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CHAPTER 2

The Panic-Proof Part of Your Brain

Jan, an emergency room nurse, emailed the following:

In training, I was taught about dozens and dozens of situations. For everything that could happen, there was a plan. My instructor said, “If this happens, you do that, and if you see this going on, you have to fix it this way.” The number of things I had to know how to react to was overwhelming. Even after we practiced responding to each situation again and again, I really doubted I could do the job. But I was surprised. Even the first day in the ER, what I had practiced kicked in.

You would think that a person who can operate as an ER nurse could handle anything. And, in general, I’m fine. But put me in a place where I can’t get out, and I panic. I’ve done therapy to get rid of it, but nothing worked until I did this [the SOAR Fear of Flying Program].

It is said that first responders and emergency medical professionals do not “rise to the occasion” in life-and-death situations: rather, they “descend to the level of their training.” Why? In life-threatening situations, the release of stress hormones can impede their high-level thinking. To function under extreme stress, they depend on a part of the brain that is immune to stress hormones: the unconscious procedural memory in the subcortex. In training, they repeatedly perform the various procedures they will need to carry out when under stress, installing every step of these procedures in this part of the brain so that they can perform them without having to depend on high-level thinking.

Though the concept of unconscious procedural memory may be new to you, if you are an experienced driver, you have been using it for years. You can drive and think of other things at the same time.

How did your unconscious procedural memory learn to drive a car? When you were a new driver, you focused your conscious mind (in the cerebral cortex) on the task. While you were doing this, your unconscious procedural memory (in the subcortex) was memorizing what you were doing. It learned to steer the car and keep the speed steady. Unconscious procedural memory can’t make decisions, though. For example, it can’t decide what freeway exit to take. If your mind is elsewhere as you near your exit, you may go right past it on “mental autopilot.”

When you are alarmed or highly aroused, stress hormones are released, and your conscious mind, in the cortex, is overwhelmed. That is when panic can arise. But unconscious procedural memory, in the subcortex, is not bothered by stress hormones. Not only can it perform well-rehearsed mechanical tasks, but, if it is trained to do so, it can automatically activate your calming system, the parasympathetic nervous system.

In this ten-day program, you’ll train your unconscious procedural memory to serve as your personal panic-controlling first responder. In the high-stress situations that now cause you to panic, it will step in and protect you.