A look at how everyday neurobiology is involved in my panic/anxiety disorder.

1. Neurobiology &
Anxiety/Panic
Disorder
A look into how everyday Neurobiology and my anxiety/panic
disorder work hand-in-hand.

2. What is
Anxiety
Disorder?
What is a
Panic Attack?
Anxiety Disorder: frequently experience intense,
excessive, & persistent worry & fear about everyday
situations.
Ex: Are my coworkers talking bad about me? I am
scared I am going to get into a car wreck today.
Panic Disorder: episodes of sudden feelings of
intense anxiety & fear or terror. Reach a peak within
minutes.
Symptoms: racing heart, sweating, hot flashes,
nausea, gastro discomfort, shaking, an impending
sense of doom, frequent urge to urinate, rapid
breathing, and weakness

3. How the Brain
& Nervous
System are
Involved
Parts of the Brain
 Forebrain
 Cerebral Cortex
(Neocortex)
 Hippocampus
 Amygdala
 Pituitary Gland
 Hypothalamus
Parts of the Nervous
System
 Sympathetic Nervous
System
 Parasympathetic Nervous
System
 Neurotransmitters;
Serotonin, Dopamine,
Norepineohrine, GABA
 Hormones; Cortisol &
Adrenaline

4. My anxiety story.
I am an emetophobic, which means I have a severe fear of V* and being sick. My phobia
developed around 2015, and I wasn’t diagnosed until 2017. Cognition plays a big role in my
phobia and my anxiety/panic disorder. As Dr. Mason explained; cognition includes memory,
thought, emotion, & perception. When exposed to triggers, my perception of reality becomes
warped. My body sends a signal that I am in danger, and the panic attack comes on. The
anxiety and panic associated with my phobia stems from episodic memories and implicit
memories of previous times when I have been sick. These memories, and the anxiety that goes
with it are triggered by things such as; stomach pain, gas, hearing someone V*, someone
talking about being sick, or news reports of SV* or FP* out breaks. On top of dealing with
emetophobia, I also deal with generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder. I take daily
medications which help balance out my brain chemistry. I also take medications called beta
blockers which block the beta versions of adrenergic receptors and allow my body to return to
homeostasis.

5. How is the brain involved?
• I am exposed to a trigger, or a reoccurring thought which involve the
cerebral cortex, thalamus, hippocampus, and the cerebellum.
• For example: A coworker is talking about her child being sick over the weekend.
• I hear someone being sick.
• I start thinking about a time I was sick.
• My brain starts to send signals to my hypothalamus that my body is in
danger. The hypothalamus instructs my pituitary gland to release the
hormones; cortisol & adrenaline.
• The amygdala plays a definite role in detecting fear, and can turn that fear
into anxiety, or triggers a panic attack.
• The release of these hormones sends me into fight or flight mode, but at an
inappropriate time, as there is no real threat.

6. A Visual Look
at the
Amygdala

7. The Nervous System joins the Party!
• The sympathetic nervous system is the key component in the fight or flight
response. It is a vital part in the body’s ability to detect danger.
• The SNS also triggers the release cortisol & adrenaline, prepare my body to
face a threat. The SNS controls the adrenal medulla. This leads to physical
symptoms.
• Physical symptoms:
• Increased heart rate
• Increased blood circulation
• Increase in sweat production.

8. How the Brain and Body Fight Back.
• Luckily panic attacks rarely last longer than 10 minutes. Anxiety cannot increase to a
point of no return.
• There are several ways that the body combats panic attacks.
• Breathing, controlled by the medulla oblongata, is an autonomic function. I don’t need
to think about it doing it, but I can think about how I am doing it. The diaphragm in
innervated by the cervical spinal cord (C3-C5). Due to my episodic memory, I can
recognize that I am having a panic attack. I can use my diaphragm to control how I
breath by taking slow, deep breathes.
• In order to return the body to homeostasis, the parasympathetic nervous system will
kick in. The parasympathetic nervous system releases hormones that relax the mind &
body. It also inhibits many of the high energy functions of the body. This nervous
system is autonomic and will always kick in.
• I also use beta blocker medications, which oppose the effects of the sympathetic
nervous system.

9. Conclusion
Before this course, I had a very basic understanding of how my anxiety and
panic disorder worked on a neurological level. This course helped me
understand just how intricate the brain is, and how much it plays a role in my
mental illness.
I learned that I had several misunderstandings as to how how my sympathetic
and parasympathetic nervous system worked. I also learned that my brain plays
a much larger role in my mental illness, especially talking about how the
hippocampus plays a big part in PTSD.
I hope you have enjoyed this look into how my own brain functions!
Cayce Helderman

10. Citations
• Rootd App
• www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-
conditions/anxiety/symptoms-causes/syc-20350961
• www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Recent-findings-on-
the-pathophysiology-of-social-Marazziti-Abelli