anxiety – LIBERTY PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

Recognizing a Mental Health Crisis, explained:

When to get help:

If you (or someone you know) shows sudden changes in thinking, behavior, or perception, especially involving Self Harm, Suicide, confusion, hallucinations, seek urgent medical help immediately (emergency services or a doctor).

Get Help Immediately:

If you think your friend is in danger, stay with them if you can. Do not leave a suicidal person alone. Call 911, take the person to an emergency room, or the Suicide and Crisis hotline at 988. Get support from other friends and family members, even if your friend asks you not to. It’s too serious to keep secret, and you can’t keep your friend safe all on your own. If your friend has been seeing a mental health professional (therapist, counselor, psychologist, social worker, or psychiatrist), call them and make them aware of the situation.”

Recognizing a mental health emergency means identifying when someone’s thoughts, emotions, or behaviors have become dangerous, severely impaired, or rapidly destabilized. Mental health emergencies require immediate attention because there may be a risk of harm to self, harm to others, or inability to care for basic needs.

Common mental health emergencies may include severe depression with suicidal intent, psychosis, panic crises, mania, substance induced crises, trauma reactions, and extreme dissociation.

Warning signs may include:

Talking about suicide, hopelessness, or wanting to disappear
Self-harm behaviors or threats
Sudden extreme mood changes
Hallucinations (seeing or hearing things others do not)
Delusions or paranoid beliefs
Severe confusion or disorientation
Aggressive or violent behavior
Inability to function in daily life
Catatonia or extreme withdrawal
Panic attacks that impair breathing, movement, or awareness
Intoxication or overdose
Not eating, sleeping, or caring for oneself for extended periods

A person may also show subtle signs before a crisis fully develops:

Social isolation
Giving away possessions
Increased substance use
Reckless behavior
Emotional numbness
Intense agitation or restlessness
Expressions of feeling trapped or unbearable psychological pain

Some high-risk conditions associated with emergencies may include:

Major Depressive Disorder
Bipolar Disorder
Schizophrenia
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Substance Use Disorder

If someone appears to be in immediate danger (Contact emergency services or a crisis team):

Stay calm and speak clearly.
Reduce stimulation and avoid confrontation.
Do not leave the person alone if suicide risk is high.
Contact emergency services or a crisis team if safety is threatened.
Encourage professional evaluation as soon as possible.

In the United States, people can contact:

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988)
Emergency services (911) if there is immediate danger
Local psychiatric emergency services or hospital emergency departments

The Emergency Services will distinguish between emotional distress and a true emergency. Intense sadness, anxiety, or stress may mean a psychiatric emergency, but they should still be taken seriously when functioning declines or safety concerns emerge.

From a psychological perspective, early recognition matters because crises often escalate in stages rather than appearing suddenly. Intervention during the early warning phase may significantly reduce harm and improve outcomes.

Shervan K Shahhian

Reinforcing that Secrecy should not override safety:

Get Help Immediately

When to get help:

Reinforcing that secrecy should not override safety is important because suicidal crises and other mental health emergencies may become life threatening very quickly. When someone says, “Don’t tell anyone,” friends or family may feel torn between respecting privacy and protecting the person. Mental health guidance emphasizes that safety takes priority when there is a risk of harm.

Here are some of the main reasons:

A suicidal person may not be thinking clearly: Severe depression, hopelessness, panic, psychosis, or emotional overwhelm may impair judgment. The person may ask for secrecy even when they urgently need help.
One person usually cannot manage the risk alone: Friends often feel responsible, but crisis situations may require parents, trusted adults, therapists, crisis lines, emergency responders, or medical professionals.
Isolation increases danger: Suicidal thinking often thrives in secrecy and disconnection. Bringing in support increases monitoring, emotional connection, and access to care.
Early intervention can save lives: Many suicides are preventable when warning signs are recognized and acted upon quickly.
Confidentiality has ethical limits in emergencies: In psychology, counseling, medicine, and crisis intervention, confidentiality is not absolute when someone may seriously harm themselves or others. Protecting life becomes the primary responsibility.
Temporary anger is preferable to permanent harm: A person may initially feel betrayed if someone tells others, but surviving the crisis allows healing and understanding later.

This is why crisis guidance may say:

“Do not promise to keep suicidal thoughts secret.”

A more supportive response could be:

“I care about you too much to handle this alone. I want to help you stay safe.”

Shervan K Shahhian

Obsessive Intrusive thoughts are unwanted, repetitive thoughts, images, urges,…

Obsessive intrusive thoughts are unwanted, repetitive thoughts, images, urges, or mental “what if” scenarios that enter a person’s mind and feel difficult to dismiss. They are often distressing, disturbing, or inconsistent with the person’s values and intentions.

Examples may include:

Fear of harming someone accidentally or intentionally
Repeated doubts (“Did I lock the door?”)
Intrusive sexual or violent images
Fear of contamination or illness
Religious or moral fears (“What if I’m a bad person?”)
Constant worry about making mistakes or causing harm

A key feature is that the thoughts are ego-dystonic, meaning the person usually does not want them and is disturbed by having them.

Obsessive intrusive thoughts may commonly be associated with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, but they might also occur with:

Anxiety disorders
Trauma-related conditions
Depression
High stress or sleep deprivation
Postpartum mental health conditions
Sometimes even in people without a mental health disorder

In OCD, intrusive thoughts could be followed by compulsions, behaviors or mental rituals meant to reduce anxiety, such as:

Reassurance seeking
Excessive checking
Counting
Praying repeatedly
Mental reviewing
Avoidance behaviors

Psychologically, the problem may not be the thought itself, but the meaning attached to it and the attempts to suppress or neutralize it. Research shows that many people experience strange or disturbing thoughts occasionally; OCD tends to involve:

Overestimating the importance of the thought
Feeling overly responsible for preventing harm
Intolerance of uncertainty
Trying to gain absolute certainty

Common evidence-based treatments may include:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), a specialized form of CBT
Mindfulness-based approaches
Sometimes medications such as SSRIs

One important clinical point: having intrusive thoughts may not mean a person secretly wants to act on them. In fact, the distress may usually reflects the opposite?, the thoughts might conflict with the person’s values.

Shervan K Shahhian

Tolerance for Uncertainty is your psychological capacity,…

Tolerance for uncertainty it maybe your psychological capacity to handle situations where the outcome is unknown, ambiguous, or unpredictable, without becoming overwhelmed, avoidant, or overly reactive.

At its core, it’s about how your mind responds to “I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

What it looks like in real life

People with high tolerance for uncertainty tend to:

Stay relatively calm when things aren’t clear
Make decisions even without perfect information
Adapt when plans change
Accept that some questions don’t have immediate answers

People with low tolerance often:

Feel anxious or restless when things are uncertain
Overthink, seek constant reassurance, or try to control outcomes
Avoid situations with unknowns
Experience “worst-case scenario” thinking

The psychology behind it

Tolerance for uncertainty is closely tied to:

Intolerance of Uncertainty, a key driver in anxiety
Generalized Anxiety Disorder, where uncertainty feels especially threatening
Cognitive Flexibility, your ability to shift thinking and adapt

Your mind maybe essentially trying to reduce perceived threat. Uncertainty: potential danger (from an evolutionary perspective), so some level of discomfort is normal.

Why it matters

Low tolerance for uncertainty may quietly shape behavior:

Keeps people stuck in indecision
Fuels anxiety and rumination
Limits growth (because growth requires stepping into the unknown)

High tolerance, on the other hand:

Supports resilience
Improves decision making
Allows deeper exploration (psychologically, intellectually, even spiritually)

How to build it

This isn’t about “liking” uncertainty, it’s about increasing your capacity to sit with it.

Some evidence based approaches:

1. Gradual exposure

Intentionally leave small things unresolved
Example: delay checking something, or make a decision without over-researching

2. Cognitive reframing

Shift from “uncertainty is dangerous”, “uncertainty is neutral or even informative”

3. Limit reassurance-seeking

Notice when you’re trying to eliminate uncertainty completely (it never fully works)

4. Mindfulness

Train attention to stay in the present rather than projecting into imagined futures

5. Values based action

Act based on what matters to you, even when outcomes aren’t guaranteed

A more nuanced way to think about it

Tolerance for uncertainty isn’t binary, it’s context dependent.

You might tolerate uncertainty well in:

Intellectual exploration
…but struggle with:
Relationships
Health
Financial stability

That’s normal. The goal may not be total comfort, it’s functional stability in the presence of the unknown.

Your tolerance level will shape whether those explorations feel expansive or destabilizing.

Shervan K Shahhian

Synergetic Play Therapy (SPT) is a relationship based therapeutic approach:

Synergetic Play Therapy (SPT) is a relationship based therapeutic approach that may use play as the primary language for helping children regulate emotions, process experiences, and build resilience. It blends traditional play therapy with neuroscience, attachment theory, and mindfulness.

What makes it “synergetic”?

The term refers to the idea that the therapist and child form a co-regulating system. Change doesn’t come just from the client expressing themselves, it emerges from the interaction between the client and therapist.

Instead of the therapist staying neutral, they actively use their own emotional presence to help the client learn regulation.

Core principles

1. Regulation before resolution
SPT prioritizes helping client their nervous system before trying to “fix” behavior.
A dysregulated client can’t process or integrate experiences effectively.

2. The nervous system is central
SPT draws heavily on concepts from interpersonal neurobiology
Play becomes a way to work directly with arousal, stress responses, and emotional states.

3. Co-regulation, self-regulation
The therapist models calm, grounded presence. Over time, the client internalizes this and develops their own regulation skills.

4. Authentic therapist presence
Unlike strictly non-directive models, the therapist may:

Set limits
Share observations
Stay emotionally engaged rather than neutral

How it looks in practice

A session might include:

Free play (to access the child’s inner world)
Emotional expression through toys, art, or movement
Therapist tracking the client ’s internal state (“Your body looks really tight right now…”)
Gentle boundary-setting when needed

Example:
If a client becomes aggressive in play, the therapist doesn’t just stop the behavior, they help the client notice and regulate the underlying activation.

What it’s used for

SPT is commonly applied with children experiencing:

Anxiety or emotional dysregulation
Trauma or attachment disruptions
Behavioral challenges
ADHD-related impulsivity
Social or relational difficulties

How it differs from classic play therapy

Approach	Therapist role	Focus
Child-Centered Play Therapy	Mostly non-directive	Expression & self-discovery
Synergetic Play Therapy	Actively engaged, regulating partner	Nervous system + relationship

Why it’s effective

SPT aligns with modern neuroscience:

Emotional regulation is learned through relationships
The body (not just cognition) stores and processes experience
Safe relational experiences reshape neural pathways

A grounded perspective

Given your background in psychology and interest in deeper mechanisms:
SPT is not about mystical or external influences, it’s rooted in observable processes like:

autonomic regulation
attachment dynamics
mirror neuron systems

It can feel powerful or even “intuitive,” but its mechanisms are well explained within developmental and clinical science.

Shervan K Shahhian

Anxiety Reduction Techniques:

Anxiety reduction may not be just one single technique, it could be a combination of how you regulate your body, attention, and interpretation of events. Since anxiety maybe both physiological and cognitive, effective reduction works on multiple levels at once.

Here’s a, grounded breakdown:

1. Regulate the Body First (fastest impact)

Anxiety may begin in the nervous system, before thoughts fully form, (CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST)

Slow breathing (4–6 breaths/minute) activates the parasympathetic response
Muscle relaxation reduces physical tension loops
Movement (walking, light exercise) burns off stress hormones

This may directly reduce symptoms associated with Anxiety.

2. Stabilize Attention

Anxiety may thrive on scattered or future-focused attention.

Bring focus to sensory input (what you see, hear, feel)
Use attentional anchoring (breath, body, or a simple task)
Limit mental “time travel” into imagined outcomes

This counters what’s often called attentional hijacking.

3. Change the Thought Loop (Cognitive Layer)

Anxiety may often be driven by distorted predictions.

Core distortions:

Catastrophizing (“This will go badly”)
Overgeneralizing (“It always happens”)
Mind-reading (“They think I’m failing”)

Techniques:

Cognitive reframing: Replace “What if this goes wrong?”, “What’s most likely?”
Probability correction: Estimate realistic odds
Cognitive diffusion (from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy): see thoughts as events, not facts

4. Behavioral Exposure (long-term reduction)

Avoidance keeps anxiety alive.

Gradually face the feared situation
Stay long enough for anxiety to decrease naturally
Repeat until the brain relearns safety

This maybe one of the most evidence-based methods in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

5. Train Automatic Calm Responses

You may condition calm the same way anxiety gets conditioned.

Pair relaxation and trigger imagery
Use mental rehearsal of calm performance
Build automaticity so calm becomes default under pressure

6. Reduce Baseline Vulnerability

Anxiety could be much easier to trigger when your baseline is off.

Sleep quality
Caffeine/stimulant intake
Chronic stress load
Social isolation

These don’t cause all anxiety, but they lower your threshold.

7. Optional Advanced Layer

You might appreciate this angle:

Anxiety can be seen as misdirected predictive processing
The mind is constantly simulating future states
Reduction: improving prediction accuracy, control over attention

Practices like:

Visualization (correctly used)
Self-hypnosis
Controlled attentional training

…can reshape those predictive loops.

Simple Practical Protocol (2–5 minutes)

If you want something immediate:

Slow breath (inhale 4, exhale 6) for ~2 minutes

Name 5 things you can perceive (grounding)

Relax shoulders/jaw consciously

Shervan K Shahhian

Cognitive Freezing is a mental state where your thinking temporarily “locks up”:

Cognitive freezing is a mental state where your thinking temporarily “locks up” under pressure, stress, or overload. Instead of processing information fluidly, your mind becomes rigid, blank, or stuck, making it hard to decide, respond, or even recall what you know.

It’s essentially the cognitive version of the fight, flight, freeze response, a well-known survival mechanism in psychology.

What’s happening in the mind

Cognitive freezing could be closely tied to the fight or flight response. When a situation feels threatening (physically or psychologically):

The amygdala detects danger and activates stress signals (CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST)
Stress hormones like cortisol surge (CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST)
The prefrontal cortex (responsible for reasoning and decision-making) becomes less active (CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST)

Result: thinking narrows or shuts down entirely

How it feels

People experiencing cognitive freezing may often report:

goes blank (“I knew this, but now I can’t think”)
Inability to make even simple decisions
Slowed reaction time
Feeling mentally paralyzed or stuck
Reduced verbal fluency (words don’t come out)

Common triggers

Performance pressure (public speaking, exams, sports)
Social evaluation or fear of judgment
Sudden unexpected situations
High cognitive load (too much information at once)
Anxiety or trauma-related cues

Why it exists

From an evolutionary perspective, freezing maybe adaptive:

It can prevent impulsive mistakes
It allows rapid threat assessment
In extreme danger, “playing dead” can be protective

But in modern settings (like presentations or tests), it becomes maladaptive.

How to reduce cognitive freezing

1. Pre-load the mind (mental rehearsal)
Repeated simulation reduces uncertainty, so the mind doesn’t interpret the situation as a threat.

2. Down-regulate stress quickly

Slow breathing (4–6 seconds inhale/exhale)
Grounding attention in physical sensations

3. Use cognitive “anchors”

Simple pre-planned cues like: “Just start with the first sentence”
Break tasks into automatic chunks

4. Train automaticity
The more a skill is automatic, the less it relies on the prefrontal cortex under stress.

5. Reframe the threat
Shift interpretation from danger, challenge, which reduces amygdala overactivation.

A useful way to think about it

Cognitive freezing isn’t a lack of ability, it could be a temporary access problem.
The knowledge is still there, but stress blocks retrieval.

Shervan K Shahhian

Managing a Polycrisis, how:

Managing a polycrisis, a situation where multiple large-scale crises interact and amplify each other, requires a different mindset than handling isolated problems. It may describe overlapping issues like economic instability, climate stress, constant threat, and long term dealings with unusual events.

At a practical level, you can think of managing polycrisis across three layers: cognitive (how you think), behavioral (what you do), and systemic (how you position yourself in the world).

“SHARE INFORMATION SELECTIVELY: NOT PANIC DRIVEN.”

1. Cognitive: Avoid Overload and Distortion

A polycrisis overwhelms attention systems and can trigger chronic threat perception.

Limit input bandwidth: Constant exposure to crisis information amplifies anxiety loops.
Prioritize signal over noise: Not all crises are equally relevant to your life.
Use cognitive diffusion (from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy): observe catastrophic thoughts without fusing with them.

Instead of “everything is collapsing,” shift to:

“Multiple systems are under stress, but not all of them affect me equally or immediately.”

2. Behavioral: Build Stability Under Uncertainty

You may not be able to solve a polycrisis, but you can stabilize your functioning within it.

Create micro-certainties: routines, habits, predictable anchors
Train adaptability: exposure to controlled uncertainty (new environments, skill-building)
Reduce fragility: diversify income, skills, and social support

This aligns with ideas from Antifragile, instead of just resisting shocks, you benefit from variability.

3. Emotional Regulation: Prevent Chronic Threat Mode

Polycrisis often induces a low-grade, persistent stress response similar to ambient anxiety.

Practice down-regulation (breathing, somatic grounding)
Avoid “globalizing” fear (turning specific risks into total doom narratives)
Maintain agency perception, the sense that your actions still matter

Chronic exposure without regulation can resemble patterns seen in Generalized Anxiety Disorder, even if it’s situational.

4. Strategic Thinking: Shift from Optimization to Resilience

Old models focus on efficiency; polycrisis demands resilience and redundancy.

Redundancy, efficiency (backup plans, savings, multiple options)
Scenario thinking instead of prediction
Decentralized decision-making (don’t rely on one system or authority)

5. Social Layer: Strengthen Networks

In polycrisis, isolated individuals are far more vulnerable than connected ones.

Build trusted relationships
Engage in mutual aid or local community
SHARE INFORMATION SELECTIVELY: NOT PANIC DRIVEN

Historically, communities, not individuals, navigate overlapping crises best.

6. Meaning Framework: Avoid Existential Drift

Polycrisis can destabilize belief systems and create nihilism.

Anchor in values-based action
Separate global uncertainty from personal purpose
Maintain long-term orientation even in unstable conditions

7. Reality Check (Important)

You don’t “solve” a polycrisis at the individual level. Anyone claiming total control over it is oversimplifying or selling something.

What is realistic:

You can reduce personal vulnerability
You can increase adaptability
You can stay psychologically stable while others destabilize
Shervan K Shahhian

Performance Anxiety could be a form of Situational Anxiety:

Performance anxiety could be a form of situational anxiety that shows up when someone feels pressure to perform well in front of others or under evaluation. It may closely be related to Social Anxiety Disorder, but it may also occur on its own in specific contexts (like sports, public speaking, or sexual performance).

What it feels like

It’s not just “nerves”, it could be a whole-body response:

Rapid heartbeat, sweating, shaky hands
Mental blanking or difficulty concentrating
Overthinking or self-monitoring (“Don’t mess up”)
A sense of being watched or judged
Urge to escape the situation

Common triggers

Public speaking or presentations
Athletic or artistic performance (golf, music)
Test-taking or academic evaluation
Workplace evaluations or high-stakes tasks
Intimate/sexual situations

What’s actually happening (psychologically)

Performance anxiety could be driven by a mix of:

Threat perception: The mind treats evaluation as a potential threat
Attentional hijacking: Focus shifts from the task, to the self (“How am I doing?”)
Working memory overload: Overthinking interferes with automatic skills
Fear of negative evaluation: A core feature of social anxiety

In high-skill activities (like sports), it may often lead to “choking”, where conscious control disrupts automatic performance.

A useful way to think about it

It’s less about lack of skill and more about interference.

You already know how to perform, but anxiety inserts noise into the system.

Evidence-based ways to manage it

1. Shift attention outward

Focus on the task or environment (ball, audience message, rhythm)
Reduces self-conscious monitoring

2. Normalize arousal

Reframe anxiety as activation rather than danger
Physiologically: (CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST), anxiety and excitement are very similar

3. Pre-performance routines

Consistent rituals (breathing, visualization, cues)
Stabilize attention and reduce variability

4. Breathing regulation

Slow exhale breathing (4–6 seconds out) calms autonomic arousal

5. Cognitive defusion (from ACT)

Notice thoughts (“I might mess up”) without engaging them
Treat them as mental events, not truths

6. Gradual exposure

Repeated, controlled exposure reduces the anxiety response over time

A quick practical protocol (you can use immediately)

Take 2 slow breaths (long exhale)
Pick one external anchor (the ball, your voice tone, a single cue)
Give yourself a simple instruction: “Just do the next step”
Let the rest run automatically
Shervan K Shahhian

Attention Disorders, explained:

Attention disorders could be conditions that affect a person’s ability to focus, sustain attention, regulate impulses, and manage cognitive effort. They can impact academic performance, work, relationships, and overall daily functioning.

Main Types of Attention Disorders

1. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

The most well-known attention disorder.

Core features:

Inattention (distractibility, forgetfulness)
Hyperactivity (restlessness, fidgeting)
Impulsivity (interrupting, acting without thinking)

Subtypes:

Predominantly inattentive (formerly ADD)
Predominantly hyperactive-impulsive
Combined type

2. Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT)

A less formal but increasingly studied condition.

Characteristics:

Mental fogginess
Daydreaming
Slow processing speed
Low energy / lethargy

Often overlaps with ADHD but feels more “internally slowed” than hyperactive.

3. Attention Deficits from Other Conditions

Attention problems may also be secondary symptoms of other disorders:

Anxiety disorders
Attention pulled toward worry and threat monitoring
Major depressive disorder
Reduced concentration, mental fatigue
Traumatic brain injury: (CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST)
Impaired focus, processing, executive control
Autism spectrum disorder
Differences in attentional focus (hyperfocus vs. shifting difficulty)

Key Cognitive Components Affected

Attention disorders could involve disruptions in:

Sustained attention (staying focused over time)
Selective attention (filtering distractions)
Divided attention (multitasking)
Executive control (goal-directed focus, inhibition)
Processing speed

Common Signs

Easily distracted
Difficulty finishing tasks
Poor organization
Frequent mistakes or forgetfulness
Mental fatigue or “brain fog”
Trouble switching or sustaining focus

Underlying Mechanisms (Simplified)

Dysregulation in prefrontal cortex networks: (CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST)
Imbalances in neurotransmitters like dopamine and norepinephrine: (CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST)
Impaired top-down attentional control

Treatment & Management

Clinical approaches:

Behavioral therapy
Cognitive training (attention exercises)
Medication (especially for ADHD): (CONSULT WITH a NEUROLOGIST and/or PSYCHIATRIST)

Self-regulation strategies:

Cognitive pacing (managing mental energy)
Reducing attentional fragmentation
Structured routines
Mindfulness / attention training

A Deeper Perspective

From a metacognitive or parapsychological lens, attention disorders maybe viewed as:

Disruptions in the “targeting mechanism of awareness”
Instability in attentional sovereignty (loss of control over focus allocation)
Either under-binding (scattered awareness) or over-binding (fixation / hyperfocus)
Shervan K Shahhian