The method was popularized by American clinical psychologist Ellen Hendricksen. What is it and what does it cost? Details.
Increased stress, difficulty thinking, feeling scattered… Sometimes anxiety takes over. How to calm the situation and return to a state of calm? The 5-4-3-2-1 method can be a great ally. This meditation tool was put forward in 2018 by Ellen Hendricksen, an American clinical psychologist working at Boston University’s Center for Anxiety Disorders, in her book. How to be yourself : Calm the inner critic and rise above social anxiety (How to Be Yourself: Silence Your Inner Critic and Overcome Social Anxiety). The technique aims to anchor the anxious person in the present moment using their 5 senses.
Specifically? When anxiety arises, we go through five steps. We first use our vision to focus on the 5 observable objects around us. We then identify 4 items that we can touch and then focus our attention on listening, observing in our heads the sounds made by the 3 different objects respectively. For the fourth step, we stimulate our sense of smell by identifying 2 aromas. After all, we try to recognize 1 taste in our mouth. “Counting objects interrupts the flow of our thoughts. From there we can come to our senses,” explained Ellen Hendriksen in an interview with the media in 2018. Vice:.
The distance
“By focusing on our 5 senses, we become aware of our environment in the present moment, and in this way the method incorporates awareness and also combines relaxation,” comments Estelle Fall, lecturer in health psychology at the University of Lorraine. . His research and teaching focuses on cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and, in particular, mindfulness.
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Mindfulness meditation allows us to stem the tide of anxiety, gain altitude to avoid the spiral of anxiety. To understand this, Estelle Fall makes an analogy. “Let’s imagine that a person is placed under a waterfall. the flow that falls on them prevents them from seeing what is happening there. If he takes a step back, he will no longer feel the flow of the flood, but the latter does not stop flowing.
Appeasement
The power of meditation on the brain has been the subject of scientific research for nearly twenty years. In a previous article, Antoine Lutz, a researcher at Inserm in Lyon, explained to us that “since the 2000s, we have sought to establish a connection between the brain and meditation exercises.” Research (1) has thus demonstrated a direct effect of mindfulness on certain areas of the brain, particularly in relation to anxiety. Therefore, they are less active in experienced meditators than beginners.
Calming activates the parasympathetic nervous system and invites the anxious to calm down.
Estelle Fall, Lecturer in Health Psychology, University of Lorraine
The 5-4-3-2-1 method “activates the parasympathetic nervous system” through relaxation, explains Estelle Fall. The technique invites the anxious person to reach calmness, they return to their “window of tolerance” or a space specific to each person where peace and tranquility reign. So we come to our senses and let go of our ‘safety behaviour’, explained Ellen Hendriksen. Vice: in 2018.
By safety behavior, the psychologist refers to “reflexes we adopt in an attempt to artificially reduce our anxiety in the moment,” such as systematically using our cellphones to avoid talking to people in public. With increased stress and/or anxiety, the method can simply be used by anyone, anywhere.
(1) Agree Meditation, how it changes the brainBy Matthieu Ricard, Antoine Lutz, and Richard Davidson, review For science n°448, February 2015.
Source: Le Figaro
