Positive body language can improve confidence, conference hears

Some people can “fake it to make it” a mental health conference in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium has been told.

Addressing a section on cognitive behavioural therapy or CBT – Dr Clare Kambamettu said research conducted at Harvard University had shown that striking powerful poses raised individuals’ testosterone levels within two minutes of striking the pose.

Citing research undertaken by Prof Amy Cuddy of Harvard Business School, Dr Kambamettu said before the end of “two minutes of high-power posing you get testosterone changes. Testosterone was associated with more confident, assertive and effectively more powerful people she said. When the body’s testosterone levels were measured the results showed “sitting or standing in high-power poses is consistent with having power,” she said.

Addressing the conference with her arms wide, Dr Kambamettu said the pose allowed her to feel she was interacting more effectively with her audience. This released dopamine, a naturally occurring chemical that would make her feel more positive and in turn allow for more and greater connection with her audience.

She said how people behave, how they feel and how they think were interconnected and an intervention in any one area could lead to changes in the other areas.

“Thinking I love my job can cue excitement,” she said. But she said thinking “I failed my exam” can cue anxiety. It was important she said that even with things that were real, such as failing an exam, to recognise that the bad feeling will pass.

“Emotions have a toll on our body,” she said, explaining that with emotional distress such as a broken heart, “neural pathways in the brain light up the same as happens with a broken leg”.

She said CBT offered the possibility to “challenge our thoughts” and to impact on “how we think, how we feel and how we behave”.

‘Confidence trick’

Prof Jim Lucey of St Patrick’s Mental Health Services said addressing a conference was something of “a confidence trick”. He said his heart was racing and “I have to suppress the lack of confidence I feel”.

Prof Lucey said he had been born with a cleft palette and had attended speech therapy as a child. “When I have a nightmare it is the words of ‘incy wincy spider’ that I hear”, he said. Prof Lucey said a lack of self-confidence or self-belief can lead to anxiety and depression. In addition, “shame and regret diminish us and make us unable to say ‘I am less than perfect’” he said.

He said if a person’s car broke down it could be fixed within hours, but unfortunately it often took up to 10 years for people to get help for mental wellbeing.

He said the joy of seeing an individual “taking the step” of starting a conversation about their mental health was balanced by the “ache” of the number of people who do not take the step.

Dr Kara McGann of Ibec said understanding of good mental health by businesses helped to get the best from employees. She suggested employees should be able to feel confident that their company would give them the same understanding if they had mental health issues, as it would if they had a broken leg. “So people could bring their best selves to work” she said.