When Emotional Reactivity is High

Emotional Reactivity is high at times like these. But chronic anxiety, complex trauma and long-term mortal sin (indulging the passions which we often call vices) make it far worse. The neurological result is an increase in cortisol in the brain (and body), which acts as an inflammatory and decreases neuronal connections in the brain, especially in the Hippocampus, Insula, Thalamus and Cingulate Cortex. Long-term, this results in lower emotional regulation as the connections between the Thalamus and Anterior Cortex atrophy. The Thalamocortical loop is responsible for sorting bodily sensory data and interpreting it.

The hard and vital truth to learn here is that long-term stress and anxiety, especially on top of a personal history of trauma, lowers your ability to accurately interpret emotional data and respond in healthy ways. The toxic nature of long-term cortisol exposure in the brain literally shrinks grey matter. So here is the rub, and this is especially important at a time like this when people are highly reactive because of current events: Don't trust your perceptions of everything, don't let catastrophic thinking run away with you, and don't believe and react to every bit of threatening news you see. The likelihood is you are, to some degree or another, exaggerating threats. That doesn't mean there are none. But it does mean you can be misperceiving and exaggerating them.

The way to improve emotional regulation is by establishing a daily routine of contemplative or "centering" prayer. This sort of prayer, which is characterized by sitting quietly and repeating a short and easy to remember passage of scripture or prayer of the church - like the Jesus Prayer, the Kyrie, or phrases like, "Jesus, I trust in you," helps calm the nervous system, which instigates a "rest" and "coalesce" response in the body, lowering stress. In this prayerful state learn to practice surrendering your fear and anxiety to God and then pray the emotional content of your heart. This will quickly create a neurological shift in your brain that yields greater mental clarity. Over time this will downregulate your nervous system, restore healthier neural connections, and lower emotional reactivity. You will be less reactive, think more clearly and see the world more accurately. Oh, and you will be a much happier and well-balanced person. And who doesn't want that?