Is Stress Good or Bad For You? Anxiety Master Key Concepts Part II

08/26/24 • 29 min

In this episode of Calm Your Caveman, the discussion picks up from previous sessions on anxiety master key concepts focusing on the appraisal theory as a tool for regulating emotions. Dr. Twitchell explains how appraisals, our brain's interpretations of situations, determine whether emotions are helpful or harmful by aligning with our goals.
The episode delves into the dimensions of appraisal: desirability, attribution, and expectancy, and how they influence our emotional responses in stressful situations. Special emphasis is placed on understanding the challenge versus threat response – the former being when demands are met by our resources, producing adaptive and facilitating stress, and the latter when demands exceed our resources, leading to detrimental and lingering stress. Practical tips are given for recognizing and altering these responses. Dr. Twitchell references key studies and provides resources for further exploration.
[00:00:00] - Introduction and Recap
[00:01:07] - Understanding Appraisal Theory
[00:07:22] - Unconscious Appraisals
[00:09:41] - Appraisal Dimensions
[00:12:24] - Stress and Coping
[00:15:44] - Challenge vs. Threat Response
[00:25:30] - Practical Exercises and Conclusion
For full show notes, including resources mentioned, go to:
www.calmyourcaveman.com

Previous Episode

Emotions Unlocked: Anxiety Master Key Concepts Part I

In this episode of "Calm Your Caveman," Dr. Adriana Jarvis Twitchell delves into the appraisal theory of emotion, emphasizing its role in understanding
1) what emotions we should regulate and
2) how regulation is done (the basic principles behind the regulation process).
The first question, about knowing which emotions to regulate, or knowing when emotions are helpful or harmful, is addressed by explaining that emotions evolved to help us adapt to our environment. Dr. Twitchell highlights the evolutionary purpose of emotions and contrasts them with rigid reflexes. She explains that we can determine the helpfulness of our emotions according to whether they are adaptive or maladaptive for our circumstances.
The second question, concerning how to cultivate helpful emotions and down-regulate harmful ones, is illuminated by the appraisal theory concepts that emotions are processes, not states, and that emotions are not direct responses to external events but are shaped by our appraisals (assessments) of those events. This understanding reveals that unhelpful emotion processes can be regulated by changing our appraisals, either directly or indirectly.
Dr. Twitchell provides practical examples and shows how these two concepts facilitate our understanding of anxiety and how to regulate it. She also introduces an exercise to enhance moment-to-moment awareness of emotions, equipping listeners with tools to understand their emotion processes better.
[00:00:30] - Recap of the four key questions.
[00:01:24] - Importance of distinguishing helpful vs. harmful emotions.
[00:02:02] - Understanding emotional regulation through a model or map.
[00:03:30] - Choosing and implementing strategies for regulation.
[00:03:58] - Introduction to the appraisal theory.
[00:04:49] - Emotions as adaptive responses.
[00:06:05] - Examples of appraisal changing emotions.
[00:10:00] - Identifying adaptive vs. maladaptive emotions.
[00:11:00] - Emotions as processes, not states.
[00:12:00] - Role of appraisals in emotional responses.
[00:14:00] - Direct and indirect changes in appraisal.
[00:17:00] - Indirect changes through physical response and attention.
[00:21:00] - Awareness exercise to track emotions.
For full show notes, including resources mentioned, go to:
www.calmyourcaveman.com

Next Episode

Emotion Regulation Secrets: Anxiety Master Key Concepts Part III

In this episode of the Anxiety Master Key Concepts, we delve into Dr. James J. Gross's renowned process model of emotion regulation. We explore the intricacies of how emotions are generated and regulated, emphasizing the importance of influencing emotions by intervening at key points in the cycle: situation, perception, appraisal, and response. The episode provides foundational knowledge necessary for effectively employing anxiety management strategies, highlighting the conceptual framework of emotion processes and the need for adaptability in coping methods.
[00:00:00] - Introduction to Anxiety Master Key Concepts Part 3
[00:01:10] - Understanding Emotion Regulation
[00:02:06] - The Importance of Emotion Regulation
[00:05:32] - The Process Model of Emotion Regulation
[00:07:50] - Detailed Breakdown of the Process Model
[00:11:21] - Four Key Points in Emotion Generation
[00:12:13] - Families of Emotion Regulation Strategies
[00:14:54] - Conclusion and Next Steps
For full show notes, including resources mentioned, go to:
www.calmyourcaveman.com

Calm Your Caveman - Is Stress Good or Bad For You? Anxiety Master Key Concepts Part II

Transcript

Okay. Hi, everybody. Welcome back to calm your caveman today. We're going to pick up where we left off last time. We were talking about anxiety master key concepts. We talked a couple episodes ago about how you need a master key for your anxiety which is essentially a fundamental tool, a foundational tool that can help you to answer what to regulate and how to regulate. It can help you to know which emotions are helpful for you and which are harmful, and it can help you to know how to change t