Stress and distress are associated with physiological arousal and activation of the sympathetic nervous system. This is the ‘fight or flight’ branch of the nervous system and its operation is designed to activate the individual to prepare for or to take action. In some clinical conditions normal physiological arousal leads to distress because it is misappraised. For example, in patients who panic, normal body sensations are misappraised in a manner indicating that catastrophe is imminent. In patients who struggle with affect regulation, physical arousal may be experienced as particularly aversive and associated with beliefs that its continuation is intolerable. Many people find that relaxation training is a helpful clinical intervention. Relaxation by breathing retraining or progressive muscle relaxation activates the parasympathetic nervous system—sometimes known as the ‘rest and digest’ system. Within compassion-focused therapy (CFT) it is quite reasonably proposed that ‘the mind sits in the body’ giving coherent rationale for soothing techniques to be used in order to help patients to access different social mentalities (‘mindsets’).
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