Substance Use Therapy

When our bodies or our property are violated, we tend to know it. Although painful, there is a sense of clarity about what has happened. We know if someone has pushed us, stolen from us. These events are considered crimes and frequently they leave behind physical evidence. But what about emotional or psychological violations against us? We may still experience a feeling of being violated, or having felt frightened but are we as likely to recognize these experiences as a

Our stress response is commonly referred to as the fight or flight response. When we perceive danger, our body prepares us to take needed action. Our sympathetic nervous system is activated due to the sudden release of hormones. The sympathetic nervous systems stimulate the adrenal glands triggering the release of adrenaline and noradrenaline. This results in an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate. Our pupils dilate and digestion stops or slows down.

I don’t know anyone whose stress has not increased over the past few weeks. At this point, it would be nearly impossible to not have some increased stress, panic or worry during these times. Covid-19 is called the novel coronavirus since it has not been previously identified in humans. I think it is reasonable to say that we are collectively having a novel stress experience. Only a novel stress experience such as this could make even the lack of Austin traffic seem depressin