this alarm is silenced and normal life resumes. However, there are plenty of instances where, for various reasons, the brain and nervous system do not get (or understand) the message that the danger has passed.

In those cases, an alarm continues to sound and difficulty in daily life results. K.L. Aspdens marvellous book is a wonderful contribution to helping people of all ages who are suffering from the continuous sounding of this survival alarm. With solid information, good humour, engaging cartoons and helpful suggestions, this small book speaks volumes about helping young and old to heal from trauma. Babette Rothschild, author of
The Body Remembers: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and
Trauma Treatment and 8 Keys to Safe Trauma Recovery Introduction If you have strong reactions that you dont understand, this book is written for you. If you know or work with someone who struggles with anxiety, this book is written for you.

It may help you discover that there are reasons behind these difficulties. It may help you discover ways to reduce the distress caused by these experiences. This book is intended to be read bit by bit and talked about with someone. It will be most helpful if you try out and practise the ideas as much as you can. The Alarm We all have an alarm bell in our head, like a fire alarm, to keep us safe in emergencies. We all have an alarm bell in our
head, like a fire alarm...

Its posh name is the amygdala ( am-ig-dulla ), and it is found in our brain. When we are in danger, it sends off a loud signal to our body. ...to run for it... ...fight for our lives... ...or pretend to be dead... It is a very clever system when it is working properly.

Our brain sends messages down to our adrenal glands, which sit on top of our kidneys. They pump out large amounts of adrenalin (a specially designed chemical) to prepare us for action. Blood rushes to our arms and legs, our heart races and we are ready to escape the danger. This all happens in a split second. Our thinking is automatically turned off so that it doesnt get in the way. Theres no time for that! Our thinking is automatically turned off...

The only problem is that the amygdala sometimes starts going off at all the wrong times, when there is no emergency. You could describe it as a false alarm. This can feel terrible for the person it happens to. If it happens to you, you will recognise some of these feelings: ...shaking... ...anger... ...frozen to the spot... ...dry mouth, sweaty hands... ...wobbliness... ...surge of energy... ...aggression, maybe kicking, punching, swearing...