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Podcast Summary:
In this 2nd episode of Wellness Wednesday, Beth Gustin, LPC and Robin Ennis, LCSW, CPC, talk about General Anxiety Disorder (GAD), what it may be and some practical coping strategies one can try.
Following our last episode on Social Anxiety, Beth and Robin define and explain the difference between Social and General Anxiety and offer some strategies for coping with General Anxiety Disorder.
Show Hosts:
Robin Ennis on the web at www.robinennislcsw.com
Beth Gustin, LPC, NCC, EMDRIA Approved Consultant, CAGCS, PLGS
Www.transitioningthroughchange.com
You can message Beth and Robin by calling 612-367-6093 or by email. Let them know if they can use your message on the show. They are looking forward to hearing from you.
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Full Transcript:
Wellness Wednesday 2: General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) with Beth Gustin and Robin Ennis
Jeff:
From the Blind Abilities studios, it’s Wellness Wednesday, with your hosts Beth Gustin and Robin Ennis.
Beth:
So welcome back to Wellness Wednesday. My name is Beth Gustin, I’m a licensed professional counselor in Colorado, and my co-host is Robin Ennis.
Robin:
Hello, my name is Robin Ennis, and I am a licensed clinical social worker in Colorado. Thank you for joining Beth and I today.
Beth:
And today our topic is Generalized Anxiety Disorder, otherwise known as GAD. And so last week we spoke about socialized- socialized, social anxiety, and this week it is generalized anxiety. And so we’re gonna talk more about what that is and how you can learn to cope with it, and hopefully we will provide some useful tips for you.
Robin:
Beth let’s start off by giving a recap of what anxiety is. I really liked your analogy about the alarm system. Can you restate that again, especially for people who are tuning in for their first time today?
Beth:
Sure. So the way I explain anxiety is the limbic system or emotional part of our brain, also called the mammal part of our brain or lizard part of our brain, that is our alarm system. And when we have a perceived threat, whether it’s real or not, our brain tends to overreact and that alarm bell goes off full alert and it makes us maybe decide to fight whatever the problem is. We might flight, or flee, run away, or we might freeze and become immobile and shut down. And so that is our brain’s way of trying to protect ourselves, even if the threat is not real, which is- often what causes anxiety is a perceived threat and not a real threat. It works in both cases, but anxiety comes up when that alarm system goes off and it doesn’t need to go off.
Robin:
Yeah. So that way, in that sense, anxiety can be malproductive and cause harm, even though it thinks that it’s protecting us. And so with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, it is, as it sounds, is more generalized. So it’s- and different types of anxiety, whether it be fear of one’s own safety or fear of other people’s safety, fear of not excelling in school or work, fear of inadequacy, it could just be on multiple levels with Generalized Anxiety Disorder. It’s constant worry where you feel like you’re always on edge and you don’t have a break.
Beth:
It can be very debilitating.
Robin:
Yes, exactly.
Beth:
And really decrease your functioning in daily life.
Robin:
Yep. ‘Cause it really takes you away from the moment and it causes you to leap all the way into the future. And again, thinking about and worrying about things that may not even happen or have not happened.
Beth:
Right. And most likely won’t happen.
Robin:
Right.
Beth:
It can show up that way too.
Robin:
Right, exactly. The number of cases, I feel, of Generalized Anxiety Disorder have really increased as well as, like we talked about last week, social anxiety. I feel like it’s really increased because there’s a lot of things going on right now. We are in the midst of a pandemic, you know, we have another, what’s it called? Monkeypox, that’s coming out, and so we have different health elements to worry about. We have physical safety, there’s a lot more violence occurring within our country and outside of the country, so that sense of physical safety. There is a sense of financial insecurity among people, prices of gas and cost of food is starting to rise. So all of these different worries can build up and cause strife for people.
Beth:
There’s also a lot of overseas things going on that are really affecting people here at home.
Robin:
Mm-hmm, yep.
Beth:
That can contribute to anxiety as well.
Robin:
Yep, exactly. For myself, when I think of Generalized Anxiety Disorder, one example of my own life that comes to mind is I am a black American who is female, and I’m also blind. So if you think about it, that tends to, for some people that can make me more vulnerable. Being a female, and I’m not very intimidating, I’m not very tall. So whenever I’m out in society, I don’t think that people view me as a threat, so in some instances, I feel that I’m in more so harm’s way, especially the different racial violence that has been happening, definitely made me more fearful in going out into public. And so I really have to challenge myself and push myself sometimes because that fear is there, whether it’s perceived or not. That anxiety pops up and says, nope, you can’t go out and you have to be careful. You know, what if you get in an Uber and the Uber takes off with you, or what if you go down the street and somebody doesn’t like you because of your race or your blindness. And so that’s how anxiety can start to manifest and show up with Generalized Anxiety Disorder. ‘Cause then in that aspect, I’m fearing for my own safety. I’m worried that something is going to happen to me.
Beth:
And I think generalized anxiety, it’s very treatable and you can definitely work with it, but I think it can be really hard initially to kind of get- it’s almost like you’re rewiring your brain, and it’s really hard to rewire your brain when we are living with constant perceived and real threats. I don’t know how far down we wanna go in this possible rabbit hole that we could easily go down, but the intersectionality of what Robin is talking about is so important to all of us, I think especially if we have multiple intersections of our identity and cultures and how that impacts our life and how we interact in the world and how we’re perceived in the world. All those experiences that we have, especially if they’re negative ones out in the world, are really going to give us a sense of I’m not safe in the world, which can lead to generalized anxiety. And so there’s a lot of different ways we can work with that, but I just wanna highlight, like, this is nothing to be ashamed of. This is nothing to be, I’m gonna say afraid of, because you can work with it. But I definitely recommend if you’re experiencing any of this and, you know, and kind of having a hard time with navigating in the world today, go talk to somebody. Find a therapist, because you can definitely work with it and live with it, but have patience with yourself, have compassion with yourself. I think we’re all living in very weird times. And the more intersections we have in our identity and culture, the more challenging it is.
Robin:
Right. And it definitely is okay to talk to somebody. Everybody needs to talk to somebody, somebody who has an unbiased opinion, right? ‘Cause you can talk to your family and friends, but sometimes they may give a biased opinion or they may not give you the type of support that you need in that moment, whereas a therapist can. And I know that seeking mental health treatment can be scary for some reason or another, especially in minority cultures. Health tends to be a stigma, but again, it’s really thinking about mental health like you would your physical health, right? So getting that checkup when you see something is wrong with you and you notice something is wrong, really reach out to talk to somebody so that you can be proactive and address things before it gets too severe or where you feel like you are in deep trenches where you feel like you can’t pull yourself out.
Beth:
Right. Don’t wait till it’s too late.
Robin:
Mm-hmm, yep, exactly. Beth, like you said, rewiring your brain. So thinking about how you view mental health treatment, I would say that’s the first step.
Beth:
Yes.
Robin:
Also, too, the way that you talk to yourself, Beth, like you mentioned, so normalizing your fears, right? It’s okay for me to feel fearful about what’s going on in society, you know, look at all that’s going on, but how am I gonna be able to address it and how can I keep moving forward? So offering yourself that grace and validating yourself, ‘cause I know sometimes we tend to be our own worst critic and think that something’s wrong with us for feeling this way. And in actuality, anybody in these circumstances would feel that way. It’s how you’re going to address it and keep moving forward.
Beth:
That’s a whole ‘nother topic for the future, but maybe we should talk about shame in September.
Robin:
Yeah, no, that’s a good one.
Beth:
I feel like a lot of times generalized anxiety, especially, can lead to a lot of shame, like there’s something wrong with me.
Robin:
Mm-hmm, yep.
Beth:
And there is nothing wrong with you. It’s more like what happened to you? It’s more like what experiences have you had in your life that have got you here? And how do we help you to- I talk about self-compassion a lot, I’m a big fan of Kristin Neff’s work if you know who that is, but I think it’s really important that we have self-compassion for ourselves that we’re able to say, you know what? I am afraid, and it’s okay that I’m afraid, I am going to work with my fear. I’m also a huge fan of parts work, I love parts work. And so part of parts work is trying to take a step back and becoming really curious about the anxious part of ourselves and what it needs to feel safe. And I understand when we’re living in a world where we don’t feel safe, it can be hard to feel safe. What’s that going to look like? So how do we feel safe enough to do the things we need to do in life to accomplish the task and meet our goals and meet our routines and deadlines and all the things we have scheduled, how do we feel safe enough to do that?
Robin:
Mm-hmm, and stepping back and talking to that anxious part of yourself. And it goes back to what we talked about last episode, is paying attention to those symptoms and what it feels like in your body. So where is that anxiety popping up for you? Is it in your stomach, in the form of butterflies? Is it your heart racing? Is it your thoughts racing? Wherever it may be in your body, pay attention and then sit there for a minute and say, okay, what’s happening for me in this moment, and what type of support do I need? And in a lot of instances, again, it’s going back to talking to yourself, really encouraging yourself and creating that sense of safety and letting yourself know that you are safe in that moment and that you are okay, because a lot of anxiety comes from the ability to try and control your circumstances around you, and when you feel like you can’t, then that’s when it causes that fear to arise, I feel.
Beth:
I agree. And one thing I tell my clients is, okay, what can you control? And I get really down to basics. You can control what time you get out of bed in the morning. You can control if you wanna brush your teeth today or not, and what you eat for breakfast, and what you’re going to wear, and intentionally try to do little, I don’t wanna say silly things, but really basic things, but we can control those things. And if we can start small and realize, I do have more control than I feel like I do right now, then it gives us the ability to be more empowered, to work with the things we don’t have control over and find ways to cope with what we cannot change.
Robin:
Right. Yep. That is very true. I definitely agree with that, instead of focusing on what you feel like you don’t have control on, look at what you do have control over, and that can offer a sense of relief and comfort. With that notion, some coping strategies would be realizing again what you have control over as well as the grounding techniques that we mentioned in last episode. And again, you can go to Google to look up even more grounding techniques, but some are creating a safe place for you, especially if you feel like you’re not safe. So what place makes you feel safe? If you’re able to visualize that place, it can be through sight or touch or sense of smell, taste, whatever it may be. For some people, it can be helpful having a physical object to remind you of that place. For me, my safe place is the beach. I love the way that the sand feels against my feet. I love the sound of the water. All of that creates a sense of calmness for me. So I have- I’m blanking. What’s the noise machine, the white noise machine-
Beth:
White noise machine, yep.
Robin:
The white noise machine that has different sounds, and so I like playing the one where the waves are crashing because it makes me think of a beach.
Beth:
Other things you can do are breathing exercises, muscle relaxation exercises, using all of your senses to name your surroundings. So what do you taste, see, hear, smell, feel, visualizing someone else in your brain who you believe has a lot of calmness about them and just handles things very calmly. There’s a lot of different techniques that you can use to ground.
Robin:
Yep. And when you think that you’re alone, going through this, you know, really step back and tell yourself I am not alone because I guarantee you’re not. And especially now, you need that hard example to show you that you’re not alone. Look at the celebrities that are coming out now, more so in talking about health challenges such as anxiety. That I can show you that other people are trying to navigate the stress of Generalized Anxiety Disorder and that there is nothing wrong with you, but like Beth said, what happened to you to cause these feelings. Beth, do you have anything else to add about Generalized Anxiety Disorder?
Beth:
I was thinking more about coping, for those of you who are struggling more with trying to schedule things in your day and get them scheduled, or to complete tasks throughout your day or your week, and a couple different things that I have found that my clients find helpful is helping them break it down into a couple different categories. You know, things I must get done today and things I’d like to get done today, and then just picking, you know, the top three of the must do category and focusing on those, or making a list of things you did do that day versus a to-do list for the next day, or taking a task or a goal and breaking it into smaller goals. So if your goal is to get all the laundry done in the next couple days, maybe you just start with one load today and maybe with that one load it’s, okay, I’ve gotta gather up all the clothes and put ’em in the laundry basket. Cool, that’s part of the task. The second part of the task is gonna be you actually walk to the laundry room. The third part is you put it in the washing machine. You know, so you break it into really small achievable chunks, and we feel a lot more accomplished if we do that.
Robin:
Yeah. Yep. Nope, I agree. I mean, it allows you to give yourself credit for the steps that you’ve accomplished.
Beth:
Yes.
Robin:
Being able to hold yourself accountable for those steps is that- it can be helpful to, in your calendar app or reminder app to set a day and time for you to complete that one task, making sure that you don’t put everything in your calendar because that can be overwhelming and daunting, but like Beth said, breaking things down into smaller steps so that you can be able to give yourself kudos for what you’ve done versus what you have not done.
Beth:
Absolutely. Well, thank you again for being here with us today on Wellness Wednesday.
Robin:
Thank you. We appreciate you all joining in, and as Beth mentioned last time is we really wanna hear from you, so if you have any questions, feel free to chime in, as well as if you have anything that you want us to talk about, but we really enjoy going over these types of conditions with you. And the reason I say enjoy is because it creates that awareness. It normalizes a lot of conditions that people are going through, and shows people that you’re not alone.
Beth:
Absolutely, and hopefully we’ll see you next month in September. I don’t know if we’re gonna talk about shame for sure, but why not?
Robin:
Right? So we did anxiety for August and shame for September, the S and S, A and A.
Beth:
I don’t think every month is gonna have the same alliteration, please don’t hold us to those standards ‘cause that can be really challenging, but…[laughs]
Robin:
Right. Well, until next time.
Jeff:
You can send Beth and Robin a message at 612-367-6093, or by email at info@blindabilities.com. They’d love to hear from you.
[Music] [Transition noise] -When we share
-What we see
-Through each other’s eyes…
[Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]
…We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities.