Tame Your Anxiety

Loretta Breuning is Founder of the Inner Mammal Institute and author ofHabits of a Happy Brain: Retrain your brain to boost your serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphin levels; and The Science of Positivity: Stop Negative Thought Patterns by Changing Your Brain Chemistry. She is Professor Emerita of Management at California State University, East Bay. The Inner Mammal Institute offers resources that help you rewire your mammalian brain chemistry, including books, videos, podcasts, blogs and graphics. Dr. Breuning’s work has been translated into Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, French, Turkish, German, and appeared on Forbes, NPR, Wall St Journal, Psychology Today, Time, Fox, NBC, Dr Oz, Cosmopolitan, Real Simple, Men’s Health, and many podcasts.

• Introduction1. What is Tame?2. What Is Anxiety?3. A Taming Tool That Works4. Find Your Power Over Your Brain5. Design the Tool That’s Right For You6. Avoid These Six Pitfalls7. Keep It Tame In the Long Run8. Stock Your Pantry with Anxiety Tamers9. Food and Anxiety10. Help Others Tame AnxietyEpilogue Keep In Touch

According to Breuning, asking someone to help control your brain is like asking another rider to control your horse. Control comes from within and from understanding just what your mammal brain wants and needs. The human brain is wired to crave happy chemicals, and we are rewarded with these chemicals when the brain strives toward a goal, feels a part of the group, gets recognition, and faces pain. Anxiety occurs when these needs are not met. Keeping this in mind, Breuning outlines a three-step plan to combat anxiety. It includes determining what the brain really wants, distracting the brain by spending 20 minutes on a consuming, pleasurable task, and finally taking one step toward achieving the goal. The author offers suggestions for possible goals, tasks, and action based on her own and others’ experiences. She believes in designing a program based on an individual’s needs and warns of the dangers of seeking relief from anxiety with food, alcohol, and drugs (including prescriptions). Breuning presents a convincing case for controlling anxiety by tapping into natural instincts and drives.