Interacting with difficult people

A perceived threat sends information to the brain's emotional processing and learning center, called the amygdala. The amygdala sorts out the data within tens or hundreds of milliseconds. If it registers the threat, then it fires off a series of physical changes. Heart rate, breathing, and swe...

In response to acute stress, the body's sympathetic nervous system is activated by the sudden release of hormones.

• After the threat is gone, it takes between 20 to 60 minutes for the body to return to its pre-arousal levels.

Physical signs...

Our autonomic nervous system is constantly scanning our internal and external environment for signs of danger. If it detects a threat, its next strategy is the fight or flight response which we often feel as anxiety.

Sometimes the threat is so bad or goes on for so long, that the nervous ...