Neuroplasticity for anxiety/social anxiety exercises ?

[WiseGuy]

Can anyone tell me were I could find neuroplastic exercises that is specifically target for people who "experience" social anxiety?

Health and Fitness: Neuroplasticity Exercises in Treating Anxiety

The Brain: How The Brain Rewires Itself - TIME

 

[Daniel E.]

In rats, some things that seem to promote neurogenesis (such as in the hippocampus) include physical exercise, novel environments, and antidepressants. In humans, it is believed that ECT and cognitive therapy also may increase neurogenesis (while substance abuse is negatively associated with it). Those are just a few of a number of things that can increase neurogenesis. The question is what is the most helpful and how helpful is neurogenesis compared to other factors. But as a model, neurogenesis is very helpful anyway since everything that seems to promote neurogenesis is good for the brain and mental health in general. A possible exception is occasional sleep deprivation.

Regarding physical exercise:

these data show that the neurogenic response to exercise is much stronger than to antidepressants and imply a low likelihood that anxiolytic effects of these drugs are mediated by adult neurogenesis in C57Bl/6 mice.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006899310007493

---------- Post added March 3rd, 2012 at 08:17 AM ---------- Previous post was March 2nd, 2012 at 10:35 PM ----------

More generally, the brain is always changing and things like therapy, exercise, SSRIs, etc., try to reinforce cognitive/behavioral flexibility rather than old habits and ways of thinking that are less flexible:

"neurons that wire together fire together" anxiety

That includes Dr. Schwartz's book You Are Not Your Brain (which is like Brain Lock but for everyone):


I LOVE the idea of neuroplasticity—which is essentially the idea that the body’s neurology is not set in stone. When I was a kid, I was taught that we were born with a certain number of brain cells, and that if they somehow got damaged or broken, we’d be ****-out-of-luck—those cells would never grow back, and those electrical connections would be forever severed. Scientists like Schwartz are proving that, in fact, the human neurological system is smarter and more resilient than we thought it was, and that it can not only carve out new pathways but that we exert a certain amount of control over our own neurology through the “force of will” or, as I prefer to understand it, through “mind.”

Schwartz makes the critical distinction that “mind” and “brain” are not one and the same:

The brain receives inputs and generates the passive side of experience, whereas the mind is active, focusing attention, and making decisions. … In other words, the brain does not incorporate your true self or Wise Advocate into its processes, but merely reacts to its environment in habitual, automatic ways.

​

Schwartz introduces the idea of the “Wise Advocate” (another way of thinking of higher power) very early in the book. He talks about “sculpting” the brain you want to have by using your will, but it becomes clear that in practice he advocates tapping into the wisdom of a power greater (wiser, smarter, more dependable and less selfish, however you want to say it) than self-will. So following his program becomes a process more of self-discovery than self-creation. To my mind, the latter would be more selfish and self-serving, unless healing is the primary motivation.

Jeffrey Schwartz’s "You Are Not Your Brain"

Heal Your Brain -- Psychology Today

​

---------- Post added at 09:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:34 AM ----------

So anything that helps reduce avoidance behaviors will help with neuroplasticity. The problem is that avoidance behaviors are often reinforced without one even knowing it since one becomes so used to it. For example, with agoraphobia (fear of the marketplace, etc.) or social withdrawal in depression, going to the store and other social places more often will help, but if one is still mostly a "homebody," then that may still be reinforcing old behaviors and ways of thinking, such as if one is still maintaining low levels of behavioral/social activation.

 

[Daniel E.]

Similarly:



which reminds me of solution-focused and strength-based therapies since they build on the good stuff one has already -- the beneficial skills, habits, traits, etc. one already has -- as a way to gradually expand one's comfort zone to reach one's goals or to continue growing as a person.

 

[Daniel E.]

people who "experience" social anxiety?

To be clear, the problem isn't the experience of anxiety per se. It is more like the low tolerance of anxiety ("anxiety sensitivity") and resulting avoidance that reinforces soclal anxiety. Part of the reason CBT works is that we become more tolerant of anxiety itself.

 

[Daniel E.]

Also:

Social Connections for Cognitive Fitness | SharpBrains

Social neuroscience - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So one way to think about it is that we are all like neurons in the brain that need other neurons to fire.