Meet your presenters, Dr. Elizabeth Pearce, PsyD and Lydia Jordan, LCSW, LCADC

Biblical and scientific presuppositions, about truth and about emotions.

The components of anxiety (thoughts, feelings, body changes, and behaviors).

Nervous system basics, and the neuroscience of anxiety, explained so you can understand it.

How and why Sympathetic Nervous System triggers work

The Vagus Nerve and Co-Regulation

How early experiences program your nervous system to detect threat and safety

How God designed our nervous system to need connection.

Causes of Vagus Nerve injury and dysfunction

Impact of Vagus Nerve dysfunction on physical health issues (gut, immune, hormonal)

Healing the Vagus Nerve

Training up a child, and Jesus’ experience of anxiety

Polyvagal theory: Your nervous system states as a ladder, upon which you are always moving up and down

Fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses to activating events

Impact of polyvagal states on your thoughts, emotions, relationships, and connection with God

God Image: when your feeling of God is different from what you believe to be true

When the Bible talks about fear and anxiety: Command vs Connection, and what about faith?

A Biblical perspective on anxiety:

When the Bible mentions fear and and anxiety numerous times, how are we to view this?
- Command vs connection
Is anxiety a sin?
What about faith?

Anxiety Disorders described and explained:

Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Panic Disorder
OCD
PTSD
Social phobia, other phobias
Acute Stress Disorder
Adjustment Disorders

Etiology of Anxiety Disorders

Treatment approaches for Anxiety Disorders

“Top Down” (thought-based) and “Bottom Up” (somatic/body-based)

What really happens in therapy?

Principles of Cognitive Therapy for Anxiety

“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Thought and belief-based strategies to calm anxiety

Psalm 22 as a case study of changing thoughts and approaching God, in order to shift emotions

Introduction to body-based methods to help tame anxiety

Body balance through gut health, exercise, nourishment, and hydration

Overview of grounding and vagal toning methods to calm an anxious body

Leverage the power of Co-Regulation with others and with God

How your prayer life maya be impacted by anxiety

Effective prayer methods patterned after the Psalms

Principles for long breathing:

How to make deep breathing actually work.

Long Breathing together with Dr. Elizabeth

Pull up this video whenever you need a calming, co-regulating moment to help tame anxiety!

Mindfulness is a skill of focused attention

Learn Christian and sensory-based methods for using this grounding skill

Cognitive Re-Engagement: force your way back up to “upstairs brain” with a difficult thinking task

Guided Imagery is a proven anxiety regulation technique.

Mentally visualizing a boundary, a safe space, is known to help survivors of abuse and trauma.

We incorporate Biblical illustrations that God uses to describe His presence with us.

Cold exposure comes in many forms, and tells the Vagus Nerve to activate.

Vagus Nerve activation is what calms your body from a stress or anxiety response.

Body work - nourishment, hydration, and stretches to help tone the Vagus Nerve

How to approach anxiety triggers so that they don’t continue to gain power over us

Approaching and feeling flooded will only reinforce fear pathways in your brain

Use your “Window of Tolerance”, Co-Regulation, and gradual exposure to successfully approach triggers

The best ways to support someone who is feeling anxious

Validation: letting someone know “I see you”;
but not necessarily, “I agree with the way you feel.”

Co-Regulation

Supporting a child

Tips for finding skilled, professional help for anxiety

How do we approach working with non-Christian clients?

How do you talk to someone who believes all anxiety is a spiritual problem?

What happened to my nervous system, after feeling highly anxious for several years and now I just feel shut-down?

How can I manage anxiety when I don’t have time to sit down and breathe?

What is the psychology of Romans 7:15, in the context of overwhelm and procrastination?

How does fear programming in the brain actually get re-written?