How to Defeat an AMY Hijack!

Teach children what happens to their brain and body as emotions take over. Spot clues of emotions building. Then, talk about what they or others can do to help decrease those big feelings. Approach with empathy, always. It isn't fun, having an amygdala hijack when there really is no danger around to respond to.

This is a reflective tool to help older children to understand what happens in their brains and bodies. I use it with students after I’ve taught them about the Pre-Frontal Cortex (PFC), our thinking and decision-making command centre, and our Amygdala (AMY), which scans our environment at all times to protect us from threats. AMY is especially helpful when we’re walking through an unfamiliar forest filled with wild animals, but the teensy weensy problem is that AMY is hypersensitive, and can set off alarm bells even when we’re not in actual danger. Like when we have to write a math test, or someone gives us a weird look, or there are too many demands to process all at once.

This worksheet works well alongside books like Hey Warrior by Karen Young or GoZen, an interactive program that teaches anxiety and other emotional regulation tools.

Often those of us who are neurodivergent (and likely some non-neurodivergent folks) have trouble spotting those middle emotions that give us clues we might be getting increasingly upset and likely need a break to downregulate. It takes some cognitive effort, coaching, and time to notice that our heart rate increases, we clench our teeth, or we begin to say things like, “I’ll NEVER be able to do this!” (just a few examples of what we might experience when we begin to feel irritated, annoyed, worried, or another gateway emotion to a much bigger one). If we are encouraged to recognize these clues, we may be able to learn to proactively use strategies to help us from experiencing the distress and extreme discomfort of a meltdown. Because meltdowns don’t just take everyone else by surprise - they can take us by surprise, too.