Introduction

 go-to way is what I use for myself when I start to feel anxious. Since anxiety is a physical response to real or perceived immediate danger, and I know there’s no danger, I skip the thinking part of my brain, the supratentorian cortex, and go right for the old mammalian brain, specifically the limbic system. In other words I quickly relax the body: long slow exhales low in the belly, dropping shoulders, shutting mouth with a faint smile, opening palms, and everything else associated with comfort and ease. It’s a routine I had to learn, but once you’ve practiced it, it takes just a few seconds to start. That’s much more helplful than hanging out in the thinking part of my brain and trying to talk myself out of something. The self-talk starts once the body is in a more receptive mode.

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Robert Booker Peer Support Specialist does not provide any psychological or other health-related services or advice to individuals on Quora, and even when responses to questions are answered in the second person as a literary device, they are general and hypothetical, and not intended to be personal for the questioner. Answers are for general information only, and never constitute advice for any individual. Dr. McPhee makes no claims that information he provides is always completely accurate and up-to-date, and readers must check primary sources before relying on such information or opinion. Under no circumstances does Dr. McPhee provide legal advice or medical advice.

Narratives about past patients or other persons are heavily blurred as to specifics of age, gender, time period, location, and details of problems. They may even represent a composite of several patients or other persons. The fictionalizing of details is such that the actual patients and other persons would not recognize themselves. Names of course are fictitious, but are used as a device to assist the reader in keeping track of the various characters.

Robert Booker Peer Support rites about these fictionalized cases to teach, reassure, comfort and challenge, and because they represent a version of his experience without revealing private information about any individual.

Finally, Robert Booker Peer Support Specialist has published thousands of answers and told countless stories here. He apologizes in advance if he tells the same story more than once (most likely with different fictional names and details than before), but claims the privilege of old age and begs forgiveness.