Primitive Brain...it's a dinosaur

Primitive brain is something I talk about a lot...but what is it exactly?

Well, our brains are really fascinating and capable of doing weird and wonderful things. And primitive brain is your brain's default fear, anger and excitement function.

Thousands of years ago, it was much simpler. It was survival of the fittest. It was mostly hunting, gathering and procreating. You did what you did to survive. You're out gathering food and you hear something moving around. Primitive brain kicks in, starts the adrenaline pumping. It's a rabbit! You hunt it for food. But there's another sound...it's a tiger! You run away to live another day.

Primitive brain is essentially there to HELP you. It's called the "flight or fight" response and it taps into some of our strongest emotions...fear and anger. However, there's a problem though...while in primitive brain mode, your brain shuts off it's intelligent thinking mode. It's entirely focused on getting out of the situation. But if you have BPD or any form of anxiety disorder...you sometimes get STUCK in primitive brain mode and that's where the problem is.

Your brain is focused on ESCAPE THROUGH ANY MEANS NECESSARY. And it's currently on dumb mode. It's hard to think when you're having a panic attack.  It's extremely hard to make decisions. And you feel HORRIBLE.  The main problem there is that there's too much adrenaline racing around your body. Your muscles ache...especially your shoulders and legs. You'll produce excess sweat. Sleep is hard. It's difficult to relax when you're rigid with adrenaline. So you'll probably sit down and literally pass out. Thinking about food is difficult and skipping meals is easy. Trying to do anything with primitive brain is the worst.

BUT there are steps that can help. And I'm going to talk about them tomorrow.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not a psychologist, I'm just writing my experiences in the hopes that it can help people understand what is going on with their bodies. I do encourage seeing a psychologist if you need to...there is absolutely no shame in that at all.