psychology – Page 6 – Effects of Anxiety

How to Spot the Signs of Social Anxiety

Watch the rest of this series on anxiety with Dr. Ramani HERE: https://bit.ly/34QvlOTSocial anxiety is often misdiagnosed or mistaken for something else. With the right diagnosis, finding the right treatment and recovery is possible. Especially with an anxiety disorder ; anxiety is at the root of mental illness.In this interview, clinical psychologist Dr. Ramani and MedCircle host Kyle Kittleson break down how to spot the signs of social anxiety in a spouse, child, and in yourself. Discovering social anxiety symptoms is the first step in discovering how to cope with social anxiety and how to find the right social anxiety treatment & therapy . There is hope for overcoming social anxiety.For more on how to overcome social anxiety disorder & social phobia , how to deal with anxiety , and other videos on mental health, visit MedCircle: https://bit.ly/34QvlOT#SocialAnxiety #MentalHealth #MedCircle

6 Common Causes of Anxiety

According to a recent survey by the National Institute of Mental Health (2017), Anxiety is the most common mental illness, with over 40 million adults in the US alone being diagnosed every year. The American Psychological Association (2013) defines anxiety as a future-oriented concern that may lead people to avoid situations that trigger or worsen their distress. Do you have experience with anxiety? Do you know someone who is often anxious? What other symptoms of anxiety do you recognize? There are in fact many types of anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (OCD), Panic Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Social Phobia or Social Anxiety Disorder. You can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/IzaNQAh3NiY#anxiety #anxietydisordersCredits Script Writer: Chloe Avanasa Script Editors: Kelly Soong VO: Amanda Silvera Animator: Napiart YouTube Manager: Cindy CheongOur sources:National Institute of Mental Health. (November 2017). What Are Anxiety Disorders?. Retrieved from nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/any-anxiety-disorder.shtml Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2000). The role of rumination in depressive disorders and mixed anxiety/depressive symptoms. Journal of abnormal psychology, 109(3), 504. Laux, L., & Krohne, H. W. (Eds.). (1982). Achievement, stress, and anxiety. Hemisphere Publishing Corporation. Caplan, S. E. (2006). Relations among loneliness, social anxiety, and problematic Internet use. CyberPsychology & behavior, 10(2), 234-242. Stearns, P. N. (2012). American fear: The causes and consequences of high anxiety. Routledge. Greenson, R. R. (1959). Phobia, anxiety, and depression. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 7(4), 663-674. Reiss, S. (1991). Expectancy model of fear, anxiety, and panic. Clinical psychology review, 11(2), 141-153. Kinsey, S. G., Bailey, M. T., Sheridan, J. F., Padgett, D. A., & Avitsur, R. (2007). Repeated social defeat causes increased anxiety-like behavior and alters splenocyte function in C57BL/6 and CD-1 mice. Brain, behavior, and immunity, 21(4), 458-466.

Breaking The Loop of Anxiety | Colin Bien | TEDxLeuphanaUniversityLüneburg

Colin suffered from a panic disorder caused by a malaria prophylaxes for over 2 years. During a behavioral therapy, he learned how to break out of the vicious circle of anxiety. But not only that, he also realized how to use the same approach to form new stress relieving routines in his life. A personal journey about anxiety, stress and happiness.Colin Bien is research assistant, PhD-candidate and founder of True Fabrics, a sustainability oriented online shop offering fabrics from small-scale manufactures all around the world. He studied at the Leuphana University Lüneburg, the University of Oldenburg and the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. He is co-founder of the student initiative Nachdenkstatt. Colin has consulted the European Court of Auditors in greening their procurement processes and was invited as an expert in the field of sustainability reporting in higher education by the German Council for Sustainability. He co-initiated the Sustainability Reporting Network in Higher Education, now HOCHN. By the age of 24 he and two friends founded Boom le Choc, a DJ Team that shared stage with numerous DJs from all across the world.This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

How to cope with anxiety | Olivia Remes | TEDxUHasselt

Anxiety is one of most prevalent mental health disorders, with 1 out of 14 people around the world being likely affected. Leading up to conditions such as depression, increased risk for suicide, disability and requirement of high health services, very few people who often need treatment actually receive it. In her talk “How to cope with anxiety”, Olivia Remes of the University of Cambridge will share her vision on anxiety and will unravel ways to treat and manage this health disorder. Arguing that treatments such as psychotherapy and medication exist and often result in poor outcome and high rates of relapses, she will emphasise the importance of harnessing strength in ourselves as we modify our problem-coping mechanisms. Olivia will stress that by allowing ourselves to believe that what happens in life is comprehensive, meaningful, and manageable, one can significantly improve their risk of developing anxiety disorders.Anxiety is one of most prevalent mental health disorders, with 1 out of 14 people around the world being likely affected. Leading up to conditions such as depression, increased risk for suicide, disability and requirement of high health services, very few people who often need treatment actually receive it. In her talk “How to cope with anxiety”, Olivia Remes of the University of Cambridge will share her vision on anxiety and will unravel ways to treat and manage this health disorder. Arguing that treatments such as psychotherapy and medication exist and often result in poor outcome and high rates of relapses, she will emphasise the importance of harnessing strength in ourselves as we modify our problem-coping mechanisms. At TEDxUHasselt 2017, Olivia will stress that by allowing ourselves to believe that what happens in life is comprehensive, meaningful, and manageable, one can significantly improve their risk of developing anxiety disorders.This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Depressive and Bipolar Disorders: Crash Course Psychology #30

American psychologist and professor of psychiatry, Kay Redfield Jameson, It is one of the most important references for bipolar disorder in the world. She has spent her career researching and teaching this disease and writing groundbreaking books about it. It is a disease that she personally suffered throughout her adulthood. In her diary, "Restless Mind," Jameson described bipolar disorder in detail. She wrote about not sleeping for days on end, and about feeling high for long periods of time And filling it in notebooks full of successive and great ideas. And while she was going through these obsessive states, she felt a very inflated significance for herself. He committed reckless acts that made her happy at the time, but which led to dire consequences, Like uncontrollable shopping or indulging in promiscuous behavior Or accumulating credit card debt and consuming all of the money in her accounts. But these episodes were followed by a severe depression, including severe depressive episodes Makes her think of suicide. At 28 years old, Jameson committed suicide By taking an overdose of lithium, she fell into a coma, but thankfully she regained consciousness Then she decided to search for a solution in medication and psychotherapy.

With her research and writing, Dr. Jameson has paved the way for our understanding For bipolar disorder, depression, and interconnected mental disorders What we today call mood disorders. And you may be one of the best ambassadors and representatives of the people Who lead a successful and fruitful life despite their mental illnesses. Like the anxiety disorders we talked about earlier, mood disorders are damaged by misconceptions. And it is underrated by portraying depression as something that can be cured A day at a resort, or people stigmatized with bipolar disorder Just because they were sad yesterday and not back today. As psychologists, it is our job to understand mood disorders for what they are. And find out how it appeared and possible causes. As you probably guessed, this is not an easy task. These disturbances knock people down from steep heights to dark slopes That seems to have no end.

But, in between this and that, there is what Jameson has called "a rich and imaginative life." Moods create them. Many of the concepts mentioned have different meanings Than we thought, but the term "temperament" is not one of them. Psychology defines mood as we define it: More personal emotional states and harder definition than the emotions themselves. Psychology defines roughly 10 basic emotions, moods They fall into two broad categories with endless possibilities: good moods and bad moods. Perhaps the most obvious difference between mood and emotion Mood is a long-lasting emotional state, while emotion is a rapid transit. The mood disorders characterized by the intensity of emotions Difficulty controlling mood is a longer-lasting disorder. Such as depressive disorders represented by prolonged periods of hopelessness and lethargy. And bipolar disorder, the most famous of which is a disorder in which a person switches between mania and depression.

Depression is sometimes called a "mental illness" because it is common, and that does not mean It is not a serious disease, but it is common, pervasive, and the main cause People search for psychological care. Depression is a feeling we all have experienced, and it often follows a loss, such as separation from a partner Or the loss of work or the death of someone dear to us.

In fact, the feeling of depression is the natural feeling in these situations, and it may be Useful for the mind and body to calm down and absorb the loss that we have experienced, But unhappiness is generally temporary. However, when sadness and grief extend beyond what is socially acceptable, Or reach a level that causes real dysfunction, We have entered the world of depressive disorders. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental illness, which is useful even if it is full of deficiencies, It states that individuals are diagnosed with a depressive disorder only when they have passed Five signs of depression in less than two weeks. These symptoms, apart from a depressed mood, include significant loss or significant increase Appetite or weight, lack of or excessive sleep, loss of interest in activities, Feeling worthless, tired or lethargic, difficulty concentrating or making decisions, And repeated thoughts of death or suicide.

And since everyone feels miserable sometimes, depression is both a physiological and psychological illness. It disrupts sleep, appetite, energy, and neurotransmitter levels And hinder the organization of the body for itself. To be consistent with our definition of mental illness, and to be considered a true disorder, This behavior should cause prolonged distress for the person or those around him That is, the feeling of having something real. For example, people with severe generalized anxiety disorder refuse Leaving the home, people with clinical depression often feel very hopeless To the point where they are unable to lead a normal life. And unlike bipolar disorder, Depressive disorders mean a persistent depressed mood.

You may have heard of manic depression, the old name for bipolar disorder. This disease leads to severe depressive episodes, followed by adverse episodes as well From extreme obsession if the situation worsened. People with bipolar disorder have mood swings Between normal, depression and mania in a day, week, or month. A manic episode doesn't just mean feeling happy or energized, it is a period From extreme, raging, overheating activity that is usually positive, with your self-esteem Your capabilities and ideas are disturbed. Very real dysfunctional. In some people with the disorder, manic episodes are rare but devastating. Kay Jameson has testified to this. Once, during a manic episode, she bought all her snake bite resistance kit in the pharmacy, This is because she was convinced that only rattlesnakes would launch an attack. On another shift, she bought 20 books for the Penguin publishing house, and the reason, she says, is: "It would be nice for penguins to form a colony." In other words, people's judgment of things gets hurt, and it can get worse. Severe manic episodes may lead a person to enter a mental hospital, because it is so dangerous On himself and others it may become severe.

After these manic episodes end, it usually follows Dark bouts of depression. If the injured are not treated, suicide or attempted suicide is common. This is another aspect of the disorder that Jameson attests. The cause of mood disorders, like many other things in psychology, A mixture of biological, genetic, psychological and environmental factors. We know, for example, that mood disorders It is passed on through generations, so genes are important. It also increases your risk of developing bipolar disorder Or a depressive disorder if your family or siblings suffer from it.

Identical twin studies have shown that one of the twins has bipolar disorder Leads to a 7 in 10 chance of infecting another. Even if they were not raised together. Life's stress cannot lead to bipolar disorder But it can trigger a seizure in a person Have it or trigger a major depressive episode In someone who has never had depression before. in other word, The misery of someone who has lost a loved one can turn into depression or have a bipolar seizure. But that event will not be the primary cause of the disruption. For most people with depressive disorders, after weeks, months, or years, Their depression may subside, and they may return to life as normal human beings.

More women than men are diagnosed with depression worldwide. But many psychologists attribute this to the fact that women seek help more. Another possible reason for this is that depression in men usually manifests itself in a form Anger and violence rather than misery and hopelessness. This is one example of how depression is more than just sadness Lack of purpose and recognized despair may manifest itself in different ways. If we look at mood disorders from a neurological angle, we find depressed and obsessive brains They show very different activities on neuroscopy images compared to normal brains.

The depressed brain, as you'd expect, gets slower. As for the obsessed brain, it shows excessive activity. This makes it difficult to concentrate, calm down, or sleep. The chemistry of the brain's neurotransmitters also changes with the state. We find norepinephrine, which increases agitation and concentration Too little in depressed brains, and too much during manic episodes. In fact, alleviating drugs for mania They work by reducing levels of norepinephrine. You may have also heard that your serotonin levels are low Linked to depressive states. Aerobic exercise, such as running, dancing, or anything else Serotonin levels increase, which is why exercise is recommended To combat depression. Most anti-depressants also work By increasing serotonin or norepinephrine. There is, of course, another way of looking at the topic, the social perceptual angle You look at the relationship of our thinking and behavior to depression. People with depression often view bad events with a mind or eye Affect their interpretation of it, and our interpretation of events Negative or positive is what influences whether or not we skip it.

Let's say you were exposed to an embarrassing situation in the cafeteria, where someone hindered you and broke the soup It was all over, and then you sat on a chocolate cake … in short, it was a bad day. The depressed brain would immediately think that the insult would haunt it forever And that no one will forget it, and that you may have brought it upon yourselves, You are not doing anything well. It is this negative thinking, educated despair, self-blame and overthinking More of the same could kill the happiness of the brain And it creates a vicious circle that reverts to confirming the original negative view. Fortunately, this episode can be done with the help of a professional Or directing the attention to something outside and the practice of enjoyable activities And maybe move to a better environment. But this sociocognitive angle is part of the complex puzzle. Positive thinking is important, but it alone is not enough To counteract neurological or genetic factors. So, mood disorders are complex conditions and rarely go away with one treatment. And you often have to live with it. As Dr. Jameson has proven, Success with her is possible.

Today we talked about mood disturbances between fact and fiction. You also learned about the symptoms of depressive disorders and bipolar disorders As well as biological, genetic and environmental causes Potential social and cognitive mood disorders. Thank you for watching this episode sponsored by Marshall Scott and crediblefind.com And thanks to all of those who support us. To find out how you can support us, visit suppable.com/crashcourse. This episode was written by Kathleen Yale and edited by Blake De Pastino. Counsel was provided by Dr. Ranjit Bagwat. Director and Editor is Nicholas Jenkins. Michael Aranda is the script Supervisor and Sound Designer. The graphics are designed by Thought Café.

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5 PANIC ATTACK MYTHS | Kati Morton

Hey everybody! Today we're gonna be talking about the five myths of panic attacks. So let's get into them. *intro music* Now the first myth is that they're caused by stress and anxiety. If you yourself have ever suffered with a panic attack you know that they come out of nowhere we don't even know what necessarily triggers us, something may not even trigger us. It's not necessarily something that environmental or something that's occurring right now. Panic attacks honestly happen because our system gets overwhelmed and overloaded and sends us into a fight or flight response, AKA, a panic! I also don't like this myth because it implies that we have control over it like we can stop our panic attacks if we just change our environment and the truth is the panic attacks will happen in a wide variety of places for a wide variety of reasons those of which we aren't even privy too.

We don't even know why they happen. And the second myth is that they're going to make us go crazy. Panic attacks, if they happen for too long we're just gonna go insane. I've heard a lot of my clients say this, that it feels like they're losing their mind and they wonder if it can cause other mental illnesses to occur and the truth is the panic attacks usually happen because we have some underlying mental illness, whether it be another anxiety disorder or depressive disorder, any kind of mood disorder can be a lot of different components that can lead us to having panic attacks and being more predisposed for panic.

The truth is that panic attacks in no way affect the functioning of our brain as a whole in the hormones, like dopamine, norepinephrine or any kind of neurotransmitter that could cause another mental illness or psychosis or quote, unquote, make us go crazy. The third myth about panic attacks is that having a severe one is going to cause us to go into cardiac arrest. I've heard from a lot of my clients that because a racing heart is one of the symptoms that they experience most with panic attacks, or even the build-up to a panic attack, they'll start feeling their heart race and they worry that if they're in a really extreme or intense panic attack for a sustained period of time, let's say for an hour, that they're going to go into cardiac arrest and this is going to be how they're going to die and it sends them into panic even more quickly and keeps them there longer.

But the truth is and this is something important to kind of note and to tell yourself, maybe when you're, you feel those symptoms happening is that our heart is extremely strong it can beat at over 200 beats per minute for days, if not weeks especially if we're young, it can be four weeks at that rate without sustaining any damage. I just want to take a second to let that sink in. We can essentially be in panic for a really really long period of time without our heart ever being hurt or even potentially considering it going into cardiac arrest or having any kind of malfunction.

Therefore on average, panic attacks last from three to ten minutes so a three to ten minute panic attack is not in any way going to harm your heart or cause a heart attack. The fourth myth is that they're used as a way to get out of something we just don't want to do. Uh, if we hear that one more time. Am I right? For those of you who don't understand what a panic attack is or what can cause a panic attack, like I stated earlier, they come out of nowhere. They are not triggered by our environment, it's not due to an over reaction by up if usually a result of another underlying mental illness and these feel like they come out of nowhere, happen quickly and can stay and they're extremely uncomfortable, so if you found yourself having these attacks anytime you went into the grocery store, then you would start to not want to go to the grocery store or whenever you're in a crowded place, like I've had a lot of clients are like, "If I'm ever in a busy thing like a club or a concert or even like a really busy day at the mall," they've had panic attacks, we don't really know why but they're then attaching busyness and a lot of people with panic attacks therefore if someone's going to call you, if a friends going to ask you to go out to a party, and you think it's going to be a small group you're like sure, then later you find out there's going to be like 50 people there, you're like I'm gonna have to say no.

But we need to understand that panic attacks and panic disorder is a real diagnosable mental illness and because we don't know what triggers them and they come out of nowhere we fear the next one may be just around the corner. So of course we're going to limit the amount of things that we do until we can get them more under control. And the fifth and final myth about panic attacks is that there is nothing that we can do to treat them. Meeh. That's wrong, there are a lot of things we can do to treat them. Yay! Number one, and something that I've been reading because if any of you follow me or have been on the live streams or follow me on snapchat or Instagram, I have been working very hard at your anxiety workbook and I'm super excited for it to come out, but the thing that I learned through all the research I've been doing, is that progressive relaxation, you know like clench your feet, relax your feet, clench your calves, relax your calves, that type of exercise, doing that 20 to 30 minutes a day can calm our system down to such an amount that those who struggle with panic disorder may rarely, if never again, if they continue to do the progressive relaxation each day, they may never have the symptoms again.

They're still doing more studies on it but progressive relaxation is, surprising to me, but it's so amazing and been so helpful and beneficial. And the other is that CBT, so cognitive behavioral therapy, is also helpful with panic disorder and those of us who struggle with panic attacks because a lot of times we build up the panic and our system's fight-or-flight response by worrying about all of those things like it's going to cause a heart attack, I'm going to be super embarrassed, I'm going to go crazy, I may fall over or faint, all those worries and kind of falsely held beliefs that we have, CBT can really help us challenge those.

Also medications have been shown to be extremely beneficial SSRIs, SNRIs, and benzodiazepine have been shown to be extremely helpful for those of us who struggle with panic disorder and I know that not all of you are interested in taking medication this is another option that's available and if you're out there and you're struggling with panic attacks and you feel like they're happening with more frequency, it's controlling the way you live your life please reach out, please talk to someone. There are different professionals and a ton of help available, we just have to ask for it and we just have to reach out and I know it's scary to do the first reach out, but know that we're used to managing it we can handle it. We are kind, calm, wonderful people and maybe bring an extra supportive person with you to that first appointment or maybe they make the call and set up the appointment for you.

Find ways, use your resources to get the support and help that you need. Please share this video, I think a lot of people talk poorly about panic attacks or don't understand and I also put some in here, if you didn't notice for those of us who struggle and the myths that we tell ourselves about panic attack because I think both are really important to note, and leave in the comments what are some myths that you've heard. What is the way that you talk back to that, so that we have as a community are raising the stigma associated with mental health. I love you all and I will see you next time. Bye!.

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6 Common Causes of Anxiety

5 Easy Tips to Beat Anxiety!

Hey everyone Today, I’m going to talk with you about five tips to beat anxiety, So stay tuned. So, like I said Today, I want to talk with you about five helpful tips to beat anxiety. I’ve heard from so many of you that you struggle with this, And there are so many ways that we can help ourselves, And this is only five. There are tons of ways, But these are just some helpful tips to get. You started Number one Keeping busy all day. I know that sounds really silly and simple, But often times our anxiety, loves and lives in the quiet When we have nothing to do And we are sitting at home And we are moping about It. Kind of takes a mole hill and turns it into a mountain When we have time to ruminate and think about things, It can make it so much worse. But if we are just going about our day, We’re doing things We’re making deals. We’re breaking hearts. We don’t have time to think about it. So I would encourage you if you are able plan your days out, Make sure you have things happening Back to back to back You,’re scooting on through The second helpful tip. Is what we call’feeling focusing 39, And this is something that we can do, no matter where we are, Which I love about tips, Because we never know when the anxiety may strike And feeling focusing is when we focus on the area in our body where We feel the anxiety For some of us. It might be our throat Our chest, Our stomach. It could be in our shoulders Wherever you feel it physically. I want you to focus on that spot And I want you to slowly breath into it And if you find your mind wandering Bring it back to that spot Keep breathing. Slowly – And I know this is just one of those things where you are like’Kati – that sounds really weird 39, But I promise you, by drawing your focus back to the area in your body. Back to that area Over and over Your anxiety will diminish It.’s because our mind can’t go out, searching for more things to worry us with It slowly, dissipates. The third helpful tip is exercise Now. Obviously I don’t want you to do anything to an extreme, But taking a thirty minute walk If you like to run and it’s not unhealthy, You go for a run. Maybe you jump some rope. Maybe you take your dog out. Maybe you walk with a friend, Maybe you do yoga Whatever it is. If you play tennis Play basketball There’s, so many things to do Just last week I went to Target and got Sean and I some tennis, rackets and basketballs. So we can play Anything. You can do to exert some physical energy Can help with anxiety, Often times when we have a lot of pent up. Energy Anxiety thrives So having an outlet for that. Even if it’s just nervous energy, Having an outlet like exercise Can really help bring it down. The fourth helpful tip is phoning a friend I feel like we are on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, But it’s really important to contact people and to have people on what I always talk to my clients about on your’emergency call list’And this isn’t a real this isn’t like an emergency 39. I’m going to the ER I’m bleeding I broke a bone 39. This is 39. I’m feeling stressed I’m feeling overwhelmed. I don’t know what to do right now. 39. We need to have at least five people on this list. If you can, Because we never know who can pick up right, Some people might be in class. Some people might be asleep. Some people might be at work, We don’t know, But we want to make sure we have people that we can contact Even if it’s a text. I know now we text more than we actually call, But I want you to reach out to people Because having someone on the line Having someone talking to us, I think calling is the best Because hearing someone’s voice can be so soothing And sometimes when We feel like we are a ten on our anxiety scale. It can help bring us back down to maybe a six Or a five And the more we talk with them And the more we kind of vent to them about what’s going on with us. The better we will start to feel The fifth and final tip Is something that I don’t really talk that much about on my channel, And that is going to see a psychiatrist. And the reason that I wanted to put this in here Is because there are those of us who doing these things. This feeling focusing we’re exercising, We’re trying everything to help ourselves. We’re seeing our own therapist And nothing gives It’s not getting better, And sometimes it’s getting worse And seeing a psychiatrist. They can offer medications that can help with it. Now. Obviously, I’m a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. I’m, not a physician. I don’t prescribe medication, But it can be so helpful and so pivotal in your recovery And don’t be ashamed of it. Many people seek help from psychiatrists. How else would they even exist? They wouldn’t have a job or career People see them. When we can’t do enough ourselves, The medication can help us get there. I often tell my clients – and this still rings. True. All research shows that therapy and medication gives us the best possible outcome, Because sometimes our mind is running so quickly. Things are happening so fast That we can’t even think about doing anything to help ourselves. We’re just trying to stay afloat. It’s so overwhelming, And medication can help with that, Bring that anxiety level down enough That we can actually take action. We can start making steps towards our recovery, Putting things in place, Creating plans. It can give us that little bit of squish. We need to get started, So I would encourage you If you have tried a lot of things And that’s not helping Reach out to your psychiatrist Or your general practitioner doctor And let’s start working on recovery. As always, don’t forget to subscribe to my channel. I put out videos five days a week And you don’t want to miss them, And if you have any tips and tricks of your own That have helped with your anxiety. Can you let us know below, Because we’re a wonderful community Sharing in our experience And together we’re getting better And we are towards a healthy mind and a healthy body. Now don’t forget to like the video And if you click below there,’s a little share button. Don’t forget to share it on reddit. That will help more people, get the tips and tricks that we know about. It will help get that information out there And keep working with me Towards a healthy mind and a healthy body. The snaps don’t bug the Okay, I like to snap Subtitles by the Amara org community.

Stop having panic attacks now: exposure, coping, and grounding

I'm going to show you how to stop having panic attacks using exposure therapy, coping skills and grounding skills and you can start applying this to your life. Right now. I'm clinical psychologist Dr. Ali Mattu. Psychology took me from almost flunking out of high school to becoming an assistant professor at Columbia University. Now I've left academia so I can give away everything I've learned to you for free. Welcome to the psych show. The first step to stopping panic attacks is to understand what exactly is happening when someone has a panic attack.

They experience a sudden rise in at least four of these symptoms. It's normal to feel the sensations when we're in a real dangerous situation like an animal's chasing us or before an important event, like a presentation for school or work. But what's so scary about panic attacks is the sensations can feel like they're coming out of nowhere. Your mind is an association machine. It connects things together, ice cream and a beautiful summer's day movies in popcorn and email from your boss and stress. All of this happens automatically it happens without you even realizing it through a process called classical conditioning. This is the stuff Ivan Pavlov was working on when he got dogs to salivate when they heard a metronome, sometimes weird things get associated together.

And for some reason, your mind has associated normal physical sensations of anxiety with a real sense of danger. Maybe you were really sick one day and had difficulty breathing or you were driving across a bridge and there was a lot more traffic than usual and you felt stuck and unsafe or you were using a drug and had a really bad experience with it. There are so many ways in which your mind You can experience those physical sensations of panic and why it might associate those sensations with danger. If you avoid going to certain places because you're afraid you might panic or you might do something really embarrassing. You might also have agoraphobia. This gets us to step two exposure therapy. It doesn't matter too much how these associations formed, what matters is they exist now. So we have to understand what is it that you're afraid might happen? When you panic, I want you to take a moment and write that down, write down what it is you're afraid might happen when you panic.

Maybe you're afraid that the panic attack will end. Maybe you're afraid of having a heart attack, or something really embarrassing happening, like fainting or making a fool of yourself or the ambulance and all these people being called Your rescue when it was a panic attack and not a heart attack. Or maybe you're afraid of losing control of hurting yourself hurting someone else of losing your mind, or maybe even dying. I wish I could tell you to not worry about this stuff. But you've already tried that and it hasn't worked. You can't out think panic attacks, these associations have been formed. And the only way we can break them apart is by gaining new experiences and that is where exposure therapy comes in. Before I introduce you to exposure therapy exercises, there's a couple things you need to know first, these exercises require you to get physically active.

So if you have any health problems like any of these conditions, talk to your doctor first and make sure it's okay to try out these exercises. Number two, if you're someone who has gone through a traumatic event or traumatic events, you might want to skip ahead and master step three and four first and then come back to exposure exercises. The reason for that step three and four are going to help you to feel more in control of your emotions.

And if you're someone who's gone through a traumatic event, just going through exposures without gaining that sense of control can make the exposures really overwhelming and can make it harder to break apart those associations. Remember those fears we wrote down a moment ago. What we're going to do now is try out a variety of exposure exercises and see what gets us in closest contact with that fear.

These exposure exercises are designed to recreate those sensations that you experience when you panic. So it might seem scary at first, what I want you to remember is they're not painful. They're designed to get your body active in the same way as when you have a panic attack. I want you after every exercise to rate them, zero to 100% house Similar were the things you felt when you did this exercise to when you experience a panic attack hyperventilate for one minute, hold your nose and breathe through a straw for two minutes. Hold your breath for 30 seconds. Sit with your head covered by a heavy coat or blanket for one minute.

Place a tongue depressor on the back of your tongue Run quickly in place with high knees for two minutes. Step Up and down on the stair or a step stool for two minutes. Hold up push up position for 60 seconds or as long as possible. Sit in a hot stuffy room or sauna, a hot car or a small room with a space heater. wear a tie turtleneck or scarf tightly around your neck for two minutes. Drink a hot drink. Drink an espresso or coffee spin in an office chair for one minute spin around while standing up for one minute.

Shake your head side to side for 30 seconds while looking ahead. with your eyes open, put your head between your legs and then sit up quickly. Lie down for one minute and then sit up quickly. Stare at yourself in a mirror for two minutes. Stare at a blank wall for two minutes. Stare at a small dot posted on the wall for two minutes. Stare at an optical illusion for two minutes, stare at a fluorescent light and then try to read something What got you closest in touch with your fears? Usually 1-3 of these exercises should do it now that you know how to recreate your fears. You have to start practicing these exposure exercises. So I want you to take one week of your life. And each day that week. I want you to sit down and practice these exposure exercises. Write down on a piece of paper what you're afraid might happen when you do the exposure exercise. Then do the exposure completely fully be in that present moment.

Be aware of what's happening in your mind during the exposure, what's happening in your body. And then after the exposure on that same piece of paper write down. Did your fear come true? Yes or no? How do you know if it came true or not? And what did you learn through this exposure, then do it again, do it three times in a row. If you do this for one week in time, you should start to break apart those associations that have been formed. Once you start to make progress with these exposures, then you want to play with the details a little bit like maybe you do this when you're home alone, or when you're outside in a crowded space or after drinking a lot of caffeine. Check out this video right over here. It'll walk you through even more details.

To sum it all up. The goal is, I want to help you get comfortable being uncomfortable. I want to help you to learn about what it's like. experienced these difficult sensations and then what actually happens to you when you go through them. So these associations are starting to break apart. Now it's time to move to step three, which is developing coping skills. But before I explain some of my favorite coping skills, we have to talk about what a coping skill is and what a safety behavior is.

Safety behaviors give you some immediate relief, but they keep you from getting in contact with the thing you fear. And when that happens when you're relying on safety behaviors. These associations they don't break apart because you're not learning any new information, completely avoiding a situation being on the lookout for escapes, only being able to get through with a safe person. Those are some examples of things that can be safety behaviors, coping skills, reduce your anxiety and help you to stay in contact with the thing you fear So those associations do break apart. Because you are learning new information you are getting in contact with a thing that is difficult for you safety behaviors reduce learning, while coping skills enhance it. This can get really tricky because what's a safety behavior for one person might be a coping skill for another. And what starts off as a coping skill might eventually become a safety behavior. So it can get really confusing. All this stuff exists on a continuum from highly safe behavior to highly coping behavior. To keep it really simple.

Ask yourself these two questions. Is this skill helping me to reach my goal right now? is it helping me to be flexible in the situation I'm in? If the answers are, yes, that's probably a good healthy coping skill. If the answer is no, then you might be dealing with a safety behavior that you want to phase out over time. The first goal I want you to try is slow, deep controlled breathing. This slows down your breathing, which triggers your body's parasympathetic nervous system, the part of your body that calms you down. I got a whole video about this, so you can check that out. But the quick version of it is, you want to work your way up to breathing in for four seconds. Holding it and then out for four seconds, so you can start by breathing in for two seconds, holding it out for two seconds, breathing in for three seconds, holding it out for three seconds and then four.

And you can just keep doing that until you feel like you're a little bit calmer and a little bit more present the dive reflex. This is a awesome skill that is universal to all vertebrates on this planet. Basically you are fooling your body into thinking you're diving into the water that also triggers your body's parasympathetic nervous system that calms itself down. I've got a whole video on how to do that. So if you're interested in that skill, check out that video. Get physically active, your body is fired up.

So do something with that energized body. Go for run, go for a bike ride, do a ton of jumping jacks do something that gives your body something to do think about The Doctor. One of my favorite episodes of Doctor Who has The Doctor talking to a small child who's afraid of monsters under his bed. Now, there actually are monsters under his bed spoilers for those of you haven't seen this episode, but it's you know, Doctor Who that's going to happen.

But what's really amazing is what he tells this child it's one of my favorite quotations about panic, and I'm going to read it to you all here because I don't want this video taken down due to copyright violations filed from the BBC. Let me tell you about scared. Your heart is beating so hard. I can feel it through your hands. There's so much blood and oxygen pumping through your brain. It's like rocket fuel. Right now you can run faster and fight harder. You can jump higher than you've ever been able to in your life. And you are so alert. It's like you can slow down time. What's wrong with scared? Scared is a superpower your superpower there is danger in this room and guess what? It's you reach out to someone. Call text dm, connect with someone else. Ask them to send you support. Ask them to send you a funny meme to reassure you or talk to them about something that's completely not related to panic. Connecting with someone else might help you to get a little bit out of your head and help you to reach your Goal whatever it is in that situation question for all the Psychees What is your favorite coping skill? Let's flood the comments section with a ton of coping skills, so we can help whoever discovers this video in the future.

Step number four is to develop grounding skills. Some people who experienced panic also experienced depersonalization or Derealization. This is where you are going through the motions of your day. But you don't really feel that plugged in to yourself to your body to your mind, you might feel like you're on autopilot. Or you might not feel like the things around you are really happening.

One of my patients recently described it as having this brain fog and it was really hard to just kind of navigate through daily events. So if this kind of stuff happens to you, we need grounding skills that help you to feel plugged into your body plugged into your mind plugged into the present. moment, or they ground you in an important memory and important place or an important idea. Grounding skills can also be really helpful if someone around you is having a panic attack and you want to help that person through this difficult experience 54321 This is a skill that really engages all of your different senses. It starts by looking at five different things around you, then to touch four different things to listen to three different sounds, to pick up on two different smells. And to notice one taste, it's usually whatever taste is in your mouth. You really want to try to focus in on those sensations and if there's one type of sensation that works a lot better for you.

It's okay just to stick to that one. Like if you really like the touching to touch your hands or to touch your jeans or the material on your shirts. Stuff like that you can just focus on that sensation that's totally fine. Make a list pick something that you know well, and that you can't easily finish like your favorite movies or your favorite superheroes or the places you like to go and your local community. I like to pick my favorite starships from Star Trek and I just kind of cycle through those guys.

I'm a huge Trekkie. This is something that's going to ground you in an idea, something that you care about, and it's going to make that feeling of depersonalization Derealization, a little bit less scary, transport yourself to a place you know, well, this could be your home, your school, your work, doesn't really matter where it is only what matters is that you know a lot of details about it. Imagine walking through the front door of this place entering it. What do you see next? what's around you keep thinking about all the details as you navigate through the space.

This is going to ground you in a place that's very familiar to you. And again, take you away from those some of those feelings of depersonalization and derealization. Experience intense sensations. This includes listening to loud music or a really funny video on YouTube, drinking a hot beverage, or sucking on a lemon or peppermint candy. pinching the bridge of your nose, snapping a rubber band against your arm, anything that's going to shock your nervous system and focus your complete attention, get absorbed in an activity, do something that's going to completely require all of your focus maybe something that you do well or you know how to do well something that's really going to activate your mind and get your hands moving. Something like that would also get you out of depersonalization derealization and make you feel a bit more present If you've tried everything in this video and are still struggling there's two things I want you to consider.

The first is speaking with an anxiety expert, a therapist who can guide you through this process in a much more detailed way than I can in a short YouTube video. The other thing to consider is a consultation with a psychiatrist, they might be able to prescribe medication that can bring down the intensity of anxiety so that you can greater apply these things to your life.

If you want to learn more about anxiety check out this playlist that has all my anxiety videos, you can learn a lot more about exposure therapy and my own journey with anxiety or right over there. All right now it's time for the weekly Geck Boo (GCBU) challenge. This is where I share how I'm working on getting comfortable being comfortable this week. The big thing for me this week has been trying to catch up on my inbox over the summer and fall I really let things get out of hand.

I had hundreds and hundreds of emails that were that were needed a response. And I haven't responded to. So this week, the uncomfortable thing for me is to go through it because it's very overwhelming to even open that inbox and to write uncomfortable messages where I say, Hey, I'm sorry for this late response. I had a lot going on. And I'm now getting back to you like a year after I promised. I'm so sorry. So that's, that's my weekly Geck Boo challenge.

What are you working on? Let me know in the comments below. Or if you want to join me this Friday, I'm hosting my weekly office hours. This is a time where for one hour on Instagram, I go live to hear about what you are working on out there in the Psychee community, and how I can help and how we can help each other to reach our goals and to help each other get comfortable being uncomfortable. So if you want to join me for my weekly live office hours, come over to Instagram I'm @AliMattu and we'll talk about all this stuff and we'll support each other. Share this video with someone who struggles with panic in your life. And if you want more videos that celebrate mental health, make psychology fun and easy to understand.

Be sure to subscribe to the psych show and now my favorite comment of the week.

Why Do Depression and Anxiety Go Together?

[♪ INTRO ] If you’ve ever experienced anxiety and depression — in the clinical sense, I mean — you’ll know that they can feel really different. With anxiety, you’re all ramped up. And with depression, you’re very, very down. Yet they tend to go together. And a lot of medications, especially certain types of antidepressants, can be used to treat both. We still don’t know a ton about how exactly anxiety and depression work in the brain — or how antidepressants work to treat them. But over time, psychologists have come to realize that the two types of conditions are surprisingly similar. They may feel very different in the moment. But they actually have a lot of symptoms in common, and involve some very similar thought patterns. They might even have similar brain chemistries. So if you’re looking to understand a little more about how anxiety and depression manifest themselves — whether for yourself or for someone else in your life — those connections are a good place to start.

Depression and anxiety aren’t really specific disorders — they’re generic terms for types of disorders. But the most common, and most closely linked, are major depressive disorder, or MDD, and generalized anxiety disorder, or GAD. In any given year in the U.S., where it’s easiest to find detailed statistics, about 7% of the population will have MDD, and about 3% will have GAD. Lots of those people have both: About 2/3 of people with major depression also have some kind of anxiety disorder, and about 2/3 of people with generalized anxiety disorder also have major depression. And whether you have one or the other or both, the same medications are often at the top of the list to help treat it — usually antidepressants. Unsurprisingly, psychologists have noticed these statistics. But for a long time, we’ve thought of generalized anxiety and major depression as very different things, and understandably so. Probably the most noticeable symptom of anxiety is arousal, which in psychology is a technical term rather than a specifically sexual thing. It basically just means being on high alert — whether psychologically, with increased awareness, or physically, with things like a racing heart and sweaty palms.

Arousal isn’t part of major depression, though. And there’s a key symptom of MDD that doesn’t usually show up in generalized anxiety: low positive affect, which is the technical term for not getting much pleasure out of life and feeling lethargic and just kind of … blah. So there are important differences between anxiety and depression, which is part of why they’re still considered separate classes of disorders. But when you look at the other symptoms, you start to realize that major depression and generalized anxiety have almost everything else in common. There’s restlessness, fatigue, irritability, problems with concentration, sleep disturbances … the list goes on.

And that’s just in the official diagnostic criteria. So for decades, psychologists have been examining the models they use to describe anxiety and depression in the brain to see if they point to a similar source for both types of disorders. They’ve come up with lots of different ideas, as researchers do, but the most common ones tend to center around the fight or flight response to stress. Fight or flight kicks in when you’re confronted with something your mind sees as a threat, and it automatically prepares you to either fight or run away. And when you think about it, anxiety and depression are just different types of flight. Psychologists often characterize anxiety as a sense of helplessness, at its core, and depression as a sense of hopelessness. Anxiety might feel like you’re looking for ways to fight back. But part of what makes it a disorder is that it’s not a short-lived feeling that’s easily resolved once you have a plan.

Of course, as with all things mental health, anxiety disorders can be deeply personal and won’t feel the same for everybody. But clinical anxiety does tend to be more pervasive. The worry sticks around and starts to take over your life because it doesn’t feel like something you can conquer. So anxiety and depression might just be slightly different ways of expressing the same flight response: helplessness or hopelessness. And maybe that’s part of why they so often go together. That connection also shows up on the biochemical side of the stress response. There are a lot of hormones involved in this response, and their effects interact in super complex ways that scientists still don’t fully understand.

But both depressive and anxiety disorders are closely associated with an oversensitive stress response system. Researchers think that’s one reason both of these types of disorders are so much more common in people who’ve experienced major stresses like trauma or childhood abuse. Those stressors could make their stress response system more sensitive. The main hormones involved aren’t always the same, but the changes can cause some of the same symptoms — problems with sleep, for example. So anxiety and depression seem to be two sides of a similar reaction to stress, in terms of both thought processes and hormones. Still, that doesn’t really explain why some antidepressants can treat both anxiety and depression. Because those medications primarily affect neurotransmitters, the molecules your brain cells use to send messages to each other. If you thought we had a lot left to learn about how the stress response works, we know even less about what the brain chemistry of anxiety and depression looks like, or how antidepressants help. But if the thought processes and physical responses that go along with these disorders aren’t quite as different as they seem on the surface, it makes sense that the brain chemistry would be similar, too.

And that’s exactly what scientists have found. More specifically, lots of studies have pointed to lower levels of the neurotransmitter known as serotonin as a major factor in both anxiety and depression. Researchers have even identified some more specific cellular receptors that seem to be involved in both. There’s also some evidence that the way the brain handles another neurotransmitter, norepinephrine, can be similar in both anxiety and depression. Since most antidepressants work by increasing serotonin levels, and some of them also affect norepinephrine, that could explain why they’re so helpful for both anxiety and depression. Although again, there’s a lot we don’t know about their exact mechanisms. Ultimately, there’s no denying that in the moment, anxiety and depression can seem like very different feelings. And if someone has both types of disorders — well, it’s easy to see how that could feel overwhelming. Like, it’s hard enough treating generalized anxiety or major depression on their own.

And it’s true that it is often harder to treat these conditions when someone has both. But maybe not twice as hard. After all, anxiety and depressive disorders have a lot in common, from their symptoms to the basic brain chemistry behind them to some of the treatments that can help. The fact that they often go together can be really tough. But understanding more about why that is has also pointed us toward better treatments and more effective therapies, that really can help. Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Psych. If you're looking for someone to talk to about your mental health, we left a few resources in this video’s description. And if you'd like to learn more general info about treatments, you can watch our episode on misconceptions about antidepressants. [♪ OUTRO ].

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